Don't use pole straps, find it too cumbersome to keep putting them on and off. It's a personal preference though, I know plenty of people who use them and plenty who don't.

I haven't done OIE yet so take everything I say with a grain of salt, but I'd say the Fingers are only good practice if you actually straightline them. If you do that, then yes, they're definitely great practice, but definitely not even close to as steep as OIE.

@@arjunski thanks! Upon reflection, I probably will have to try it the year after because I went with Ikon instead of epic

Thanks man! I got most of this information from Fatmap.com! It's a really great 3D map and I highly recommend it!

Thank you!

Thank you! Fair enough, I'll change the title from climbing -> hiking for it to be less misleading

🤦‍♂

Thanks man! It was a blast skiing this one with you :)

It's pretty steep. Steeper than anything that I've done at Heavenly. Maybe slightly less steep than Hell's Delight at Kirkwood but steeper than anything else I've done there (Notch, Upper Sister's, Fingers, Dick's Drop, Ski School Chute, etc...).

@@arjunski the main difficulty of needle alternate is probably still the narrowness, which makes it easier to do the straightline at the bottom

@@arjunski Good to know thanks. It looks very challenging. That lift wasn't open when I went but I'll have to check it out next season. The Granite lift and Siberia were both weirdly different going late late spring in ways that made it both easier and more challenging. The snow being so soft made cutting threw bumps a breeze but also tested your balance because of how sticky things were.

This one always has some of the best snow on the mountain!

Thank you! 😁

Thanks man! I've been skiing since I was 4 years old, but I really started to push myself towards more extreme stuff at around age 16.

HAHAHA 😂. I have no intention to compete with Buckhouse. I can't bring myself to ski most midwest/east coast resorts outside of maybe a few exceptions

Thanks man! That's 100% the goal, definitely wanna start getting into more drops/straightlines next season!

Dude no I was also shocked when he somehow managed to hold on 😂

FRRRR! I'm cannot comprehend how Daley does it like 10 times a day 😭

Wacky's definitely varies heavily based on conditions! I also did it when coverage was very good. Being forced to jump over those rocks at the bottom definitely seems very intimidating!

Thank you!!

Thanks for showing this one to me! It's such a wicked run, totally worth the hike!

These days when I attempt these crazy runs, for some reason both you and Arjun are the first to enter my head. Even now, I am also tapping the skis on them.

Now try editing that out constantly 🤣🤣

@@SRGSkiing LMAO I feel you! I'm sure it must be hell having to go through all my clips and hearing all the idiotic things I say while skiing 😂

@@arjunski You should hear some of the things that I say lol

That's awesome man! I absolutely love that Ikon lets Squaw/Palisades stay open this late, wish Epic did something similar with Kirkwood. Given that you love Kirkwood, you're gonna love all the upper mountain terrain here!

Curious if you can just go in a t shirt and thin pants?

Absolutely! That is the beauty of spring/summer skiing. Nearly everyone on the mountain was in shorts/t-shirt

@@arjunski Interestingly, it was kind of windy and cold when I went. I was fortunate to have packed a long sleeved t shirt and brought some regular gloves and ski pants. Also, props to skiing with Martin. I'd probably be too afraid i was way off his level.

One of my favorites of the day!

Absolutely man! It was a blast and hella inspiring riding with you, Sean, and Martin! Definitely one of the most fun days of skiing I've had! 😁

Absolutely! It was a whole lot of fun, definitely opened my eyes to skiing more in the Spring-time!

100% worth it! The snow quality, terrain, and vibes were absolutely fantastic!

Yeah no definitely a good choice! It does get pretty sketch towards the bottom although we did go during a particularly bad snow year. We did go all the way to the boundary line and it was very steep, though I've heard some people say the gates closer to the lift are actually harder. Still had a lot of fun with this one, it's definitely one of the steepest tree runs I've done!

Definitely one of the sketchiest runs I've done!

Agreed! Unfortunately, we just lapped Sam's and didn't go down any further. Snow was a bit sketchy during our trip so I didn't wanna go too far down the mountain. Definitely want to come back and do Powderhorn when conditions are favorable!

Hell's Delight's a really fun one! You've gotta wait for the chute to fill out but once it does, it's a blast to ski! Hoping to do Once is Enough in 2026 when I switch back to Epic, I was going to do it this year but the conditions never lined up when I was in town

It's hard for conditions to line up when I got work and mostly ski weekends. I should have sent once is enough last year but I didn't. it just was never worth the risk this year the days I was there. But the wall being groomed this season was super awesome and I got hella t bar runs which normally is a little hike

Wall being groomed was definitely something I've always wanted to experience and I'm glad I did this season! I was shocked that they actually groomed it from the very top (the part that's typically corniced). Even though I've been skiing Kirkwood for so long, I've somehow never made it over to the T-Bar. Vista's an area I wanna check out at some point, doesn't look too extreme but definitely seems fun

@@arjunski most of the runs off that T-Bar are only steep at the drop in but very easy once you get about 10 percent down. there are some nice cliff jumps too when there is some fresh snow

Isn't T-bar closed like all the time and why do you have to hike to get to it💀

Thanks brotha! Same goes for you, I've seen the progress on your channel!

I have no regrets doing it ESP back when I shot this video. It got me out of my comfort zone at the time and that's important when it comes to progression. If I were sliding or falling down the full thing, then yeah, it'd be a different story... At my current level, I could 100% ski this much better, but I wouldn't have gotten to where I'm at today without struggling a bit on this run.

@@arjunski That's true, gotta try something tougher than you're used to, to get out of your comfort zone and progress. You have more ballz than me to try that one, looks super steep. I can't wait to go back to Colorado, did Vail a few years ago.

You'll have a blast with this one!

By far my favorite day at Kirkwood that I've had! Bluebird, steep chutes, great snow, good coverage, you can't really ask for anything else!

Thanks man! I know it's a bit of a hot take, but I actually really like it when the groom The Wall. It makes for such a unique and fun cruiser! Plus that top section is seriously steep, definitely the steepest groomer I've done so far

@@arjunski Yeah I agree, I love a good steep groomer

Holy shit its spam

Nice man, that's awesome! This is definitely one of my favorite chutes at Kirkwood. The coverage is definitely a bitch sketchy early season but the chute fills up pretty nicely as the snowpack increases!

@@arjunski yah definitely! And it's less trafficked so the snowpack stays throughout the day. It was a blast

That would be darkly hilarious 😭

Gnarly. Well done! 😊

It's a fantastic cruiser! Definitely helped a lot with building my confidence on very steep groomed runs!

It's funny, I went to Tahoe on vacation when I was in high school in 2000. Previously I had only skied a little PA hill called Shawnee, where I could fly down anything there no problem. Did 3 days at Heavenly, 1 at Alpine Meadows, 1 at Squaw Valley and then 1 at Kirkwood. I came to Tahoe and every single black looked like a vertical wall with massive moguls, which I was terrible at. Even my first run down Heavenly ended with a mogul filled blue. I chickened out and didn't do a single black until my last day here at the end of the day, I think this was my only black run the entire trip cause it seemed like the only black that didn't have moguls, and it was not bad at all. I didn't go skiing again for a looooong time, as much as I loved the trip, but I look back and I regret not taking a lesson and being less of a chicken. I missed out on so much great terrain. From 2000 till now I only skied a few times at a small-medium hill in NY in 2008, but this past season I got back into it and got a season pass for a big NY mountain (Gore). I really tried to seriously improve, and I really did quite a bit.... although from pushing myself so hard I ended my season with a knee injury early February haha. Oops. Well if I ever get back to Tahoe one day I'll definitely make up for it and actually ski some good stuff there rather than blue groomers all day.

Thanks man! And thank you for showing me this one, it's such a fun little chute!

Yes it was! It had snowed a few days prior so the cord was still very fresh!

Thank you!! This was definitely one of the most brutal runs of the trip, but I really enjoyed it! You really don't find trails that have this insane amount of length and vert!

Thanks man! This is definitely a bit of a weird one to find and while it's not all that extreme, it's still a really fun one to do! Definitely worth checking out during your next trip out here, can't wait to see some clips from your day!