Marc's Public Blog - Skiing / Snowboarding / Snow

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This is a collection of my blog entries about snowboarding.
You can find all the pictures I've taken here, and read below for the more recent trips that I have recorded in blog entries:

Table of Content for snow:

More pages: April 2026 February 2026 December 2025 March 2025 February 2025 December 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 May 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 December 2021 November 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 October 2020 March 2020 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 November 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 April 2015 March 2015 December 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 December 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 March 2011 February 2011 December 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 December 2009 March 2009 February 2009 December 2008 April 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 December 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 December 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 November 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004

2026/04/01 End of Season Wet Storm in Kirkwood

π 2026-04-01 01:01 in Snow

So this year has been one of the worst seasons on record indeed. 2 big storms, both of which I was there for, and that's about it, including terrible temperatures and heavy melting in March. Multiple resorts closed by the time this storm happened, but thank fully Kirkwood due to altitude and K factor, had a bit more snow in reserve and survived until this storm hit. It was a wet storm, but in turn this meant the heavier wet powder helped cement a new base on what was not much of a base anymore, and fill the holes:

prediction said 14%

and I arrived with 13%, not bad at all

a bit of fog around the end

road was pretty clear

tiny bit of snow at the end

Made it there without stopping with 91% used, not bad. About a foot fell in the last 24H:

it snowed all day but it was too warm so all that snow melted when touching my car

pretty watery at the base

waiting for 6 to open, which it did by 10:15 after avalanche safety

wet powder, but still powder

there were a few water holes though

I came down this, a bit bare :)

this one seemed like too much of a jump into the unknown, so I climbed that one back up

Day 2 had another nice cover, even if it was pretty thick and only felt like 2 inches at most:

Got to meet Tim from snowpals

nice snow :)

the top of the wall ridge re-opened

so I was able to reach my favorite rock

The drive back was easy, Carson Spur was nice and clean again and I got home by using only 45%:

Silver Lake was already all melted

See more images for End of Season Wet Storm in Kirkwood

2026/02/16 My biggest Snow Storm at Kirkwood: 9+ft

π 2026-02-16 01:01 in Snow

This year has been a crap year for snow, but finally by mid february, a mega storm happened, non stop snow for 3 days, bringing more than 9ft in total, which overwhelmed all the tahoe resorts. On top of that, the avalanche danger was very high. I ended up driving sunday afternoon to beat the storm:

very nice by never seen this to bare in february

silver lake just before kirkwood was so bare and still had water

Carson Spur was pretty bare

I arrived on sunday late afternoon (which was a blackout day, so I was not interested in skiing that day)

turns out the snow can been to be pretty icy

made it, though :)

Monday

The storm sunday night arrived very late, so by monday morning, Kirkwood only claimed 2" of fresh snow by 07:00 but the snow was non stop from here on:

nice but not very deep

it was still quite bare for february

later in the afternoon, it looked better

by end of day, it was better and the ice underneath was easier to avoid

Tuesday

By tuesday morning, it was a full on whiteout storm, about 40 inches claimed:

vis was great :)

went in line for cornice, but it ended up not being safe to open

so I went to solitude, not my favorite in that much snow, though

which is why, so much snow and no slope, this happens :)

After 2h, solitude closed too and the mountain shut down:

time for dogs to play :)

the wind was fierce

Wedmesday

The wind died down a bit, vis improved, snow did not stop:

dude, where's my car?

waiting for snow safety

by 11-ish, cornice opened and it was stellar

chamoix

don't stop :)

I didn't listen :) waist deep with board, chest deep with shoes

Thursday

No, the storm was still not over, and vis was still poor

first chair was around 10:00

took dedication and frozen hands to taking a picture :)

Friday, finally blue bird

After 4 days, we finally got a blue bird day with another 12" or something:

by now the roads opened and more people came :)

no one dared going in there, you'd get sucked in and stuck in no time

nice pow

still great snow

I made this track, then got stuck and had to walk back up, duh!

The wall was set to open for the first time in 3 days, small line to get on :)

took a little while

all this got tracked before I got to the top :)

but I found some good tracks, still

oops, I got greedy again :)

but it was enticing :)

chair 2 opened the next day

this was chair 4, not quite ready yet, haha

On the drive back, very different from the drive up:

Carson Spur was a lot more loaded

snow went very far down, all the way to Volcano (past Pioneer, just before Jackson)

See more images for My biggest Snow Storm at Kirkwood: 9+ft

2025/12/23 Big Xmas Dump at Kirkwood and Heavenly

π 2025-12-23 01:01 in Snow

This year was very bare, on Dec 23rd, the mountains still had a couple of lifts running on mostly grass, it was one of the saddest years on record. And by Dec 23rd, a 6-8ft storm arrived, and thankfully it was cold enough to be snow and not rain, so I went despite the conflict with Xmas.

I drove up on the 23rd in the evening before the temps were forecast to drop too much, and made it across the spur as it was still mostly rain:

nice decors on the way

made it

Day 1: Xmas Eve, Kirkwood

The next morning, wet snow as expected (temps were still a bit high, but it's snow and good or a base):

not bad given that the previous day still had grass on the runs

only solitude was open, but beggers can't be choosers :)

still looks wet

After a few runs on 5, I called it a day. The run wasn't that much fun as the better snow was higher altitude but no chair to get to it, and yeah, the snow was pretty wet and sticky half way down the shorter run. I did go out for Xmas eve for some pictures:

Day 2: Xmas Day, Kirkwood Closed

Unfortunately the heavy snow, winds, and very high avalanche danger, it was not possible to open KW on Xmas day:

no snow for you :)

After a while, I got cabin fever and thought I'd drive to Heavenly which had lifts opened:

but before long I ended up at a random road closure on SR88

after talking to Caltrans it became clear I'd be stuck long enough that I'd get to HV too late to matter

so I turned around, back to KW

didn't make it to SLT, so went to celebrate Xmas at Cornice Grill

Day 3: Heavenly Sky Express

Because Kirkwood likes to underpromise and overdeliver, they unfortunately did not announced they would open anything but 5, so given what happened the previous day, I decided to drive to Heavenly which did announced sky was ready to run and just waiting for wind to die down

went to season pass office to ask whether 6 might open that day, and they said 'unlikely'

so I went to drive off to HV and got stuck because they didn't plow the exit of the parking lot (I have good triple peak snow tires and 4WD, but no locking differential)

after 30mn lost to dig myslef out, on the way to HV

I tested the new FSD in the snow, it actually did well

the bottom looked ok enough to run, but I guess they wanted to save the thin base, so we couldn't run that

the lines were not terrible, I never waited more than 10mn

crowds were very reasonable

sky opened before noon, yeah!

first time of the season, plenty of snow!

oh look, a hole in the wall :)

and snow on the other side :)

someone copied me :)

ski patrol worked hard and nicely opened Ellis

I went to play in the rock field to find fresh snow :)

and then it officially opened

pretty

after all day back to back runs on sky, it was time to go back

we were not allowed to ride back down, had to take the chair of shame back to parking lot

I used the opportunity to enjoy the lights in South Lake Tahoe:

time for a charge, new fancy v3 chargers in SLT

Day 4: Bluebird at Kirkwood: Cornice and Reut

I do need to mention that Days 3, 4, and 5 were blacked out, so they were not busy either at HV or KW. For day 4, I stayed at KW (since I was already sleeping there) and went to enjoy Cornice, even if it did open the day before in the afternoon, unannounced in the morning, but there was still a bit of new snow on top

still some pow to be found

hole in the wall

virtually no lines

obviously still some holes with a river underneath in the drain

then reut opened

more snow

patrol working on opening 1;)

Day 5: Bluebird#2 at Kirkwood: The Wall

Just like 2 days earlier, the wall was not officially announced, even as a maybe, but I talked to patrollers this time and they confirmed they were working on it, so I stayed one last day for that.

I had nothing better to do, so I stayed in line :)

2nd chair up, wee!

even the path on top of the wall opened and ther ewas enough snow to go down from the ridge

made it to my favorite rock :)

cheers to ski patrol for all the good work

And then it was time to drive home, the roads were mostly clear, but not really

poor person didn't make it up SR88, still very slippery in places

See more images for Big Xmas Dump at Kirkwood and Heavenly

2025/03/31 Last Storm of the Season at Kirkwood

π 2025-03-31 01:01 in Snow

This year was busy, I wasn't home enough during the winter, but thankfully managed to catch this last storm before having to head to Japan

I mostly arrived before the storm got bad

good storm

Found my friend David on the slopes

the next day was a nice bluebird

dude, where's my car? :)

still a good coverage on the Spur for April

See more images for Last Storm of the Season at Kirkwood

2025/02/04 Partial Powder Week at Kirkwood

π 2025-02-04 01:01 in Snow

We didn't get much snow this season, I'm not sure there was a single powder day in 2025 yet, and even the first part of the storm, never really hit. The drive up was uneventful, and I was shocked at how little snow, there was. Even Carson Lake was not fully frozen and was not covered with snow:

Once arrived, it was very dry:

The next day, the storm didn't hit, so I skipped most of the day and only went for a couple of runs before they closed 6 again for wind. Snow conditions were terrible and confirmed I was right to otherwise skip the day:

the inch of fresh snow looked ok, but it was so much crud underneath....

The 3rd day, 8 inches in the report, which sounded good, but most was apparently wet, made a base and it was only 1.5" of actual powder:

long line for turns out, not a lot of pow ;)

it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either

you can see it wasn't very deep pow

still, nice bluebird

eagle bowl just opened for the chair 4 rush

but let's wait at chair 2, first :)

it was easy to tell the new snow was not deep

never seen the wave so bare in february

the first runs down the backside are always pretty

While Day 3 didn't have a lot of fresh snow, it felt nice. By day 4, it was snowing hard and finally we had real inches of snow in the morning for first run:

a bit of a line for 6, but nothing terrible

finally some powder

10 opened reasonably early and the now was great

short line for 10, well worth it

came down this

then time for chair 4

good snow

My last run of the day in Fawn Ridge, beautiful snow, it was worth waiting the week for friday:

See more images for Partial Powder Week at Kirkwood

2024/12/13 2ft+ Season opening at Kirkwood

π 2024-12-13 01:01 in Snow

Things aligned for a 2ft+ storm just before Xmas, so I was able to enjoy the fresh snow, even if a bit wet. Drove up before the storm hit too hard, and roads started closing:

made it around 13:40, enough time to go enjoy some snow

charging in the snow

2 hours to go snowboarding friday

My favorite tree runs were still a bit bare, my board did get some hits

the wall was open, still a bit rocky but open

nice snow in the trees

snow got harder, vis went down

Chamoix still had a big rock jump

after the rock, things were nice

I rode until 16:00, last chair, went to check out the main lodge:

I had a bad surprise trying to get into Sun Maedows parking lot, which was closed, and the snow was wet enough that my Tesla M+S tires were not able to get enough traction to get back up: