Kirkwood – Tahoe’s Hidden Gem

Kirkwood comes into its own on a powder day. Photo Kirkwood Resort

Mountainwatch | By Reggae Elliss

To many people, Kirkwood Mountain resort is the hidden gem of the Tahoe resorts, offering some of the best skiing and snowboarding in California. Tucked away in the El Dorado national park, 56kms southwest of South Tahoe, Kirkwood attracts a core crowd who are there for the snow and the terrain. It’s not the kind of place where you’ll see Porsche Cayennes in the car park, designer retail outlets or ski valets.

Kirkwood is more pick-up trucks and après beers in the car-park, the kind of place where the people are friendly, the atmosphere is relaxed and it’s all about the skiing.

Depending on the road conditions, Kirkwood is about an hour’s drive from South Tahoe. However, the drive is spectacular and 15 minutes into it you are surrounded by wilderness and the majestic Northern Sierras, the casinos and traffic lights of South Tahoe a world away.

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The resort’s website describes Kirkwood as, “Magical, raw, expansive and remote,” and after spending a few days with my family last winter I have to agree. The place is awesome and more than lives up to its status as “The stuff of legend.”

Kirkwood sits at a base elevation of 7800 feet, its highest peak at 9800 and it lies directly in the path of the winter storms moving out of the Pacific, which results in an average seasonal snowfalls of 350 ins, one of the highest totals in North America. Kirkwood’s high altitude also ensures it receives quality snow and it has the reputation for the driest snow in the Sierras.

Kirkwood also has a well-deserved reputation for some of the best and most varied terrain in the US. The off piste terrain is technical and fun, a mix of steeps, chutes and gullies that has been described as one big natural terrain park. It has a ridgeline that runs across the top of three bowls – Wagon Wheel, Sentinel and Palisades – that offer continuous fall line skiing, both on and off piste. There is also a permanently closed area call The Cirque, an area of cliffs, chutes and steeps that up until 2013 hosted the only Freeride World Tour event in the US.

Originally from Thredbo, Marguerite Cossettini has been calling Kirkwood home for two decades, drawn by the dry snow and variable terrain. Photo Kirkwood Resort.

However, don’t think that Kirkwood is just for the hard core skier or snowboarder as there is also plenty of mellow off piste terrain and cruisy groomed runs. There’s pretty well something for everyone, including a great beginner’s area and kid’s ski school at Timber Creek base lodge. The terrain is rated 12% beginner, 30% intermediate, 38% advanced and 20% expert, and regardless of your ability you’ll find plenty of fun terrain as well as terrain that will challenge you and help you progress.

One of Kirkwood’s great attractions is its isolation and feeling that you are in a mountain wilderness. While a 45 to 60-minute drive doesn’t seem much to Australians used to staying off mountain in towns like Jindabyne and Mansfield, the distance does turn off the crowds in Tahoe who can easily access resorts like Heavenly, Squaw and Northstar. Weekends and holidays are still reasonably busy, but mid-week you feel like you have the mountain to yourself.

We arrived on a Monday to an empty mountain that had received 82cms of snow in the week before we arrived. The weather was cold and clear, the snow dry and chalky and we even found a few powder stashes, despite arriving after a busy weekend. Having a local guide did help, as we hooked up with Australian snowboarding legend Marguerite Cossettini and her partner Alex, who live in South Tahoe with their two young daughters.
Marguerite grew up in Khancoban, an hour from Thredbo and was one of the original Thredbo snowboarders and Australia’s first world champion snow athlete. Alex is a Kirkwood local and together they gave us a full tour of the mountain.

Kirkwood is a small village surrounded by big mountains. A place you need to visit. Photo Kirkwood Resort.

After a few warm up runs on the perfectly groomed steeps off the top of Chair 6, we followed Alex and Marguerite off piste and they took us into some of their favourite haunts. Exploring a new mountain is one of the great things about travelling and Kirkwood’s terrain has something for everyone and we didn’t ski the same line twice.

Alex is the eternal grommet and while he skis hard and fast he pulled back the throttle a little, the kids following him into some fun chutes and taking air off perfect roll overs
It was one of those magic days and it was easy to understand why Marguerite has made Kirkwood her home mountain.

“I first came to Kirkwood in 91,” says Marguerite. “I had travelled a bit at that stage, but I was instantly drawn to its steeps, tree lines and gullies. Snowsnake gully is a favourite and the chutes in Thunder Saddle are an ever-changing playground. I can’t leave out Chamoix, oh and Once is Enough, a steep narrow chute not for the faint-hearted. So the list is long and why I chose this mountain to be my home mountain. 25 years and two kids later, I’m still here.”

There’s plenty of accessible backcountry terrain in and around Kirkwood and Expedition Kirkwood will take you there. Photo Kirkwood Resort

Although Kirkwood could use a couple of high speed Quads, the mountain is well-serviced with 15 lifts, most of which access groomed blue runs and some mellower off-piste terrain. However, when you want to get the heart pumping head up Chair 10, which takes you to some serious double black terrain, including The Wall, an infamous run that is heaven in fresh snow and possibly hell-on-earth when it’s hard-packed moguls!

Fortunately, it was soft and forgiving and a lot of fun when we skied it, and that afternoon, the kids were straight into the Mountain Sports store to buy the skull and cross bone adorned “The Wall” hoodie.

If you are travelling from Australia to the Lake Tahoe region, it is definitely worth staying a few nights in Kirkwood. The place is Epic, pun intended, as if you have Perisher Epic Pass, you get to ski for free. There is a variety of accommodation from on slope hotels and condos to free standing houses, most of which are located near the Timber Creek base lodge.

Arkie Elliss drops into a fun chute in the Thunder Saddle zone. Photo Reggae Elliss.

We stayed at the Mountain Club which is centrally located in the village with direct ski in ski out access. The apartments are well appointed with a full kitchen and ours definitely “on snow”, so close we could wave to the cat drivers as they passed. The lifts are a few metres away and the under-cover parking makes it all a little easier

There are not a lot of dinner options mid-week, but it is worth the short drive to the iconic Kirkwood Inn, located just outside the resort on Highway 88. Built in 1864, it reeks of character and atmosphere, with a large open fire and hearty winter meals.

Dinner at the Inn is just another part of the Kirkwood experience. Our time at the resort was pretty special and Kirkwood is at the top of my ‘must return’ list. If you haven’t been there yet, you need to experience it. Once you do, I’m sure you’ll also want to return one day.

Kirkwood’s terrain has been described as one big natural terrain park. Joey Elliss making the most of it. Photo Reggae Elliss

KIRKWOOD MOUNTAIN STATS
Peak elevation – 9800ft (3369m)
Base elevation – 7800ft (2424m)
Vertical rise – 200ft 9945m)
Skiable Terrain – 2300 acres
Annual average snowfall – 354ins (10m)
Beginner – 12%
Intermediate – 30%
Advanced – 38%
Expert – 20%