Home > Trip Reports > Feb 12-14: Mt. Houghton, Kirkwood BC, Basin Pk

Feb 12-14: Mt. Houghton, Kirkwood BC, Basin Pk

2/15/10
Canada BC
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Posted by kam on 2/16/10 3:18pm
A big group of friends from Seattle dropped by to surf our couch over the long weekend.  On Friday, Cass, Kelvin, Chris, and I skied a nice east-facing slope off Mt. Houghton near Mt. Rose.  We found a great line with protected powder as Kelvin demonstrates:



Before our run down Houghton, we skinned to the top of Tamarack Peak for a look down Hourglass bowl, but decided to drop into Broken Glass instead.  Near the top of the run was a thin layer of funky wind-compacted snow, but after a few turns the snow softened up nicely (Cass halfway down):



On Saturday the entire group (12 total including Allyson and I) packed into two cars and headed for some inbound skiing at Kirkwood.  The weather was beautiful; the snow was fine, but it could have been better.  Around 1:30 pm, Cass, Kurt, and I left the ski area at the top of the Wall chair with skins.  We made two laps on a small north-facing slope about 20 minutes by skins from the access gate.  A couple snowmobilers challenged me to a game of chicken while trying to high-mark my line.  If Cass and Kurt didn't hold me back, I would have ran them over with my

On Monday we skied Mt. Rose ski area and some left that afternoon.  Thanks for visiting us and come back again, friends!

More photos:
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Man that looks nice. Are y'all returning later in the spring to ski the395 corridor? Seems like a really good bet this year.

Ck out Coon Creek Canyon on the NE shoulder of Castle Peak when you get tired of Peter Grubb/Round Valley. A good close to the road option with steeper lines on the N side and a nice open corn slope on the S side for the trip back home.

Thanks for the TR!

Great to see everyone enjoying the sunshine and powder!  Close friends, sunshine, powder, and gorgeous summit views, not much better than that!

Hello Kam,
I see a rare appearance of the elusive Chris T. on this here forum in a couple of photos.  He seems to be settling in down there just fine.
Tell him I say hello.
Thanks,
John

Hi John,

Wow, what a small world.  Allyson and I met Chris at the beginning of the season at Mt. Rose ski area.  We've been skiing together quite a bit since then.

He's coming over again tomorrow night to finish making a pair of skis.  I'll be sure to let him know you said hello.

kam

ahhhhh the sunshine and spring conditions were so great, and were made even better by the company!  thanks again to all who joined us.

jim h--thanks for the info on the ne shoulder of castle--i've heard good things about those open corn slopes you speak of, especially once spring officially starts.  8)  looking forward to exploring!

You're welcome. Lots of goods in Tahoe and down 395 on the E side this season.

While I'm thinking of it - check out Red Lakes Peak too for a really nice long corn ski - the main gully that goes down the E face towards 88 is awesome. Good access for some pretty good vertical without too much fuss.

Be sure to keep sending pics. We need the stoke (and all the snow you seem to have...).


Reply to this TR

7106
feb-12-14-mt-houghton-kirkwood-bc-basin-pk
kam
2010-02-16 23:18:36