One of the really nice things about Nor Cal is its proximity to the ski slopes. Kirkwood is about 3 hours away. In SD, you’ve got Big Bear which is fairly close, but the conditions there basically suck. Mammoth is the closest quality resort within driving distance, but that is 6-7 hours away.

Judy and I decided to head up to Kirkwood for the day. We had thought about making a weekend trip out of it, but we didn’t want to have to pay to have Latte boarded nor have we been able to find, or rather have not had the time to look for, a suitable dog sitter/walker. So we woke up bright and early at around 5:30 to head up to Kirkwood.

We left our house at around 6:40 AM and arrived at Kirkwood at around 10 AM. The drive from Belmont is still pretty long, but it is a beautiful one. It only reinforces the natural beauty that surrounds Nor Cal. This turned out to be a great weekend to go as a storm had just passed through the previous day, leaving lots of fresh powder. Although we didn’t get too many fresh tracks, there was still some good stuff to be found off trail. The snow quality was surprisingly good, actually close to on par with the Utah white stuff. One of the people we rode up the lift with said that the recent storm was atypically cold, resulting in high quality snow. Usually, the snow is heavier.

Kirkwood is a great resort. Although there were tons of people there, the resort is generally big enough to accommodate them. Despite getting our first run nearly two hours after it opened, we still managed to get a full day of riding in.

After a long day of riding, the last thing you want to do is to drive 3+ hours. So that wasn’t too much fun. But the drive back was manageable. It actually went much quicker because there were less cars headed out compared to cars heading in that same morning.

Overall, Kirkwood is a really fun resort, but I’m not sure how often we’ll be making day trips out of it. Here’s a few shots from that trip.

Posted by Roger at 9:43 pm.