Kirkwood - Short report w/pics

[NoKnees]

Another weekend, another couple days at Kirkwood. I know, same'o same'o. I'll working on mixing it up and getting some better photos in the future..

Saturday: Expedition Kirkwood - "Steeps Camp"

This is something Kirkwood is working on to set itself a little apart from some of the other places. It's a group lesson/tour with the idea of showing off some of the more interesting parts of Kirkwood, and giving you some instructions on how you can ride it better. It's listed as "strong intermediate through advanced riders", but in reality it was basicly intermediate, with only a couple advanced folks making it out the day I was there. They break things up into groups of 4-6, based on skill level primarily, and perceived aptitude as well. My group of the four strongest riders got Will B., one of Kirkwood's lead "expedition guide/instructors". He's a ripping freerider that regular competes in the big freeride events (Kirkwood hosts one of NA's stops, a regular favorite on the world tour) and some occasional freestyle stuff. He's definitely the guy you want leading you around the hill. The other two instructors taking the other groups have many years of experience there at Kirkwood as well, I just didn't get to hang around them to find out more.

Anyway, I didn't take too many photo's as Will was videoing the whole thing for video analysis at the end of the day.

Overall impression: Fun, but expect to be limited by the lowest common demonitor in your group, as with any group lesson type activity. If you have a bunch of ripping boarders, you'll get into some fun stuff. If not, you'll at least get some good instructions/tips and have some of the better stuff pointed out to you for a later visit on your own time. My group had two brothers that were cool, but not quite up to a full day of running around the hill non-stop in variable powder, windpacked, to bumped terrain. Another guy Paul, who was cool and ready for anything, myself, and the instructor. We lost the brothers after lunch, as they were pretty wiped out and didn't want to slow the rest of the group down. As said, cool guys, looked like they had fun and got something out of it...

What I got out of it? Took a short hike for some good turns that I'd been eyeballing, but didn't really know much about. Got a couple photo's of it. I learned that when doing long heelside carves, especially in steeps, I don't adjust my weight and absorb enough on the front leg. Basically, I don't finish it before looking/turning back down the fall-line. That, and I still do the "Chuckie" waving my back hand around too much in steeper terrain, not keeping my shoulders/upper body as quiet and inline with my board as I should. Minor, but annoying issues... Never too old to learn...

Sunday I just tooled around with my wife and some co-workers/friends that were up. Wind kept the top of the mountain and backside closed for most of the day, so we just did some mellow tree riding for about 4 hours before calling it a day...

Second to last pic is of Sunday, a perfect cloudless day, with enough wind to creat it's own blizzard on the upper mountain. Looks nice down low, but you can see the snowstorm up high. Cool.. Down right chilly up there.