if you haven’t heard by now, the weather channel will be naming all winter storms.
this is how they determine if a storm is worthy of a name.
$$$
from weather.com
events that involve snow and ice or extreme temperatures or wind or a combination; that significantly affect travel; and that the network thinks people need to know about.
events involving a non-insignificant amount of fresh pow-pow
situations where cement of the sierra variety may be laid
brutus was such a storm. he came in with little fanfare other than being the second named winter storm of all time from the weather.com weather overlords. here in the sierra the call was for maybe 10-15″ inches in the best locations (kirkwood) over three days. before brutus, kirkwood had more snow already than they have opened with in past years. conditions had been good to very good for weeks.
10/24
11/02
brutus was an over achiever, bringing in 15″ the first day of the storm. but even with all their new vail technology in the snowmaking realm, and 15-18″ new snow on top of their already impressive base, kirkwood’s response to questions about opening was
Snow makers blow’n, ramps built, over the next week…We’re on it & will pull the trigger when “we” are ready….
We are looking at the 21st as the “official” opening day… But, and I say but, we might just pull the trigger sooner then you think! We want it just as bad as you want it my friend!
given that there were well over 100 people riding the mountain sunday, without lifts, and the kirkwood team was in sacramento marketing, i’d say its apparent some folks just want it more than vailwood.
there’s plenty of snow. stop using that as an excuse. you don’t wanna open?
fine by me if the lifts don’t spin at all. because….
friday it was like this. wehen the resort opens, the doggies will be gone. 🙁
heading up sentinel bowl is nacho, chris and chad
this is chris on the down
it was cold out, especially for the pup
chad was up next. skiers right rabbit
excited doggy? yes. ready to go back up doggy? maybe not.
next lap we hit the rocks above olympic to drop in. chris hits a 15 footer
and chad hits what he though was a small hop to an easy left turn
here he is second guessing that decision
chris dives in deep. at some resorts, people pay to ride lifts just so they can get turns like these.
chad wants to see what all the fuss is about
why would anyone pay when the stuff falls from the sky for free?
and when you pay, there’s a no doggy rule all of a sudden
doesn’t matter though
cuz they don’t have enough snow to open
the snows continued overnight, and saturday was even better than friday. not many pics though as it was puking the whole time
me jumping into sentinel bowl (picture by chad)
chad hits up an untouched line. you can see a small crown resulting from my entrance before
sunday was slated to go bluebird, and the internet was busy with talk of hitting kirkwood. it was apparent an early start would be required. so we got up at 0-dark-thirty and hopped on the road. it was cold
but we had a plan. eagle bowl then up through the saddle to thimble peak and back down
there were hordes, but our early start guaranteed first tracks throughout the day. chad in eagle bowl, completely unaware there is a torpedo heading to cut him off
chris makes a sweet turn as chad shoots from above
chad
heading up to thimble peak, nacho guards the track
do you have ze password?
chad and nacho on thimble bowl with caples lake behind
pow!
artsy pow!
pow from behind
next up was thunder saddle. chad finds a spicy entrance
below was the best snow on the mountain
thanks for looking. i may add more picture later as chad gets all his from sunday edited