January 4, 1997
By CyberWill
Kirkwood is Holding the Goods
For those who braved the media disaster hype!
Floods, washed out bridges, many inches of warm rain melted many feet of snow, BLA BLA BLA
was all you heard from the media about the Sierra. Those who checked the road conditions,
snow reports, and
weather knew that Hwy 88 was open and that Kirkwood had 18-30" of Fresh. It is true that it rained and allot of snow melted. The Sierra already had a very deep base and it dumped at higher elavations during the end of the storm enough to cover the rain ruts. With a base elevation of 7,800 feet the powder at Kirkwood was fantastic and the terrain has something for everyone. If you are a beginner try chair # 9 and avoid # 1 (too flat even for beginners). Experts prefer chairs # 10 and # 6 for the extreme exposures that drop into the deep and steep. When you have to hit the groomed on the flatter lower mountain, you are still smiling because the Kirkwood groomers have the best equipment and they know how to use it.
You might want to check out the Extreme Championships to be held on March 19-23, 1997. Finals will be held on he forbidden terrain of Kirkwood's "Cirque Bowl". Oh yea, the terrain was so nice that I almost forgot to mention that they also have a slopestyle park. Kirkwood seems serious about maintaining their park because they had it pretty much together right after very challenging weather conditions. Kirkwood is the little resort that is really big (2,300 acres). Come back in a couple of years and you wont recognize the place because this resort is growing.
The forecast is for scattered showers with a snow level of 5,000 feet. It will probably dump again at Kirkwood. Think snow everybody!
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