TR: USA/Canada - Pics and Skier Warning!!

Finally I got around to writing this up, hopefully sharing the stoke, and giving back to the community after years of reading others TRs both here and elsewhere on the web. Just a heads-up, there’s a lot of photos, and a lot of skiing in this TR.

At the start of December I left Melbourne, headed for Kirkwood in California for 10 weeks of riding. Right off the bat the plan went pear-shaped with zero snow since a big early-November storm, which was apparently all gone already. So arriving in San Fran, I headed down to LA and met up with my buddy Az for some surfing and road tripping. We ended back in Kirkwood after around 2 weeks, hoping to time it so we’d just beat a forecasted system. That didn’t arrive until mid-Jan.

After some exploring in the Tahoe area, waiting for snow and riding lots of skinny manmade ribbons of death Az and I pulled the pin. The road trip was on again, we collected my girlfriend Evie and our friends Tim and Loz from the airport and drove straight to Canada, stopping only for booze as it was already New Year’s Eve. Meeting up with friends working at Silverstar, it was finally a proper winter! Fresh tracks, pow slashes, night riding, hiking, it was all on.

Two weeks passed and it was time to move south again. We sadly left Silverstar with our wallets much lighter, but looked forward to some promising weather forecasts for Tahoe. It was back to playing the waiting game. But we had done our dues already and Ullr provided the goods soon. Kirkwood was pummelled by a 3-day epic storm, and went from 3 runs on manmade to almost the entire mountain open. And life was good again. Sadly the storm train passed through and we only had a few more 3-6 inch days for the rest of the trip, but we got good at finding the stashes of windblown hiding out. Fun times were there to be had, in amongst the snowless, icy and windy days.

We came back to Melbourne in the second week of Feb, and although we didn’t get as many bottomless pow days that we hoped for, the trip helped us all grow as riders, and opened our eyes to the potential that is Tahoe. Kirkwood is a sweet mountain, steep and lots of terrain, although a little shorter than I was expecting, in comparison to Whistler and Lake Louise. If you consider yourself a free-rider it’s worth checking out, as it’s more remote and less crowded than the Tahoe mega-resorts. Awesome mellow vibe, say hi to Coop if you see him on the hill!

I’ve gone a bit mad with the photos, but I hope you enjoy!

Latersss Melbourne.

Jetsetting sunsets are dope.

Don’t leave your wallet in Auckland airport. You’ll be stuck with this view for the next 30 hours. San Fran.

Got my wallet back, time to enter the land of freedom and Maccy D’s.

Highway 1.

Industrial Surfing. Venice Beach, LA.

Went surfing with Dougie.

Actors jumping off a pier at sunset. It was cold.

Heading up to Half Moon Bay, Highway One.

Jellyfish at Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Most awe-inspiring aquarium I’ve ever seen. Monterey Bay again.

Hi there San Fran.

We did the touristy thing. Alcatraz.

Sometimes we did 2 touristy things at once. Golden Gate from Alcatraz.

Supermax.

Planet of the Apes. AKA John Muir Forest.

Az with some awe-induced neck strain.

We got excited when Caples Lake froze over.

A familiar sight. The Kirkwood Inn. Good food and better drinks.

Not what you want to see in the second half of December.

Yours truly, hiking manmade.

My cousin Liam visited for a week, worked on his handplants.

Me again, using snowmaking whales for kickers.

Az, exploring Kirkwood meadows.

Lake Tahoe, with Heavenly Ski Area in the background.

We went mind-surfing we were that bored.

Northstar sugar-fix, Az taking a bite out of the manmade.

Krista still had a good time!

Az not wasting any time on arrival in Silverstar.

Tim, first turns of his trip.

More to come..

Nice! can imagine how spewing you’d be to find zero snow at all! Did you look into flying elsewhere in the US? I imagine road tripping up to canada cost some serious petrol coin!

Still in Silverstar:

Loz got amongst it too.

Tim frothed on the cold smoke.

Silverstar lifty and all-round nice guy Felix made the most of his days off with us.

Tried out tubing one night.

Sean - not good with kids rides.

“Is that it?” - Sean

Played some hockey on the pond. Sean and Az.

Loz and I facing off.

Go team!

Silverstar had a decent park too! Felix going the distance.

Night-riding on the old death chair.

Free refills, the best cold snow of the trip. Loz.

Kiv with a layback pow slash. It was dumping!

Tim felt the need to get all spinny.

Evie skiing by Speedlite.

It got deep that night. Tim.

And with that, we had to leave, some to work, some to California. Felix on his way home at the end of the day.

Kirkwood finally looking like a ski hill, mid Jan.

Dusk pano, Kirkwood.

Deep but heavy, Sierra snow was still better than being in an Aussie summer! Evie.

We found a log jib in the woods, so Tim made the most of it.

In the flat light and unfamiliar terrain, we got a little lost. Evie, trying not to get cliffed out.

After a little exploring she found the good stuff.

One of the sweet little gullies that Kirkwood is filled with.

The weather settled eventually, here’s Loz making the most of the last shreds of pow from the big one.

In the sun, with snow, the backside showed its true self and the potential over the boundaries.

Pine-tree perfection. Evie.

The groomers got reallll good too. Tim throwing first-chair spray.

Groomer porn.

Evie developed a serious need for speed.

Windbuffed goodness on The Wave. Evie.

Little top-ups were much appreciated.

Evie found herself on a hidden deep ridge.

Another of the great snow-catching gullies getting done over by Evie.

Waving goodbye to Kirkwood, USA, and the snow for a few more months.

Homeward bound.

Thanks for reading!

Cool TR, some awesome shots in there Makes me wish I took more time to take photos when I went to Canada earlier this year. 

Nice TR, and some great shots in there too!!!!!

Amazing images

What camera gear did you take with you?

Thanks guys! The snow situation was a bit of a bummer, but thats the gamble you take with riding. I wouldn’t go that early in the season again, but we were stuck with those dates due to uni and work.

Cords - it worked out cheaper to drive the car up to Canada as we had it booked already through the rental company, and fuel 4-ways actually wasn’t that bad. It ended up being just cheaper than the flights we could get at the time. Plus it’s a beautiful (but looong) trip!

Azz - I shoot on Canon gear, had a 1DMkIV (my baby!) on the trip, and for lenses theres shots in there from a 15mm fisheye, 24-70, 17-40 and 70-200. I got the most use out of the 17-40 in riding shots. The night shots were done using a 580EX speedlite triggered by a Pocketwizard.

i was spewing when we got to Kirkwood on the 21st Dec…rode there for 2 days then headed to heavenly & Northstar (made my wallet significantly lighter, had season passes to Kirkwood)

Awesome TR!

Some stunning photos in there - you are very talented!

Yeah its bloody expensive to fly across the border!

Never seen Kirkwood with no snow before. Or Heavenly! Wow

Can I ask how much your airfares were? I have 3 weeks off at Christmas and NY and the cheapest at the moment is $2600.

Deano how much was yours?

cause i went just before christmas they stung me $2200 return each…that was with air nz

P.S. i got my flights through STA travel as we were both 25 or under.

Wonder if before Christmas is cheaper? I only looked for after.

Deano wherever you are I will cook you Christmas dinner in exchange for a bed!

(What time of year did you get the tickets? Oh and to be that young again!)

haha thanks! i bought them around this time last year, no actually around sept i think.

pretty sure the expensive xmas period starts around 10th-15th december. I remember because when booking my flights to US/Canada a few years ago, I was right on the cusp of it between finishing the school year and getting out of the country before it got too expensive.
So it is expensive a few wks before xmas, too, which makes perfect sense when you think about it.

Yeah i had a quick look again and the flight prices are pretty much the same either side of xmas. :-(

Good to know you held off till Sept Deano, I just hope they don’t go up between now and then.

You have some breath taking shot there! nice work.

You made me happy :D.

hells yeah awesome review. Just goes to show how someone with good gear and an idea of how it works can take amazing pics. MORE MORE MORE!