Awesome skiing at Kirkwood

Arrived at Kirkwood for about 10am and tried to park. Somewhat tricky driving over a thick crust of ice in my 2-wheel drive chevy but I made it eventually. Wasn't too impressed at the drive to kirkwood either, at times the road is just one mass of ice, though it does seem to have reasonable grip for some reason (though not good enough for the speeds some people were doing, including cops, in my view).

Got my ski boots on (free hire from Bently Adventures!) and hobbled to our meeting point. Got there and forgot my googles, so hobbled back to the car. Not a great way to be reminded how awkward it is to walk in ski boots!

Kevin, who runs Bently adventures, was running a Telemark ski lesson today but was very keen for anyone to tag along, so I was on normal skis and Dre on her snowboard.

We started off on lift 5 and I was pretty nervous about falling off the chairlift at the top, having not skiied at all for 18 months but I made it ok. I was pretty surprised that the chairlift didnt have the safety bar to stop you falling off like they seem to always have in New Zealand and Europe. I would have expected it to be even more 'nanny state' here due to the US penchant for litigation but none of it. Actually it was nice to sit in the chair lift without the stupid lap bar.

Kevin gauged the situation well. Lift 5 led to an excellent gentle run which we all managed fine, apart from the bottom which was a little steep to start with (but as Kevin noted, it had a long run out!). We then headed up 11 which was much more exciting, especially as he led us down half of the slope which was not at all groomed. Quite a different style of skiing needed to get down in the early season powder and I fell over about 5 times on the first attempt. Without Kevin's suggestion I wouldnt have tried skiing on this stuff so it was great to be led in that direction. It was amazing to see him and the others weaving through the trees too, what a great way to ski.

So, early season skiing at Kirkwood? Well, it was the best skiing I've ever done. Only half of Kirkwood is open at the moment and even so, the slopes were lovely and quiet. When the sun dipped behind the mountain just after 3pm it got quite cold and the people thinned out even more. At one point I had the entire slope to myself.

Wow! Absolutely amazing skiing here and it's only early season. I think Scott's advice to get a Kirkwood pass was absolutely spot on. I can't imagine a better place to go skiing. For me, one thing that ruins the enjoyment of skiing is too many people hurtling out of control down the slopes. Didn't see any such thing, mainly because of the huge space available to ski. People were rocketing along sure enough but had plenty of space.

Somehow I think my weekends are now all taken care of from now until the snow melts (which is sometimes July!).