We have not been to Kirkwood in 4 years. The major change there has been the purchase of Kirkwood by Vail Assoc. Now they focus on selling real estate and not allowing any RVs to park overnight (keeping the riffraff like us out). We parked at our favorite spot and walked 20 yards to the lift; not bad. Our tickets are covered with our Epic Tahoe Value passes. We made breakfast and waited until 10am for the slopes to warm.
The backside terrain in the Sunrise Bowl was in perfect shape with the morning sun softening the snow. We rode chair 2 to the ridge and then skied down to chair 4, the Sunrise lift, which provides access to the slopes and to extensive back-country gates. This is one of the places where we have used our back-country gear for a full day of touring to some incredible areas. There are 2 paddle lifts that were not running, but may open this weekend. After 2 hours we returned to the front side lifts, and by then they were in perfect shape. The front side groomers were icy at 9am which is why all the locals went to the back side initially. I knew the front was going to be in great shape because the locals left the Sunrise area by 11am. The terrain is great because of all the cliffs, gulleys, and steep mogul runs. Kirkwood has one 4-pack and 3 doubles. The 4-pack Cornice Express lift has four expert runs that are groomed daily. The Wagon Wheel lift provides access to the cornice areas and steep gulley slopes. We remember skiing this terrain years ago (and have no desire to do so again!). We had a blast on the steep groomers off the Reut lift – the snow was in perfect shape, soft but not slushy. After another 2 hours we were finished. I'm finally getting more comfortable on the steep groomed terrain and am trying to keep up with Jill.
