Kirkwood Ski Resort
Resort Review
I skied here last year but on the other side of the resort.
I went to the Timber Creek area of Kirkwood as there were green and blue slopes open (unlike the rest of the resort). While the facilities were found wanting, the slopes were fine given that half the ski resorts (in the sierras) weren’t even open.
The burger at the outside grill tasted just about the same as last year, which meant it was yummy. This year, I have my Epic pass, which meant I got a 20% discount on all food items.
Graduation (Green)—It felt so foreign to shift my weight on the skis after not skiing for so long, but by the end of the run, I was already skiing with ugly parallels. It felt scary, but looking back, it was just because I was out of practice.
Funny Bunny (Green)—I started getting comfy in my resort skis and this run was super easy. I even almost kept up with Louie!
Squirrel Ridge (Green)—I ran down this one by myself as Louie went down a different blue run. The skiing felt nice as it actually felt easy to me and I was more than ready for a blue.
Hole ‘N’ Wall (Blue)—I ran down this run three times (with slight variations on each one). On the first run, I didn’t fall, felt like I was in control, and found out the steep slope part didn’t phase me too much. The second time, I approached the same steep slope without too much drama, but spectacularly fell near the bottom as I avoided slower skiers. It was a good fall and my ski fell off my boots perfectly, but I totally broke the goggle strap keeper on my helmet. On the last run, I fell near the top as I found out that my left hip wouldn’t move the way I wanted it to. Worse, I knocked myself into a ski instructor. It was at a slow speed, but I felt horrible and made sure he was okay. He was so generous to make sure I was okay and then continued his lesson as if nothing happened. I made it the rest of the way okay, but I called it quits as I didn’t want to ski with my hip in the condition it was in.
What I Learned
I tried to ski on a slightly injured hip and while I don’t think I made it worse, found out that after a few runs, I could not push down with my left leg, leading to falls. I could have continued while going super slow, but didn’t want to risk further injuries.
I tried out the used skis I bought at the end of last season and found them to be the most comfortable skis I’ve ever been on. After one run, I was able to control it exactly how I wanted to control it.
I also tried out the bibs I had gotten a month back and they worked wonderfully. So much better than pants!
After thinking about how this ski day went, I think on my next ski day, I want to focus on going slow and really mastering the fundamentals before picking up speed.
Friends:
Louie, Jo, and Scarlett came with me and we mostly skied together, at least in the morning (with Louie and me pairing up and Scarlett and Jo pairing up). In the afternoon, Jo and Scarlett skied a bit before I played babysitter as Jo and Louie went off to conquer some black runs.
What Happened?
With Louie and I purchasing a 4-day ski pass, we were excited about starting our ski season. However, the weather held us back as California experienced a warmer and drier than usual winter. But with a small snow day, we found ourselves with a ski day at Kirkwood.
When started driving at 4:50 AM and arrived around 8:30 AM, which was perfect as the lifts started operating as we put on our ski gear in the parking lot. We went up chair lift #9 and started to remember how to ski again. At first, we tried to stay together, but given that Louie was fast as lightning and Scarlett was still learning how to ski, we ended up as pairs. Louie went up the easy chair a second time, but we quickly got excited for longer steeper runs, so we switched over to chair lift #7. Oh and although there were lots of people at the resort, the lines for the lifts were not too bad at all—they were probably the worst in the morning, and then it slowly improved. We had fun running down this one for a bit, but by the end of the fourth run, the groomed trails were cut up by traffic, and the snow was getting pretty icy, as the little snow that was present melted and re-froze.
My legs were done, so I headed for lunch as Louie had a few more runs in them. I ate my lunch, then was joined by Jo and Scarlett, then by Louie. After lunch, Jo and Scarlett went for a few more ski runs before Jo and Louie teamed up to go over to lift #5.
There were so many people not skiing that Scarlett and I had to stay outside, but we ended up finding seats and I got to read books while Scarlett played with snow. When the sun went behind the mountain and it got cold, we were fortunate to find seats inside the cafeteria and treated ourselves to hot chocolate and snacks. After a couple of hours, Jo and Louie came back and we headed home.
On the way home, I started to feel worse and worse and I couldn’t tell if it was a lack of sleep (I had only slept 3 hours the night before) or I was getting sick. By the time I got us home (about 7:30 PM), I had a fever of 102 and went immediately to bed after a quick shower. It took a couple of days for the fever to die down, but what won’t kill you will make you stronger, right?