We have a forecast of snow at the end of February, first of March. February filled up real quick we we have March open. If you are not a snow person the lower elevations, 5700' down is great for cycling and climbing.

Here is Kirkwood's snow report. Check us out at www.vrbo.com/179850

February 20, 2014 at 3:47 PM

Partly Cloudy

Current Temp

Wind

WSW

Today's Forecast

Updated @1600: Partly cloudy skies this evening with temperatures in the mid-20's

Short-Term Weather Outlook

Updated @0500: Highlights: A cold North Pacific weather system is advancing toward the Pacific Northwest while a once robust disturbance near Hawaii is rapidly falling apart. This is allowing debris from this Hawaiian disturbance to become injected into the westerlies and subsequently be directed toward and drawn across California. This subtropical originated moisture will maintain a variable mid, high cloud cover across much of the state today including the Lake Tahoe Basin. This northern system's cold front will weaken rapidly as it sweeps across Northern California tonight into Wednesday morning. This will leave the Lake Tahoe Basin quite cloudy, increasingly windy tonight with a decent chance of some light snowfall in the hours just prior to a little after dawn. A few inches (1-3") could fall near or along the Sierra Nevada crest but locations east and south of the lake will be hard pressed to note more than a dusting of snow. Clouds and winds will diminish Wednesday morning, leaving the afternoon increasingly sunny although temperatures will be noticeably cooler than this afternoon. Another weather system will press inland along the West Coast on Thursday but too far north to bring more than some cloudiness to the Lake Tahoe Basin. The subsequent emergence of reasonably robust ridge along or near the West Coast will bring an extended period of dry, very mild weather to Northern California beginning Friday that is due to last through early next week. Models continue to suggest that wet weather will return to California around the middle of next week (2/26-27) and conditions may stay unsettled well into the opening week of March.

Snow Stats

	Base	Summit
Last 24 Hours	0"	0"	Last 7 Days	5 - 8"
Last 48 Hours	Trace "	Trace "	Seasonal Total Range	165-231"
Storm Total	0"	0"	Base Depth	62"

The data for this real-time snow and weather report is obtained directly from the snow weather plots at Kirkwood Mountain Resort and the surrounding areas. Snow totals and snow accumulation are consistently 15 to 20% more than reported as a result of wind, micro squalls and snow loading. Weather patterns at Kirkwood Mountain Resort are exceedingly difficult to predict – when venturing into the mountain, be prepared for rapid, dramatic weather changes.

Surface Conditions

Skier & Rider Packed packed / Machine groomed

Road Conditions: Open

Hwy. 88 via Tahoe:	Updated as of 1600 as reported by Cal Trans: Open / Clear no controls
Hwy. 88 via Jackson:	Updated as of 1600 as reported by Cal Trans: Open / Clear no controls

Lift Operations

Lift	Status	Groomed Runs
#1 SnowKirk	Scheduled
#2 Caples Crest	Scheduled	Flying Carpet, Whiskey Slide
#3 Iron Horse	Scheduled	Easy Rider, Herringbone, Upper Bud's Alley, Lower Bud's Alley
#4 Sunrise	Scheduled	Elevator Shaft, Happiness Is
#5 Solitude	Scheduled	Home Run, Mokelumne, Lower Zachary, Lower Monte Wolfe, Outlaw Park, Lower Olympic, Lower Lookout Janek
#6 Cornice Express	Scheduled	Sentinel, Zachary, Stump Run
#7 TC Express	Scheduled	Home Run, Bandit Park, Hole N Wall, Up N Over, Jane's Jaunt, Squirrel Ridge, Jambi's Jaunt
#9 Bunny	Scheduled	Graduation, Funny Bunny, School Run
#10 Wagon Wheel "The Wall"	Scheduled
#11 The Reut	Scheduled	Wagon Trail, Shortspoke, Conestoga, Shotgun, Caples Crest Traverse, Buckboard
#14 Vista	Closed
#15 Covered Wagon	Closed

Lifts open from 9am-4pm.

* Lifts 12 & 13 are our Magic Carpets at Timber Creek. These are for exclusive use by the Tahoe Learning Center during lessons and not open to the public.

* Lift operation is dependent on weather conditions and snow safety and therefore subject to change at any time.

High Angle Grooming

Shotgun, Conestoga, Sentinel, Zachary

Open Bowls

Button, Happiness Is, Sunrise, Conestoga, Headwater, Thunder Saddle, Devil's Draw, Palisades, Wagon Wheel, Eagle Bowl, Sentinel

Expedition: Kirkwood

Expedition:Kirkwood AIARE Level 1 - A three day introduction course to the avalanche phenomena. Students will develop a good grounding in how to prepare for and carry out a trip, understand basic decision making while in the field, and learn rescue techniques required to find and dig up a buried person. View Dates: Feb 25 - Feb 27 Cost: $315 Time: 9am to 3pm Info/Res: 209.258.7360

Parks & Pipes

Outlaw (Chair 5)	Rebuild in progress
Bandit (Chair 7)	Open

Timber Creek Learning Center Open

Timber Creek is open, This includes Timber Creek Retail, Rentals, Ski and Ride School, as well as, Timber Creek Cafe.

Mountain Village Open

Kirkwood Mountain Sports Retail - 8:30am - 4:30pm Kirkwood Mountain Sports Village Rentals - 8:30am - 4:30pm Kirkwood Mountain Sports Demo Center - 8:30am - 4:30pm M-F 8:00am - 5:00pm Sat/Sun Expedition Kirkwood/Ski and Ride School - 8am - 4:30pm The Edge Tuning Center 8:30 - 4:30 Monday - Friday Village Ticket Office - 8:00am. - 4:30pm K-Bar - 11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Monte Wolfes - 8:00am - 4:30pm Off the Wall Bar - Friday, Saturday - 11:00am - 9:00pm Off the Wall Bar - Sunday 11:00am - 5:00pm

Kirkwood Cross Country & Snowshoe Center Open

Our Cross Country center is open with 70 kilometers of groomed. Trails to Schneider Camp are now open up to Coyote pass. We also have 5 miles of Snowshoe specific trails available. We offer both group & private lessons daily, lessons start at 10:30 and 1:30 daily. Don't miss our Sierra Crest guided snowshoe hike on Sunday Feb. 23rd. Please give us a call for info and reservations @ 209.258.7248.

Special Events & Remarks

Saturday, February 22 & Sunday, February 23 Rahlves Banzai Tour @KirkwoodMtn The Rahlves' Banzai Tour is the world's premier big mountain freeski meets ski / boarder-cross event on the planet! Taking place at four Lake Tahoe, CA resorts it's head to head action four at a time, top to bottom, down a wide open course over natural terrain and snow conditions. This is the ultimate test of ski and riding skills. Open entry for 18 years old and up gives a chance to take part in the fun and find out what you are made of. A solo timed qualifying run on Saturday ranks the Top 32 men ski / board and Top 16 women ski / board to Sunday's finals. The finals match up four competitors at a time with the top two in each round advancing through the brackets until the remaining four battle it out for the podium and the Rahlves' Banzai win. It's racing in it's purest form. Kirkwood Mountain Resort is known for a ton of snow and rowdy terrain. The Rahlves' Banzai Tour takes advantage of both with the Wall Banzai. Start off the Wall and its game on! This is the most intimidating and focus demanding start on the tour. The drop into the Wall kicks up the speed quick into wide-open turns, heading into the CEP compression and off the Popchips Air at the top of Chair 11 where athletes launch into Snow Snake Gully. Exciting passes happen in the first and third turns, on the side hill traverse into the CEP Compression zone, off the Popchips Air, in the gully and right at the finish line. A course with this much terrain delivered awesome action. Spectator’s prime locations are at the start on the ridge, the cat road-crossing top of Chair 11, the gully banks, on Chair 10 and at the finish. This year the Rahlves' Banzai Après Party will be held at the Cornice Bar & Grill and will host a benefit for the Kirkwood Ski Education Foundation a California 501c3. Raffle prizes and a donations of $1 from every Sierra Nevada and Red Bull sold will help raise funds for this great local non-profit.

Alpine County Lodging and Adventures

Merrill's Carson River Guest House Vacation Rental

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Snow Coming