4/6 - Kirkwood Sidecountry

Before we ventured out into the backcountry, we warmed up with a few laps in-bounds.  My friend showed me some new chutes.  One off of chair 10 called The Fingers, and another off of chair 6 called The Nostril.  Then we skied Vista, because we assumed it would have a similar aspect as The Cali Chutes.  The snow in Vista was super tracked out and sun baked, so we decided to not hike to the chutes and instead go over to another zone.

Those lines that end up being framed by the trees were ours.  Nice and steep.

After our second run, a random lone snowboarder appeared on the other side of the valley.  He yelled to us "HOW DO I GET OUT OF HERE?"  We skinned over to him, and talked to him.  Apparently he ignored the ski boundary, and followed the path of another group.  No partner, no avy gear, no water.  We pointed him back in the direction of the resort on a skin track.

We did two laps on this slope.  Pretty mellow with soft snow.  You can see our skin track on the right side.

After we did another lap, we decided to follow the snowboarder's boot pack up the hill.  We were finished anyway, and we wanted to make sure he got back safely.  We didn't end up catching up with him, but his tracks led back down to the Palisades Bowl into Kirkwood.


Update:
My ski partner took some really cool GoPro footage.  I keep forgetting mine at home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Iy4F8aETo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvMqIyV5eCc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cxi-EhteQ