The Uptrack

Bottomless Powder

2012-01-28T18:48:00.000-09:00

I'm calling it the best day of the year! Others call it "epic"; "bottomless"; "today was as good as it gets"; and "DEEP!" Turnagain Pass received about 30"+ of loose, low density, bottomless, unconsolidated snow last Sunday/Monday.

Today we reaped the benefits of that storm by setting the skin track and breaking trail with JD and B-real.

-15F at the truck, we made quick time, little stops and hammered it out until we got into the sun. And a lot of folks gave thanks! I actually had one guy say "we should have to pay a toll".

This was your toll: First Tracks!

The sock monkey gave me good luck on a phenomenal day. But he didn't keep my feet warm. I returned to the truck walking on two blocks of east coast ice. Riding the "Mattawatts".

Justin and I after tending to our crops....(get it? farming our turns!)

I've got two weeks break to help a friend a build a cabin, and drill. Gotta love it!

Get Educated

2012-01-22T11:04:00.000-09:00

The last day of high pressure was just like the last 10. Cold (-26F in Portage), clear and light wind. I met Josh at Ingram Creek and we decided to get our learn on in The Library. We also grabbed Brian as they headed back to Anchorage due to -22F temps at the Twin Peaks trailhead.

The Librarian looking for a good novel.

There have been some quite impressive lines skied in the far reaches of Turnagain Pass. Like these, on the south face of Wolverine and Eddie's. Somebody really got after the back bowl's at the end of Eddie's ridge.

Brian does his homework (that's funny because he's an Engrish teacher!).

Josh taking the final exam after an all-night cram session!

Sorry for all of the school/library references - it was funny at the time. Stability has been bomber and a lot of great skiing was had. But the low pressure has deposited a nice refresh to the Kenai Mountains - we'll have to wait and see how everything flushes out.

In other news, this guy showed up and was ready to shred Tincan.....literally.

High Pressure and High Lines

2012-01-17T21:15:00.000-09:00

We returned from Maui to temps well below zero, and fresh snow. Not to mention the hurricane that produced 100mph winds throughout SCAK.

I took a quick conditions check tour to Hatcher Pass, and battled my way up through the avalanche laboratory (ie. the west face of Marmot where the snowmachiners were highmarking above me and snowboarders riding three at a time). I got well out of their way on the ridge top. Views were nice to the east near The Presidents.

I chose the last prominent rib on West Marmot. It was a decent 3" of light powder on a super stable base.

I didn't ski solo (house rules), my new sock monkey was watching my six...

On MLK day I rallied with the Page brothers and Whittier local Josh to ski some lines in the Pass. We chose some thrilling lines on southfacing Cornbiscuit that were well worth the climb. Two weeks of drinking beer and eating good food does nothing for your mountain fitness.

Chris slaying the blue and white!

The Snobomb showing us how its done.

Josh is glad he kept his AT setup.

The highlight of the day was watching this group of five go huge on Goldpan; with one rider almost rag-dolling over a rockband after getting knocked off his feet by the sluff.

Sluff Management is the name of the game. Ski fast, take chances!

Maui

2012-01-17T20:47:00.001-09:00

Meg and I just returned from almost 2 weeks in Hawaii - 3 days on Oahu and 9 days on Maui. It was a nice pleasant surprise to come home and shovel the foot-and-a-half of snow that was in my driveway. But the 80 degree temps and sunshine was a nice break from the sub-zero temps that Alaska has to offer this time of year.

Above is our local hangout - the Grotto Bar at the Grand Wailea. We would start our day with a Bloody Mary....at 10:00 am (my Dad's is still the best)! The hotel was quite grande, we didn't leave the pool area for 3 days to do anything responsible. Riding the "rapids" with the kids was pretty darn fun! Packraft not required.

And of course you have to take advantage of the only water elevator in the world, right?!

Speaking of kids, I watched these two teenagers do back flips off the rope swing. I just couldn't quite get it. I think the gymnast in the group could have nailed the landing like Kerri Strug.

Every Sunday, locals gather at Little Beach for the fire dance. The scene was something i've witnessed in Girdwood - good tunes, good vibes, very little clothing and ummmm good herbs.

I would return with friends (and my clothes) three days later for some boogie boarding. Something I haven't done in nearly 15 years. The last time being in the Atlantic Ocean near Fenwick Island, Delaware. "If in doubt, paddle out!"

Yours truly shootin' the curl. "Eddie would go".

We also had to see what SUP...Stand Up Paddle boarding that is. Meg rocked it.

Excellent friends Marisa & Aaron surprised us with a sunset whale watch cruise on the Hula Girl sailing vessel. The Doc enjoys the sun while double fisting (ok, my Brunette is holding the Bikini Blonde).

The Humpback Whales gave us some good views of the spouts, breaching and tail slaps. We hope to see them this summer in PWS.

Certainly the highlight of the trip, and filling up the adrenaline tank, we took a 5-zipline tour with Kapalua Adventures. I highly recommend this trip, and guides David and Grant were top notch....referring to us Alaskans as the "Other" Hawaiians.

After the tour we had to head to the airport, but by way of the north shore. We stopped at the Nakalele Blowhole for some pics on a beautiful (and hot) afternoon.

The end of the rainbow doesn't always hold a pot of gold. Some d-bag fell into the blowhole this past summer. That's a good way to remove yourself from the gene pool.

Maui is home to the best sunsets when viewed from the western shore. I was searching for the infamous "green flash" - not sure if I found it in the Longboard Lager or the Bikini Blonde.

Cuttin' Skins

2011-12-23T17:19:00.001-09:00

So I finally put my new Black Diamond Ascension Nylon Split STS Climbing Skins on the "Mattawatts". This is to give thanks to Ullr (and Mr. Claus!) for 14" of nice fresh new snow which blanketed the Anchorage Front Range! Bout dang time after three back-to-back Chinooks.

Hopefully i'll test out the new boards on a dawn patrol (Dawn Patrol: Verb, noun. To extricate oneself from bed at ungodly hours of the morning in an attempt to bring some life to a mind numbing corporate existence) tomorrow morning before the Christmas Eve festivities.

Hopefully i'll post some Christmas Stoke! Happy Holidays!

Level 3 Prep/Observers Course

2011-12-11T10:47:00.000-09:00

I brushed up my forecasting and observer skills this past week with the Alaska Avalanche School.

The Level 3 Prep/Observers Course focused on the the standards presented in the Snow, Weather and Avalanches: Observational Guidelines for Avalanche Programs in the United States - also known as the "SWAG".

Led by Tucker and Brad, whom I always seem to run into, we spent the day touring and standing in snow pits on the lower elevations of Tincan. It was a beautiful bluebird day in the morning, turning to greybird in the afternoon with the winds ramping up - with 70mph gusts on Sunburst and 84mph on Rendezvous!

The previous ~6" of new snow dried out nicely and made for some pretty awesome skiing (...or so i've heard). We ran into some familiar faces who skied Tincan Proper and Todd's Run....dang jealous!

The view from our snowpit basecamp. High winds over on Pyramid Peak and the north side of the Arm.

2mm surface hoar...something to watch out for at mid-lower elevations.

Five snowpits....looks like craters from a CBU-31 JDAM.

Any snow geeks can find my observation here. We wrapped up the course at Chair 5 over a beer. I always recommend brushing up on your early season avy skills with some type of "continuing education" - and the crew at the AAS is top notch! Thanks Tucker!

New Boards

2011-12-06T08:25:00.000-09:00

I apologize, I think all of this rain was my fault. I got my new skis mounted on Friday, and woke up on Saturday to heavy rainfall and Hurricane force winds (Beaufort Force 12, or Category 2 Hurricane force winds according to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale)

Shown above is the Black Diamond "Mattawatt", with the Dynafit Vertical ST binding.

Now all we need is a big powder day. This reminds me of last February's "anti-tracks". I'm calling it the DMFC - "December Melt-Freeze Crust", and at lower elevations you might even find some DRC - "December Rain Crust".

Chinook

2011-12-05T08:43:00.000-09:00

It was just too good to be true. November was an awesome start to the ski season, with some phenomenal visibility, cold snow, and stability over the Thanksgiving weekend....and we gave thanks! (yeah this is a repeat photo, but it was an awesome day - Down Under bound Matt Hage slaying the big mountain powder!)

But the recent Chinook winds have produced gusts up to 101mph on the top of Rendezvous Peak at Arctic Valley, and Breal told me 118mph gusts on the Hillside at Glen Alps. This is the only Chinook that i'm used to....the CH-47 type....

I can only explain it as "jumping into a big screen TV".

I'm glad I had to work this weekend, because it wasn't a good weekend to enjoy the skiing. I think the upper elevations got some decent snow, but heavy rains blanketed the front range.

Time to burn some skiis in the name of Ullr.

Sunburst Ski Posse

2011-11-27T12:00:00.001-09:00

Finally, high pressure and fresh snow. A recent mid-week storm brought about a foot of fresh new low density snow to Kenai Peninsula's Turnagain Pass. The resort finally opened to alleviate some of the pressure on places like Tincan and other local BC hangouts.

Matt and Agnes are on a 10-day bender to ski all of the snow in Alaska prior to heading to NZ for work, so they organized a good ol' ski posse to slay some Southcentral cold smoke. The victims consisted of Matt and Agnes, Jay and Victory, John Daly, The Hoff....and yours truly.

Our plan was to travel back to Taylor Pass and ski some shots from the weather station, but group plans took us up the standard route along the ridge line. Single digit temps and a thick fog layer had us doubting our travel plans. But we persevered and were rewarded with a temperature inversion and sun on the ridge (hence the name Sunburst).

We were glad about our terrain choice, as it looked like the Chilkoot Trail headed up Taylor Pass. We ran into Eric the Viking and the MtnKat; I think they headed back to ski Pastoral Peak. Prior to making the final push, we dug a pit. For you snow junkies, you can find my results on the CNFAIC photos and observation page.

We made two runs from the top of the main ridge and skied some nice spines and features that boasted excellent snow! Matt wishing they could postpone their trip...

I also put together a quick seggie from some footie I took with my GoPro HD Hero. Check it here:

The stoke tank has been filled!! Give thanks!

South Fork Conditions Update

2011-11-10T18:25:00.002-09:00

This November has been off to a good start, with over a foot of fresh snow in the past week. Not to mention the decent start in October; but I've already got 3 1/2 foot snow banks in my driveway.

I headed out to the South Fork tonight for a quick after work "one run and done" conditions check. I really didn't pay attention to the weather gauge, but there must have been some wind that came in with the recent storm. By my calibrated eye, there was about 4" of new low density snow in the parking lot at the trailhead. I could see the wind was transporting snow on the ridge tops, specifically Harp and some of the ridges deeper up valley.

I observed a small natural slide on the top of Lynx that had been obviously wind loaded. There was a large party that had skied the main gut of Harp proper and it "looked" really good. I would be leery and untrusting of ridgetops and gullies that had been scoured - play it safe!

Here are some GoPro pics. They really don't do any type of justice, but better than nothing.

And of course LB getting hers...

In celebration of Veteran's Day, i'll be out getting some turns. Hopefully i'll have an update of how things flushed out after the "mega storm".

In other news, Matt Hage is getting stoked.

The Wedding...my version

2011-10-16T20:17:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know. I apologize for the lack of stoke. As the Snowbomb wrote to me in an email, "Missing from 'The Uptrack-, Stoke!" Life is certainly keeping me busy... a new piece of property in Talkeetna, the Big W, and a little bit of packrafting here and there to keep me frosty.

But this post is like none others....a different kind of stoke. It certainly involves adrenaline, great people, fun times and endless memories - like a great powder day!

September 17th, 2011...yup, I got married. Meg is frequently spotted on "The Uptrack" seen wearing something pink, or maybe donning some K2 Gotbacks or a Red Alpacka raft. But these photos hail from Cleveland, Ohio. Mad props to Anchorage based pro-pho Matt Hage for going out of his comfort zone and partying with us in the C-L-E!

Our wedding weekend started out with the bachelor and bachelorette parties on the Thursday night prior to the Saturday wedding. The girls enjoyed a nice steak dinner, while the boys played a tournament style Texas-hold-em poker game.

Ya gotta pay to play!

I've always wanted a shave with a straight razor. Jason from Chop Tops Barber Shop in Richfield, Ohio hooked me up on the morning of the wedding day.

And I hooked up all the guys with a nice Crossfit workout. Kyle Rowse from Crossfit Energy supported the Fight Gone Bad 6 event at his affiliate gym. What better way to start the day off than with a good workout. Check out the link to better understand what it is, and how it was developed. There were some broken hearts and snapped souls.

These guys aren't having it. Meg's two brothers, Bobby and Joey.

The victims. From L to R: Me, Brendo, Pat, Bobby, Scott, Joey, Aaron.

Scott perfects his form on the "push press". Standard for men is 75 pounds. He's about 30 pounds short...but hey, he's a Vietnam veteran!

The Sumo Deadlift High Pull. Standard for men is 75 pounds. Yep, these suck.

Row for calories.

Wall Balls. Standard for men is 20 pounds, thrown at a height of 10 feet above the ground. Did I mention these suck too?

It's fun when it's done. Kyle is a true class act, and it was a great way to start off an amazing day. Champagne toast by the Best Man....1 of 2 for the day.

Next it's on to the ladies. Meg's sister Mindy is doing her hair at an elegant hotel in downtown Cleveland. I guess they had champagne too!

The reveal. I love the look of Meg's mother.

Where all the ladies at?!?! From L to R: Christa, JJ, Marisa, Melissa, Meg, Mindy, Katie, Mrs. K.

What would The Uptrack be without a little Alaskan Stoke! Our cake topper.

Pre-game jitters.

All the ladies helping out the bride.

Enjoying some ice cold Utica Club's on the aft deck. We did a wedding cruise. All aboard!

Pat may be my Best Man, but this guy's the Better Man. Looking sharp Mr. K.

Escorting my Mom down the aisle to her seat. The "Reverend" Scott close behind.

What a lucky guy. Pat escorts Meg's sista's down the aisle....maybe Mindy and Melissa are the lucky ones?

I'll remember this one for the rest of my life.

We wrote our own vows, and just sayin'.....it was the best part of the wedding.

Admiring the new bride. Mrs and Mrs. J!

Small and intimate. Wedding on a boat. 75 folks. Group pic with Cleveland in the backdrop.

The Shrink gave me a hard time for not smiling. I thought I was smiling. Her dress is beautiful.

The maid(s) of honor giving their toasts. Nice job ladies!

Father-Daughter dance. Classic!

Gettin' crazy....all the ladies dancing to "Pour Some Sugar on Me"

Meg and I escaped for a quick pic on the deck with the light of Cleveland in the background. You won't see any more pictures after this. We rallied at the Barley House in downtown and partied huge on the party bus until 3:00AM.

Thanks for the celebration! Go Big, or Go Home (yup, that was in my vows!)

Echo Bend in HD

2011-07-01T12:20:00.000-08:00

Luc and I floated Echo Bend twice for a double-header on the Eagle River. The only other time we floated this was in September at lower water - around 300-400 cfs. Our trips were pushing 800 cfs which made it pushy but fun!

Enjoy the video in HD shot with my new GoPro.

Echo Bend Twofer from Matt Johnson on Vimeo.

It's Rafting Season

2011-07-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

It't been a little bit since an update on the Uptrack. The snow has melted, so if you want to get after it, you need to hike long and hard for some couloir skiing or glacier turns. But this is the time of year when the skiers turn to peak bagging, fishing, camping....and of course rafting.

On Memorial Day, we took a "fat" raft trip down the Chulitna River located in the Denali State Park. This borders the Denali National Park. We put-in at MP 185 on the Parks Highway, and floated 77 river miles to the take-out in Talkeetna.

The Boys (L to R): Ryan, Seff, Matt, Aaron-cito.

The Girls (L to R): Marisa, Meg, Diana, Lobita

Meg and I taking a lunch break. Denali and the Moose's Tooth in the back left (a little hazy).

Seff and his girl loungin'!!

Temps were in the mid 60's to lower 70's. We had unrestricted views of the Alaska Range and great flows for a phenomenal trip!

At the helm with Denali in the background.

I made a quick video of our trip. It can be viewed here:

Special thanks to OAP for the raft rentals! The reward was pizza and beer at Mountain High Pizza on Main Street in Talkeetna!

Hanging Valley Couloir

2011-05-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

I got the idea to ski into the Hanging Valley last year from Joe Stock who ventured deep into the South Fork for "cooler season."

Although American-ized, we like to call them "coolers" or "coolies" - referring to the french term "couloir": meaning "passage" or "corridor," a narrow gully with a steep gradient in a mountainous terrain.

After a day of excessive partying for a friends 40th birfday party, we got the classic 11:00 late start and made our way into Hanging Valley. Connecting the patches of snow and tundra, we put on/took off our skis about 10 times before making it to the base of the large chute. Not to mention negotiating the rotten saturated isothermic snowpack....

Tyler expresses his need for "couloir love". Our destination is straight ahead.

This couloir, which I dont have a specific name, required a 1500' boot pack. Reference previous posts about boot packing. We went from skinning, to booting, to booting with crampons, and finally to wallowing in waist deep powder wishing we had a pair of verts. We made it about 100' shy of the top, finally peeling our skins and enjoying the fresh May powder.

After nearly 8.5 hours of slogging, we arrived back at the Harp Mtn. pull out. Tired, sweat soaked, sunburned, dehydrated, hungry, blistered, and aching. The "body destroyer" pretty much says it all:

May Day!

2011-05-01T16:48:00.002-08:00

The first day of May skied surprisingly well. I thought that the forecast called for mostly cloudy and rain for the next week, but we got a nice sucker hole. I headed solo up to Hatcher Pass and had my mind set on either a couloir I scoped a couple months back near Gold Cord, or the north facing chutes on the Rae-Wallace Headwall.

LB and I slugged it out and made it as far as I could before I started booting. I hate boot packing. It must've been really warm last week, because there were a lot of rollerballs that made the skiing.....um.....interesting.

The pass also got about an inch of snow during that small front that moved through late in the week. The entire chute skied very well, requiring you to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge the occasional "death cookie". Lobita was loving the slope angle, but had it rough post-holing through the isothermal snowpack in the south facing flats.

I'll take it for the first day of May. I have to work both of the weekends in mid-May, so next weekend I have to get after it. It may be time to bring it back closer to home. I've got my eye on Raina's north couloir, and the chutes in Hanging Valley.

Powder Baskets

2011-04-25T12:47:00.000-08:00

The easter bunny greeted the day with baskets filled with powder, a whippet, and Utica Club.

Not to mention an early morning run to Hatcher Pass before brunch. B-real and I toured up into the Rae-Wallace bowl, looking left and right, debating on what to ski. To the right was a nice north-facing chute from atop Fish Peak (or Marmot or the Rae-Wallace Headwall depending on nomenclature). To the left was my all-time favorite run off the north side of Microdot - Nosebleed. This is a top contender for always holding good snow. We decided to ski Nosebleed and were pleasantly rewarded with soft powder in April!

B-real makes his way out of the Rock Garden. Sorry I don't have any good ski pics - we were doomed by flat light.

Lobita shakes it off....aint' nuthin' but a thang.

In other news, some folks have been getting after it - skiing Mount Bold. It seems that this is the time of year when people start slaying big Western Chugach peaks. I've heard that Mount Rumble and Yukla also got tagged. Others have slogged it out to ski Bench Peak in the Kenai's....very nice and worth the powder preservation.

And you can tell its that time of year. Roman and Timmy J made the first run down Six Mile. This always happens....the skiing is so good that I dont want to give it up; but boating season is upon us!

Taming the Lyon

2011-04-13T10:57:00.000-08:00

“Even the boldest zebra fears the hungry lion.”

I guess that's how we approached Mount Gordon Lyon. The tallest looming peak in the Arctic Valley drainage begs to get skied as you drive down the Glenn Highway and stare at its inviting north face. Fellow Eagle River skiers B-real, Eric and The Hoff set out to climb and ski the inviting powdery slopes of the Site Summit ridge.

B-real makes his way towards the Cook Inlet.

Eric being chased by his own lion, Stella.

Contemplating why they call this Mount Gordon Lyon...

So I looked it up. Its ironic that Gordon M. Lyon was an employee at the Corps of Engineers in the Alaska District as a project engineer in charge of construction of the Army Nike Missle site , and later engineer in charge of the Site Summit Nike station.

Hairline Triggers...

2011-04-13T07:32:00.002-08:00

If you ski in the backcountry, you've heard about the remotely triggered avalanche in Hatcher Pass this past weekend. There was a flurry of pictures on TTips, and various other blogs who posted about the touchy conditions. But you couldn't help but notice the cold smoke (yes in April!) on north facing aspects.

I put together a quick little vid of some of the pictures I took and video of my bonding tests. The bottom line is that they correlated perfectly to the activity we saw on the hill. Wide propagation and clean and fast shears.

Enjoy the April pow and ski safe!

Winter is Still Here...

2011-04-07T12:18:00.001-08:00

Thank you Mother Nature for the Front Range refresh! Two minor storms dumped about 6 inches of spring powder and reset the brutally wind hammered western Chugach. Spring really hasn't sprung yet, and places south of Anchorage are currently on the receiving end of the fire hose.

The deteriorating snow conditions allowed me to make good use of my Level II skills and geeked out in some snow pits on Harp and Tincan before having to go back to work. 109 days off - but now I don't have to shave everyday and I get to pick out what I wear each morning.

B-real and I refilled the stoke tank with an apres-work ski outing to Hiland Road. There was a small wind event that gave us just enough trouble on the uptrack to be spooked. Some fat and bulbous pockets of soft slab were noted, with whumping above slope, underfoot, and down slope. It took some careful and conservative route finding.

But we finally found what we were looking for.

Straight line distance to Anchortown - 14.37 miles!

Me and LB enjoying April cold smoke.

We caught the perfect soft light weather window. There is a "mega-storm" wreaking havoc in Alaska right now. This monster will hopefully prolong our ski season.

And finally, a ski guide was caught in an avalanche which resulted in a full burial yesterday afternoon while conducting snow assessment. Good job on the rescue! Read the report in today's advisory.

AIARE Level II

2011-03-20T23:13:00.000-08:00

For the last three days i've been hanging out with the folks from the Alaska Avalanche Information Center in Valdez, Alaska. I can't say enough about the professionalism of these folks, and our instructor who is from Stevens Pass, WA.

I would even say that Thompson Pass is worse off than the front range. However, after this recent storm event it looks like Hatcher Pass has faired the best. Positive vibes and prayers to all involved in the recent avalanche event on Hatch Peak.

Above is a pic of me geeking out with some snow crystals; observing surface hoar formation in our full profile pit. Hopefully we'll get some new snow and low pressure soon. I'm tired of clear and cold...

Supermoon

2011-03-18T22:15:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of Supermoon pics from Valdez. I'm here for a Level II Avalanche Course enjoying the good food and views.

Valdez Harbor.

So I guess this is the closest the moon has been since December 2008 - a mere 354,000 miles, and some speculate that this is the cause of the Japan tsunami. Maybe its the cause of the low snow year? CNFAIC reports that this is the dryest Girdwood has been in 20 years.

Meanwhile, the beard is shaping up well...

Ski fast, take chances. A phrase that we used to use at the ski shop...

Goose Bay and Culross Island

2011-03-15T11:53:00.000-08:00

The newly constructed Goose Bay Forest Service Cabin.

I just returned from spending five days skiing in Prince William Sound out of the Forest Service cabin at Goose Bay. It was constructed last May after the South Culross cabin was demolished. Besides Matt Murphy and his cabin crew from Girdwood, we were the first official skiers to visit the cabin.

Cap'n Mike Bender from Lazy Otter Charters did a great job on the water taxi. Although Goose Bay was partly frozen, we got off about 250 yards from the cabin. This, however, required a two hour movement over the sea ice and steep banks of the bay. Lets just say the return trip was a lot easier to navigate.

The snow conditions were no surprise to anyone. After the horrific wind in Southcentral, combined with no new snow in the last 3 weeks, conditions were dismal. But you've heard me say it before, "skiing is skiing". If it weren't for ski crampons, we wouldn't have been able to navigate to the terrain we skied otherwise.

In a total of 3 full days and 2 half days of skiing, we bagged nearly 11,500 vertical feet. I am going to return to Culross Island when we have powder. The ski access directly from the front door of the cabin gives way to phenomenal tree skiing - something an east-coaster takes a particular liking to...

We took it upon ourselves to name all of the runs that we skied. So if you hear something in this blog, it has been aptly named by yours truly.

Tyler descends the Dogface in the soft afternoon corn.

Marc harvesting the goods.

B-real contemplates the boilerplate.

On Day 2, we toured for nearly 7 hours and finally summitted Goose Peak. This was our favorite run of the trip, named Sound of Sunshine. It was a beautiful south facing shot that ran cleanly all the way down to the water.

On the way to recovery. Where recovery is measured in vertical feet.

Marc working on his tan.

After five full days of turns, I had a tired pup on my hands. When we took a break, she took a break.

Splitter weather gave way to cold and clear nights. With no propane in the two 50 gallon tanks, we had to improvise with our own stash of fuel and below zero down sleeping bags. This is the second cabin trip in a row that was bingo on propane.

The northern lights were out and amazing. I was surprised to see them so well this far to the south.

I also experimented with the illumination of the moon and some other constellations.

Cabin life. I made B-real run back and forth with a flashlight to make this shot. After cleaning this up, I did notice the Aurora in the background.

On the second to last day we got the Tsunami Advisory over our VHF radio. Pretty crazy considering we were about five feet above sea level at the time.

Check out this video of our trip.

If you've never skied in the Sound, make it a future destination on your backcountry bucket list. You won't be disappointed.

The Girl...

2011-03-01T12:30:00.001-09:00

Meg and I in a recent trip to Hawaii. She's the better looking one...

Yep, the two most important girls in my life....Meg and Lobita. But recently, it seems that La Nina (or The Girl in spanish) has been at the forefront of conversations in South Central Alaska. The forecast for the next week is clear, sun and cold. Not very favorable if you're planning a ski trip to Prince William Sound.

I checked out the anti-tracks with locals Matt and Agnes from Hagephoto. We headed up Tincan for a "one run and done" - and to see what the wind left us with. Not much...

Matt and Agnes survey the landscape and try to find a place to ski. It actually wasn't that bad, we found some decent carveable turns in the protected trees. Define Powder? As Rick Vance (February 2011, Backcountry) states, "skiing today was like pornography: great to look at, but a poor substitute for the real thing."

Me and one of my favorite girls.

Matt Hage took this photo. It's pretty sweet, and you can find it on his Facebook page. I heart Utica Club. Fun facts about "UC" (or Uncle Charlie's as we call it):

1. First beer sold in the United States after prohibition.

2. Only sold and distributed within 90 miles of Utica, New York.

You know you're an Alaskan powder enthusiast when... a Backcountry Ski Magazine is on your dashboard at the trailhead, and your windshield is splattered with State Parks passes.

Hometown Skiing

2011-02-24T17:58:00.000-09:00

The Chugach Front Range certainly did not get the amount of wind that Turnagain Pass had over the weekend. I expected the normal boilerplate, but was rewarded with some nice wind-buffed powder. The ridge tops were pretty scoured, but gullies and lower elevation runs held good skiable snow.

Tyler snagging first tracks.

Disclaimer: There was no trespassing conducted during the making of these powder turns.

Wolverine Creek

2011-02-23T19:12:00.000-09:00

With bluebird skies and fair temps, I headed up Wolverine Creek to check out Sharks Fin with local Avy Saavy Gals instructor Jenna and her pup Kijik. The approach wasn't as bad as I thought. The toughest part of the access was getting across the canyon of Ingram Creek. And the uptrack was already established.

The wind has had its way with Turnagain Pass and Southcentral Alaska. We found wind affected snow from the alders all the way to the ridge tops. I've never seen wind so devastating in TPass. Needless to say, the skiing was marginal; but we took some time to dig snowpits and conduct stability tests.

I couldn't help but visually recon some new terrain. Peterson Creek anyone?

We dropped a south-facing line into Wolverine Creek.

We'll definitely need some new snow before the skiing gets good again, or you'll have to be clever in discovering a powder stash that hasn't seen the hands of Abu Wind.

Lots of Blue and White!

2011-02-22T16:56:00.004-09:00

The weather has cooperated.....but Father Wind has not. On Saturday I skied with Anchorage-based professional photographers Matt and Agnes Hage from Hage Photo. Our powder mission took us to the heart of the Kenai Mountains - Turnagain Pass. We traveled off the beaten path a bit, as all of the usual turnouts were packed. However, Lipps was not different with groups of 2 or 4 scattering the ridgetops. Crowded or not, we found some spectacular snow. Although we did some work for some of Matt's clients, I was obliged to lend a hand by making multiple laps in the riches that Mother Nature had dropped the previous day...8 inches to be exact.

Matt gets to reap the benefits of his own hard work.

Agnes (AKA "The Talent") is all smiles.

Yours truly enjoying my day's work.

Today I headed out to Hatcher Pass to see what the recent storm total of 16" had done to the snowpack. TTips, CNFAIC, and the State Troopers all reported of a large natural avalanche closing the road. Sure enough, the main south facing Marmot ribs had slid.

I toured up past the Indy Mine towards Friendship Pass and Gold Cord. Although the pass was my destination to scope out some new lines, I didn't go past the base of Gold Cord. Elevations above 4000 feet were pretty wind hammered. I enjoyed my breakable crust and low angle powder turns with LB back to the truck. Yup, she's off the injured reserve after pulling a hammy.

The Uptrack...

I did manage to scope this nice couloir. Maybe a springtime endeavour?

Almost every steep wind loaded gully had slid during or after this most recent storm. I talked to a guy in the parking lot that triggered a slide and was carried for a bit in one of the chutes on the north side of Marmot. His partner was apparently partially buried. Crown face measured 2-2.5'. Be careful out there, its touchy.

Ingram Creek and Nosebleed

2011-02-17T22:25:00.000-09:00

The clouds finally blew in yesterday and gave SCAK a little bit of low pressure. Flat light proved our descent of the south face of Eddie's fairly challenging. Josh and I skied a steep south facing shot into Ingram Creek on Wednesday. Just as we were skinning out, the clouds broke and gave way to clear skies.

Josh contemplates which way his sluff is going to go.

Today B-real and I headed up to Hatcher Pass to see what Eddie and the crew have been boasting about. We headed up Microdot and skied the shady north face - known more commonly as "Nosebleed". This is my favorite run in HP. We only saw a party of two walking behind us, and a mere 3 cars in the parking lot on our return.

Tyler sees the light......or lack there of.

The viz was kind of in-and-out. We dug a pit at the top of our run. Typical shallow snowpack of Hatcher Pass (and Eagle River for that matter). Facet farms at the bottom of our column, with failure at the ground.

That's a wrap for skiing the last 18 out of 20 days. Tomorrow is a rest day. I guess if you call a rest day skinny skiing, then its a rest day. Or I may go out and see what this storm has brought us.....

Lipps Service

2011-02-15T18:42:00.000-09:00

Not much to say here. The pictures pretty much say it all. I skied Lipps today with Josh under clear and cold skies, calm wind, and another day of epic cold smoke.

Cold Smoke (n.): originates in dry clouds whose temperatures hover around five (5) degrees. The frigid conditions permit the growth of "Stellar Crystals", as they are known to scientists. The lack of humidity allows the flakes to escape the cloud without a heavy coating of frost. When these flakes arrive on Earth on a windless day, they stack up so tall and delicate on fence posts and ski slopes that their mass is about ninety eight (98%) percent air. This is known as two (2%) percent snow or ....COLD SMOKE!

As we were walking back to the parking turnout, we looked overhead and saw a CPG helicopter returning to its Girdwood base. As much I would've loved to have been on that bird, I was happy to know that I earned my turns, skied nearly 4000' of vertical...and it only cost me a tank of gas.

Sunburst Cold Smoke

2011-02-14T18:25:00.001-09:00

No matter how tired I am, I always find it inspiring to ski on a bluebird day with fresh snow. I've skied the last 15 out of 17 days. Its like my job.....damn that sucks.

I toured up Sunburst today. With my dashboard temp gauge reading -8F, I'd figure I would enjoy the skiing in the sun. I observed some surface sluffing from Sunday's tracks, and some other folks getting after some pretty steep lines - but no other instabilities noted.

Lots of tracks on Tincan. But only 2 cars in the parking lot today.

Tincan Proper was catching my glimpse all day. Certainly on the "wish list."

Here's another one on the "wish list" - Kickstep.

Which one's are mine? The freshest....

Cold Smoke at its best.

Patron, Jose Cuervo or Cazadores?

2011-02-14T18:15:00.000-09:00

No, i'm not a Tequila Connoisseur. The Shrink (AKA. Meg) and I skied Tequila Bowl on Sunday. Temps were only in the single digits, and the howling wind made it feel more like -10F.

We started at the Arctic Valley trailhead, and skinned up Toklat Creek to the saddle between Mount Gordon Lyon and Rendezvous Peak. There was about 3-4" of blower powder on top of a firm carve-able base. There was a parking lot full of patrons at the AVSA. Looked like a fun day with all of the lifts running.

Meg on the final ascent to the saddle.

Posing for a quick picture. That's Eagle Peak in the background (left).

Perfecting the powder turn with her new K2 "Got Back's".

The reward was wings and beer at the Peanut Farm!

Front Range Powder...

2011-02-08T11:32:00.003-09:00

It seems like I never get to use the post title "Front Range Powder". Something like "Snowed a little bit, and the wind took it away" would be more appropriate for our Anchorage bowl powder explorations. But these last two small storm systems dropped some very nice low density snow. Old Man Wind didn't blow everything away, but deposited the snow in gullies. Eric, B-real and I pretty much skied out the main Harp/Two Bowl drainage.

Eric and Stella sniff out the dry powder.

B-real enjoying the untracked experience.

Yours truly milking my own turns from the day prior.

It was so good, we skied this drainage three days in a row. Despite the stellar skiing, we did find some widespread instabilities. Many E-NE aspects that became windloaded during the storm were ripping out remotely. These occurred on steeper slopes (30+). While skinning up the lookers left Harp bowl, the entire slope settled ("whoomped") below us. We saw shooting cracks and fractures in the gully. Had this slope been steeper, the entire gully would've ripped out. I had an immediate desire to go and enjoy the beer in the back of my truck.

But we did enjoy some turns in the nice south facing slopes.

Lobita enjoying the down.

On Saturday, I participated in the Observer Training sponsored by the CNFAIC. Avalanche Forecasters Kevin Wright and Wendy Wagner took a group of 7 skiers up to Tincan. Their goal is to empower the public to submit quality snow observations and make their job of forecasting better and more realistic. These guys did a phenomenal job and have some amazing knowledge of snow science and avalanche hazard and recognition. We dug a crew served fighting position (AKA snow pit) and talked a bit about the snowpack in Turnagain Pass. Although our stability tests showed very good results, the deep-slab instabilities that exist will certainly keep me off of steep terrain with high consequences. Todays forecast certainly shows what spatial variability and a thin snowpack in certain places will do.

Drawing our sector sketches and going over the rest plan.

Quote I heard while doing a Compression Test: "Ski it if it's white!"

Hatcher

2011-01-31T21:48:00.000-09:00

Today was both Jon and I's first day out to Hatcher Pass. And now I know why I haven't made the trek up Hatcher Pass. We started out heading up Peak 4068 enroute to ski Halibut Tail. Just as we started our ascent, the entire slope settled with a big "whump". We decided to hedge our bets, and we turned around. We opted to ski a spine on the west face of Marmot.

The climb was not easy. Attempting to get our skins to gain purchase along the "bootpack" rather than the "skin track" was not an easy task. Thanks to the knuckle-dragging boot-packing snowboarders and sledders. The wind was howling pretty good. I actually got to use my Voile ski crampons. I think the snobomb is going to get himself a pair (of ski crampons, that is). The first couple of turns were nice, but there was a nasty rain crust. The bottom 3/4 of the run boasted some nice blower pow. We only made 1 run and brought the pups back to the truck.

In other news, there are some pretty spooky conditions down in Turnagain right now. A party of 4 skiers were caught and injured in an avalanche down in Summit Lake this weekend. We skied Pete's North, and kept our slope angle in check. Scary thing is, that it broke above them while skinning. Glad everyone turned out ok.

Tincan Trees

2011-01-20T18:44:00.000-09:00

I headed to Turnagain today with local ER skier Eric. There was about 2-3" in my driveway, but CNFAIC reports boasted only about 1" down south.

The tour was pleasantly surprising. Based on my previous observations from Eddie's and Magnum, I knew the higher elevation terrain was wind scoured. We decided on some mellow tree shots to the lookers left of the main Tincan drainage.

We made a total of 4 shorter laps and found fresh untracked snow on each run. The dogs enjoyed themselves, and LB got back on the saddle.

Eric tries to sieze what he can Sees.

I must say that there were some nice lines in the evening alpenglow on the Sunnyside. Lobita surveys the way back to the truck.

This was a pic from Tuesday's tour to ski PMS Bowl. I met Jon and Jenna, with Kijik, Chili and Hannah in close proximity.

I depart Los Anchorage tonight for Hawaii to meet Meg. I hope we get mad snow when I return.

Getting Back to Alaska...

2011-01-17T11:13:00.002-09:00

My return greeted me with high pressure, clear skies and sub-zero temperatures. B-real and I headed south to sniff out some softer snow. The last storm rolled through nearly 2 weeks ago. With longterm instabilities, we made the slog out to Eddies for a couple of runs.

It was -8F at the truck when we left, and at the bottom of Ingram Creek the temps read -15F on my thermometer. With the cold temps and moisture source, we witnessed some of the largest hoar frost crystals i've ever seen. They were the size of potato chips.

It was so cold that I didn't take any pictures of our ski runs. I was too busy trying to get my hands and feet to stay warm. Our skins didn't even stick to our skis on the second run, so we only made it about half way up. Eddie's was pretty tracked up, but we managed to find some nice soft snow on the lower elevation flanks. Tyler slogs it back out to the road

Pausing for the ever-so-famous "end of tour group shot i'm freezing so lets hurry up". Like the beard?

But this never gets old. Redoubt Volcano taken from the Seward Highway.

Oh yeah, the only cars in the parking lot were Toyota Tundra's. Seems the only folks who can hack the cold were Tundra drivers....go figure.

Green Mountain Backcountry Adventures

2011-01-17T11:02:00.000-09:00

I miss the fabulous tree skiing of the east coast. I recently spent 30 days in Upstate New York visiting the family, and was rewarded with a ski trip in Northern Vermont to ski the steeps of the East. Long time ski partner Pat Cuffe and I spent 3 days skiing in the Green Mountains. After a lift served mandatory penance at Killington, we headed north to unchartered territory (for us) in the Jay State Forest.

The night of our arrival greeted us with 8" of low density blower powder. All the groomers were boilerplate, but the trees held the goods. Skiing runs like "Timbuktu", "Andre's Paradise" and "Beaver Pond Glade", we stuck to the glade skiing all day long - making the brutal ride up the chair facing 60mph wind gusts worth it. After a burger and brew at the Tram Haus Lodge, we got after it the next day with some Jay Peak side country. Not before some medication for my knees....800mg Motrin and all the whiskey my stomach could handle.

We broke trail from Jay Peak to Big Jay, on an illegally cut trail by the Jay Peak Resort crew in 1998. But this makes the access relatively easy via the 1 mile trail to the wooded plateau summit of Big Jay. The drifted soft snow wasn't a challenge and the views were epic, with both Mount Washington in New Hampshire and Mount Marcy in New York visible on our ascent.

I've skied with Pat for nearly 20 years. And I think this single run down the east face of Big Jay was the pinnacle our our ski pursuits. From skiing across the street from his house in Chadwicks, New York to dropping the "nipple-deep" powdery riches of Vermont's Yellow Birch and White Pine gladed runs - this one certainly comes out on top. Just minutes before dropping into the white room...

I couldn't possibly explain how good the skiing was, so I put together a small video. This tour can be found in David Goodman's eastern backcountry bible, Best Backcountry Skiing in the Northeast: 50 Classic Ski Tours in New England and New York.

Crossfit

2010-12-23T13:07:00.001-09:00

I'm back in the Lower 48 for nearly a month. That means nearly a month without skiing the steep and deep powder of the Chugach, Kenai's, or Talkeetna's. I think I now have two addictions - skiing and Crossfit. What is Crossfit you say? Follow the link and check it out. I'll never go back to a gym and do a "Monday-chest; Tuesday- back/bi; etc" workout again.

During my 10 day stint in Ohio, I've managed to get after 8 Crossfit workouts. Kyle from Crossfit Energy in Bath, Ohio has got this dialed in. I checked out his gym, which is only 10 minutes from the family's house. From the first hellacious workout to the next, I became addicted. He even gave me a 20% discount for serving my country!

Kyle's got all of the equipment to make a successful xfit gym: kettle bells, pull-up bars, Concept 2 rowing machines, bumper weights plates, jump ropes, climbing weights, medicine balls.

The ever so critical white board. "Mignon" was my first workout.

Crossfitter's become all too familiar with these. The Kettle Bell. Known most for the Kettle Bell Swing.

Some overall pics of the CFE gym after today's 12:00 WOD (Workout Of the Day)

Kyle keeps a pretty tight website update of the WOD's and some of his other programs. You can check out one of the daily workouts here. I've learned some new exercises such as Pistol Squats, and some new techniques for Knees-to-Elbows, and the GHD sit-up. Pretty much every muscle in my body is sore. But that is the only way i'd get to play beer pong, and eat at Swenson's,Chic-fil-a, and On Tap, which we don't have in Alaska.

Mad props to Kyle and the folks at Crossfit Energy who boast "you can breathe later". Thanks for the good workouts. They definitely did not "Bring it Weak." Also be sure to check out our local xfit gym at Hanger 5.

Next we drive to the CNY for Christmas and then some skiing - East Coast style. Hopefully our adventures will take Pat and I to the Adirondacks and northern Vermont for some backcountry and "side country" skiing.

Until next time.....Pump 'til You Puke!!!

** And if you're on leave like me, here is a stoke bump. Check out this video of these kiter's in Utah. This footage is epic and amazing.

Get Your Fix...

2010-12-13T21:56:00.000-09:00

This weekend was stellar bluebird weather, and a great time to get out in the backcountry. On Sunday, I headed solo to Summit Lake for some turns. I had planned on doing some tree skiing by the Summit Lake Lodge, but I ran into another group of three skiers and they graciously added me to their group. Thanks Bryn, Louie and Sarah for the great tour!

We headed up Colorado Creek, gained the ridge, and dropped into a nice south-facing bowl and skied in the sun. There was a great trail on the way out all the way to the Seward Highway. What wasn't nice was the two mile walk I had back to my truck. But all in a day's work. I thought I was going to be solo, so I didn't bring my camera....sorry.

This is my shadow enjoying the walk along the highway. Nobody picked me up. This sign reads, "Avalanche Area Next 3 Miles - Do Not Stop".

So I am headed to the Lower 48 tonight for a 30 day hiatus from Alaska. I plan to spend some time with family, and do some slide skiing in the Adirondacks. I headed out this afternoon to get my last fix of Alaskan powder.

The view was quite ominous.

I was worried about the visibility, but it actually turned out quite nice. I saw two parties of three skiers! And of course we were all skiing the same place. On a Monday! I thought I would have the run to myself, but I was mistaken.

It was a great evening alpenglow run. Total tour time was 1:40. The token self shot. I've got some new goggle swag. They're pretty baller.

Today was Day 17 in the BC. When I get back, its on. Lemme know if you want to ski mid-week. I'll have another 6 weeks or so of leave.

Peace out AK, eastcoastice here I come.

Tincan Proper

2010-12-10T12:48:00.000-09:00

It was a great first day of Terminal Leave, and a phenomenal day to be in the mountains. I called Josh, and B-real and I met him at Ingram Creek for a day tour in Turnagain Pass. When I read the Advisory, I thought that the entire PWS was socked in with clouds, but we were delighted with bluebird skies once climbing into the pass.

After debating where to ski, and scouting some lines, we decided to ski the south face of Tincan Proper. I've been eyeing this line for a while. It was 7F in the parking lot, and a little cold on the uptrack. But the visibility was 100% and no wind.

Josh and B-real on the knife ridge up to Proper.

We decided to dig some snowpits to see what the Thanksgiving Rain Crust was doing. I found that the crust varied in depth from 10cm to 35cm. I conducted a Shovel Shear Test and Compression Test. My score was CTNFQ3. I really had to pound away at the column to get it to shear.

The descent was a little crusty, but truly amazing. We had this "rib" all to ourselves. At the bottom it required a bit of crafty route finding.

This is a perspective shot of the huge expanse of terrain in only one area we ski. If I'd hit the books a little bit harder, we could've skied "The Library".

Duffus doing some route finding.

Enjoying the scenery. What a way to spend day 1 of 82. I hope there are many more days like this...

And now enjoying that cold smoke.

Perhaps the icing on the cake was the run back to the truck. We took a nice tree shot, and it was what you'd call "hero" snow - so good that it bolsters confidence, hides technical mistakes and allows heroic recoveries from gross errors.

Seems like a lot of folks are taking advantage of the splitter weather. Captain's Chair and Spirit Walker both got skied recently. Good on 'em!

The Transition

2010-12-07T20:06:00.000-09:00

Tomorrow is my last official day on Active Duty in the Army. That means the transition to a beard and long hair. I thought I would be sad, but I can friggin' wait. I have 82 days of leave, and plan to use every bit of it to ski powder, think about powder, dream about powder, climb in powder, and search for powder in the Great State of Alaska. But not without a brief stint in the Lower 48 to see family and ski the "East Coast Ice" in the Adirondacks.

I've gotten out a little bit lately, but nothing to brag about. We hit up North Bowl on Saturday to find average snow, but a hefty wind on the ridgetop and bootpacking a portion of the Uptrack. This actually made me go out and buy some Ski Crampons. Marc surveys our run.

Marc walking on the ridge. Temptation Peak is in the background.

When it rains, it pours. I had two core shots on the new Coombacks, and the buckle on my Spirit 4's broke while at the resort yesterday for Military Monday's. This required some shop maintenance.

Be On the Look Out for a chronological history of my military career with some pictures to follow. The ETS party is scheduled for Saturday, March 5th 2011. And i'll be on the look out for some mid-week ski partners after my trip back home. Give me a holla if you want to get out and explore.

Gone With the Wind...

2010-12-01T16:34:00.000-09:00

Reports for this weekend were epic. We got the goods on Friday, but made a poor terrain choice on Sunday. I heard that the "Two Bowls Path" skied great with "at least 10 face shots."

So Tyler and I headed out with Eric and Storm. Eric calls the lookers left bowl off of the main Harp drainage "Lynx". I think this is just an extension of the main area known as "Harp", and Lynx is actually the bowl to the lookers left ridge of all that stuff, which terminates on Lynx Lane.

As expected we found boilerplate wind slab in places, and the TRC ("Thanksgiving Rain Crust") everywhere else.

I did a hellacious Crossfit workout the day before, and was in the rear with the gear.

The high pressure was great, but made the turns extremely difficult - early rise tip, or not.

For about half of the run we found some decent blower pow. Tyler enjoying said blower pow.

With the visibility still 100%, I took LB out to Arctic Valley for a quick skin. It was hella cold in the flats, -2F by my count on the "Delta Tango."

I found pretty much the same conditions. Decent (said tongue in cheek...) blower pow, intermixed with 4-6" windslab. I skinned for about 45 minutes up into Center Bowl until I couldn't take the subzero windchill.

Alpenglow was pretty much wind f'd.

LB is back on the injured reserve. She won't keep her booties on, and the breakable crust tears up her nails-skin. Anyone have any ideas? I am worried about the booties being too tight and cutting off her circulation - i've done that before.

Notice the Coombacks, lower right. They are all fixed and race ready. Lobita....not race ready :-(

Oh yeah, she got a new collar too - its pink. Guess who bought that for her???

Front Range Adventures

2010-11-28T17:14:00.000-09:00

After the "Thanksgiving Hurricane", we finally got some fresh snow in the Anchorage Bowl. By the snotel counts, about 11 inches fell on the Hillside, and about 6 inches up our way in Eagle River.

We got a late start after the feast on Thursday, and headed local up to Hiland Road. I had thoughts of hitting up the standard run to North Bowl, but it was nice to get some turns in the sunlight. We headed up Harp just in time for sunset.

Marc laboring away at the essence of this blog.....The Uptrack.

Gayle was nice enough to be the "Pro-Pho" and graciously took some pictures of our descent. This is one of my favorite runs on this side of the road. Not too steep, but protected from the wind and usually holds good cold smoke.

Both Marc and I had our virgin run with our new ski setup's. Here is Marc cashing in his hard work with the Icelantic Nomad's.

I got a killer deal on the K2 Coomback's (thanks Luc and www.telemarkdown.com). And I loved every turn...

After a resort day on Saturday with Meg, where I skied with every snowboarder from Anchorage on the "East Coast Ice", Tyler (AKA. B-real) and I headed out for some turns on the front side.

Big mistake.

I thought the 11 inches of snow, and the recent 5 inches of snow would have helped. We found some windswept snow up high on Peak 3, and nothing but rocks underneath. Needless to say, we trashed our new boards. Now the brand new Coomback's are in desperate need of some shop time with the base welder.

We linked about 10 turns, and then lots o' rocks. Not to include the frustrating climb and descent through the Alders. I don't recall Peak 3 being so hard to get in/out of.....

Tyler making his way through the shooting gallery on his new setup of Icelantic Nomad's. Copy Cat...

The skiers reward. Specially imported Utica Club brewski's. Nothing goes better with skiing than an "Uncle Charlie's".

LB is on the injured reserve today. She got pretty scraped up on the breakable rain crust, as did all the dogs I saw out skiing on Friday.

Where's my Dad?

The Reward

2010-11-14T19:10:00.002-09:00

On a solo patrol today, I was slogging up to North Bowl and was thinking about why I like backcountry skiing. Its a lot of work, its windy, snowy, bad visibility, changing variable snow conditions, and on and on. And i'm thinking...what's not to like?!?!

But then I rationalized the good. Exercise - burning about 600 calories per hour on the Uptrack. Personal time with man's best friend - Lobita. Being outside in our wonderful state. And not having to wait in lift lines for tracked up snow and moguls.

My favorite backcountry experience is that moment when you are at the top of your run after a long and ardous hike, and you scope out your turns in the untracked blanket of powder that lies below you.

In other news, in my first two outings i've had two people ask me about updates to the blog. Sorry, i'm back. I'll keep posting relevant ski conditions, outings, and other cool stuff.

Looking towards the bowl proper with Mount Gordon Lyon in the distance, and The Great One in the far distance. The mountains on the right in basked in Alpenglow are the Talkeetna's.

I saw a total of 7 skiers today, and I knew 5 of them. Its a small backcountry world out there.

Packrafting season is officially done. Me and LB are friends now.

Fall Packraft Season...its on

2010-10-12T21:10:00.000-08:00

Pictures of packrafting don't do the sport justice...that's why you see all the video's posted. And still the videos don't do the rivers and creeks any justice...that's why you just need to get out there and do it, and maybe swim a little, and throw your buddy a rope once in a while.

I've had some firsts this year, to include the South and Fork of Eagle River, what I would call "Middle" Bird Creek, and hopefully Canyon Creek to Six Mile before freeze up, and I should prolly mention - thigh straps! Others have been hitting some huge lines (CL V) to include the Magic Mile on Kings River (check out Timmy J's boof at 2:23) and the Upper Willow. Be sure to check out these videos, as they are the pioneers of packrafting.

Marc and I toured up Echo Bend at higher water (600 cfs) and found this to be very pushy, yet enjoyable. View Marc's first hand video of what it's like to swim the best beafy part of Echo Bend.

I recently had the opportunity to boat with the Roman Dial's, as the old man gave us a run at a good stretch of Bird Creek. His video shows some good carnage on Center Falls, much like mine does. I took some newbs back on Columbus Day for the goods. Here is an account of how things went down.

I suppose "The Birdcage" is my first named rapid. The "Birdcage" was my nickname after my last trip to the desert. Frank "Rage" Palestini nicknamed me the "Birdcage" after our hellacious upper body workouts. Seeing that I suffered from lagging chest development, he deemed it appropriate to give me some birdseed for the parakeets.

So i'm anxiously awaiting my new paddle purchase, a Werner Powerhouse, 4 piece, 197cm, 30 deg feather. Thank you PFD. Lets go paddling...

I'll leave you with a quote that I saw on Forrest McCarthy's 2010 video compilation:

"Ironically as they paddle more and more whitewater, their reward circuitry (for dopamine) dulls, which makes the easier runs less satisfying and drives them to still harder runs and bigger drops to compensate. They are essentially chasing the high of earlier, heavenly thrills on easier water. This is precisely what we see with chronic alcohol or substance abuse."

This explains it all.

Denali Road Lottery

2010-09-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

Every year, on the second Friday after labor day, the National Park Service opens the Denali Road to privately owned vehicles. You can drive your own rig all the way back to Kantishna. There's one hitch - you need to win the lottery. A $10 entry gives you a chance at 1 of 4 days to drive the otherwise "tour bus only" road into the park.

Both myself and ma dukes won the lottery. Too bad is wasn't for $15 Million! So they made the trek once again to the "Upper 1" (vice the Lower 48), so they could make the trek along the Denali Park Road.

Armed only with a Toyota Tundra, Springdale Camper, lots of Summer Ale, and a -40F Mountain Hardware Ghost Sleeping Bag, we headed north to take advantage of the nearly 7 straight days of bluebird weather. Especially sobering after 31 days of straight rain in SCAK.

On Friday, we drove out to Eielson Visitor Center and did some hiking. We took our time and left camp at the early hour of 1100 and got our tickets and hit the road. We had some pretty epic views of the Mountain on the way in.

We grabbed some lunch, and took in the sights. Meg scopes out "The Great One."

Instead of following the masses to Wonder Lake, we hiked a trail called Alpine Ridge.

Mom and Paul overlook the valley.

Meg descends back to the parking lot. (my favorite pic of the trip 8)

Old Glory looking proud.

We did get to see a lot of wildlife. Lots of bear activity, bull moose, lynx, and some dull sheep (yes they are dull). Momma with her cubs.

Denali at sunset.

With friends Marc and Gayle, we headed out on Saturday again. This time with the destination of the end of the park road at 92.6 miles, Kantishna.

Again, we had some great sights with even clearer skies. This is taken from a viewpoint turnoff.

We stopped for a barbecue lunch at the visitor's center, and hung out in the 60 degree temps and bright sunshine.

Yep, we reached the end of the road. Group picture. Everyone smile.

Left to right: Marc, Maxx, Gayle, Pablo, Mom, Meg, Matty, Lobita

We all ate another BBQ dinner at Wonder Lake and watched the sunset from the closest point you can get to Denali without landing on the Kahiltna Glacier to start climbing it. Meg enjoys her b-day present and some Vanilla Vodka and Diet Coke. ClasSick!

This is what Denali at sunset looks like from the Wonderous Lake.

We had to stop once again on the drive home. Denali (L) and Sultana (R).

Overall, it was the nicest weather for the road lottery weekend in nearly 15 years. The morning got a little chilly, but it was crisp and refreshing. I can't wait until the snow flies...but not before we do some more low water butt-boating!!

The Thigh Strap Revolution

2010-08-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, i'll admit this post might be an advertisement for lingerie. Not the case. Read on and you'll find out that this strictly deals with getting into the backcountry.

At the end of last year, Tim Johnson started the packraft revolution of adding thigh straps to his raft. Soon, many other pioneers followed suit like Luc Mehl, Roman Dial, Becky King, Tony Perelli, and JT Lindholm.

At first I was very hesitant, especially with a limited whitewater background. As I floated and negotiated more CLIV+ rivers, I began to see the utility. It wasn't until this paddling season when I bought my finance (Meg :-) an Alpacka sized raft. I jumped in it one night on the local stomping grounds and found the fit to be a lot better giving me more control than my Yak. And it wasn't until I floated with Erik Tomsen that I rationed the thighstraps. We conversed and he told me I was really looking for the added control that a smaller boat would give me. I was sold...

I made a visit to Tracy Harmon of Alaska Raft & Kayak. For a mere $73.56, I was setup with 4 1" Aire Brand D-Rings and some Aire Brand Deluxe Thigh Straps. Grab the glue, we gonna have a huffin' party!

Thanks to Roman and Tim for the YouTube video and instructions.

These are the elements of a successful thigh strap installation party. Note the domestic light beer. Less calories.

The installation of the 1" D-rings.

I loosely fit the thigh straps. In order for the glue to dry, it is recommended to wait 72 hours without any kind of load or tension. I still need to move my seat forward and add new velcro. I purchased a new seat and explorer seat today from Alpacka. All I need is a sewing machine (Maqina de Coser, in spanish). Anybody got one?

Ol' Blue: another look at the finished product. Your daily history lesson - my Dad used to have an Oldsmobile Delta 88 that he used to call "ol' blue". I'm bringing it back!

In other news, after the large flows on the Eagle River there is a lot of new wood in the campground rapids. The river right channel is totally plugged up. The river left channel is navigable. This photo was taken last Thursday night, at 1380 cfs.

Public Service Announcement: This Saturday, 21 August 2010 is the 3rd Annual Six Mile Fest. Held near Hope, Alaska on the Six Mile River - the best and most consistent CLIV-V river in Southcentral Alaska. New this year is a packraft mass carnage...i mean start. Maybe I'll raft...next year.

Katmai National Park: Brooks Lodge

2010-07-19T07:52:00.002-08:00

"Hey, Bear!"

This is a common phrase used by Alaskans to warn bears while hiking or walking so you don't surprise them. Try it, it's catchy...

Last weekend, Meg and I took a long awaited trip to Katmai National Park for a backcountry adventure. We flew into King Salmon, and then took a floatplane to Brooks Lodge at the headwaters of Naknek Lake and Naknek River.

We camped for 4 days in the National Park Service campground. $8/night to camp, compared to $200/night to stay at the lodge. We'll leave that for the tourists. Upon arriving, you have a mandatory bear safety talk by the Park Rangers, and then off to see the bears!! It is peak season right now, and the weather was splitter, so there were a large number of gapers at the viewing platforms.

In order to identify the bears, Meg and I came up with our own nicknames (corny, huh?). Well lets get to the bears!!

We called this guy "Eddy". He just chilled behind a big rock creating an eddy.

Left to Right:

"The Pro": we watched this bear grab 7 Red Salmon in about 30 minutes.

"Omar": named after Meg's cat who is slow, old, and simply motivated by food.

"Eddy": see above. He is always enjoying the jacuzzi, because the confused and tired salmon just bump into him.

"Stumpy": I guess he just wanted to get out of the water and stay dry while still surveiling for fish.

"Jack and Jasper": named for Sam C's two Alaskan Huskies that are always causing trouble. These guys would try and steal the dominant bear's food, but their Mom would always bail them out.

"Momma": actually any Sow with cubs had this nickname. There was one Sow with four cubs (pictures to follow), and two Sow's with two cubs.

This is an example of a bear "snorkeling". They look under the water for fish swimming by, and then give them the people's elbow.

"Meg": although not a bear, she looked great with a huge smile on her face. She is standing on the banks of Naknek Lake. If you look closely, you can see all the bugs swarming us, called 'Whitesox', that were absolutely unbearable. DEET, Mosquito Net, repeat.

Now everyone wants to see the famous picture of the bear standing on top of the waterfalls and the Sockeye Salmon jumping into his mouth. Well here are my best photos (this is very difficult as I took nearly 1400 photos!):

These shots were all about being in the right place at the right time, and a whole lot of patience.

After two full days of bear viewing, lots of bug bites, and camp food, we headed out to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. It was about an hour and a half bus ride to the valley which differed drastically than the plush Brooks Lake and Naknek Lake areas. This valley is filled with ash from the 1912 volcanic eruption of Novarupta, in the Mount Katmai cluster. It was named by the explorer Robert Griggs who stated, "the whole valley as far as the eye could reach was full of hundreds, no thousands—literally, tens of thousands—of smokes curling up from its fissured floor."

Meg surveys the landscape.

A 1.5 mile walk took us to the nearby Ukak River, and it Class VI waterfalls. A very tight canyon, the Ukak River is the confluence of Knife Creek, Windy Creek and the River Lethe.

Standing below Ukak Falls.

The rivers and runoff carved some pretty neat features in the volcanic ash and sand.

A lot of times we saw the evidence of a power struggle between the male bears. Typically, the male bears (boar) would hang out around the falls, and the female bears (sow) would hang out on the riffles near the lower platform.

This sequence shows the struggle over food. One bear in concern (known as the "Bully") would steal everyone else's catch. This dude's motivated...

Hear them roar.

"He's coming to get my food..."

"Half for me, half for you."

"Everyone's happy."

I think at one point we saw 24 bears at the falls alone.

Meg headed back to the lodge along the walkway, sporting her 'squito net.

We would avoid the crowds and head to the platforms early in the morning, or late at night. After the 1.5 mile walk back to the lodge we would partake in some frosty refreshments. They had a rotating tap at the lodge of Alaskan Brewery beer (Amber for me!), and liquor for Megs. We relaxed in nice chairs around the fireplace and listened to everyone's bear tales.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the bears were the sow's and the cubs. One momma actually put her cubs in a tree right outside the lodge. A boar was trying to kill her cubs so she could mate. Men are such A-holes...

Momma looking for dinner. Her name is "Milkshake".

Momma catching dinner.

And finally Momma chasing off an intruder. The motherly instinct never changes, regardless of species.

This is perhaps my favorite sequence. Just as we were leaving, "Milkshake" made her way up and down the lakefront right near the lodge. I snapped nearly 200 pictures of momma and her four cubs.

Napping with the kiddo's.

And the parting shot...

I need a nap too!

I've done a lot of packrafting, hiking, camping, and backcountry skiing trips here in Alaska. I can honestly say that this was one of the most amazing trips i've ever done. A perfect mix of creature comforts (literally) and backcountry-esque landscapes and experiences.

If you ever get a chance, come see the bears at Brooks Camp.

JOHNSON SENDS.

Packrafting....SoFo style

2010-07-07T23:11:00.001-08:00

I finally got to run my backyard whitewater run, the South Fork of Eagle River.

Sam C and I usually link up at this trailhead for backcountry skiing. But this time was to run the South Fork of the Eagle River. I had been up here a week ago on a trail run, and noticed that the river was runnable.

We put-in at the bridge over the river, and took out at South Creek Road. You can actually take out where the river crossed Highland Road, but we went out after work. Here is the route:

The run was awesome. A little bit of rocks here and there, but nothing more than expected from some SoFo style butt-boating. There were 3 bridges that had to be portaged, but the river was free of sweepers...well except for the one Sam C got wrapped around. And of course the usual packraft boat pin.

A video of our adventure can be viewed here, enjoy!!

A special shout-out goes to the Hoff, he is sweating his ass off at the National Training Center. The water up here is nice and cool...

Willow Creek

2010-06-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

I think Willow Creek is my favorite whitewater run in a packraft. Of course you've got the classics, Campground Rapids (local stomping ground), Six Mile (big smiles at low water), Bird Creek (short but technical), Lion's Head (really silty)....but for some reason I love going back to float the Willow.

The water is crystal clear and relatively warm, yeah you still need a drysuit. The rapids are technical, but won't absolutely thrash you due to the "pool-drop" style characteristics of the river. Meaning if you swim a drop, you'll likely be able to swim to shore at the bottom of the recovery pool.

There are two runs on this river, Redgate and Guardrail. Redgate is the more beginner float at CLI-II, and Guardrail being the more intermediate run at CLII-III. The Upper Willow is run by the hardshellers and experts at CLV+.

The Hoff and I made an early morning jaunt to take advantage of a recent rain spike in the gauge. The trail was super slick, and I ended up on my ass more than twice. This would be the M.O. for the first rapid, "Warmup Rapid".

After scouting the put-in, we chose to run "the drop above the Guardrail put-in". There aren't any pictures of our run, but here is a vid put together from our run about 2 weeks ago.

Shortly after this 3-4 foot ledge drop, you enter "Warmup Rapid". I viewed most of this rapid upside down, as the burly water took me for a ride. It was good to cool down in the recovery pool. The rest of the run was all smiles. I'd look back at Marc, and see grins had by all. We got to surf a lot of waves on the Redgate section, and made the run in about 90 mins.

Here is a map of our adventure.

Definitely one of my local favs, and even better with a Summer Ale at the take-out.

The Little Su(sitna)

2010-06-10T23:25:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to run this section of the Little Susitna ever since driving up to Hatcher Pass to go skiing. Tim Johnson calls this the "best non-stop, road-side, bang for your buck in Alaska!" in his book Alaska Whitewater:A Guide to Rivers and Creeks in the Last Fronteir.

So we didn't actually run that section of the river, but ran from the Hatcher Pass bridge over the Baby Su, to the Edgerton Parks Road bridge. I must say, it was mad balla.

I always love after work packrafting in SCAK. The regular team rallied for another adventure, with a small contingent from the Meetup Group.

And this is how we started the day. Doc with a little swim lesson. The "Warmup Rapid", a small little Class III section.

Gearing up at the put-in.

Doc, Patrick, and Doug ready to shred the "Sieve". Doc would get his boat pinned below the large rock in the center of the river. This was his second rope rescue of the night.

Jody workin' it.

Doug running the "Sieve". The rock in front of him is where Doc got pinned. I ran it clean ;-)

Lots of Class II splashy fun.

Brian 'splainin what it's all about....F-U-N. Shown in one of the many pools of the pool-drop characteristics of this river.

Schooners of beer and pizza were on the agenda at Pizza Man, an after boating tradition.

Speaking of other boating traditions... is to drink a beer out of your bootie if you swim a particular rapid. It's known as the "bootie beer". And if someone in your group retrieves you or your gear, you owe them a round. Doc declined.

Packrafting Adventures on the ER

2010-06-10T22:33:00.001-08:00

I'm still in the delinquent category for postings. I've still got Rabbit Creek and Denali National Park on the drawing board.....so stay tuned.

But first at hand is the recent packraft adventures. What's a packraft you say, well check out this link. You may also want to see the bloggage from the Grandfather of packrafting, Roman Dial.

While the fam was in town for a visit, I took my bro-in-law Brendo for a trip down the Eagle River. We did the standard run known as bridge-to-bridge. Starting at the Briggs Bridge on the Eagle River Loop Road, and running to the Glenn Highway Bridge.

Filling up the boats.

Da boys, B'do and Matty J ready to shred.

The river was running about 1000 cfs, so a little bit juicier than previous runs. Brennen quickly got the hang of it and we were off. The packraft is fairly forgiving, so any mistake wasn't too serious. We did see a cow and her newborn calf on the side of the river - and B'do almost flipped it.

Of interesting note, Meg snapped this picture of Raina and Peeking. An area that we skied a couple of weeks ago. We skied the cooler from the top of the saddle on the lookers right, Raina Peak.

We got out just above the Class III section of the Campground Rapids and met up with the ladies, and scouted the rapid. I was the only one to run it, and did so river right. It was nice and pushy, and very fun.

The day wouldn't be complete without some swiftwater rescue. We decided to do some rope training. Me and Brennen on the float...

Rope!!!

I said put the rope on your opposite shoulder. Matty J slays Goliath...

Brennen pulling a king from the Eagle River.

I'm not sure if this was the highlight of his trip, or the large quantity of Ice Axe Ale consumed. By my count it was around 12 pints and 1 Growler.

Kodiak, Attu, and Shemya

2010-06-03T11:13:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit behind on posts. The fam is in town, so I have some catching up to do.

I recently took a trip out to Kodiak, Attu and Shemya with the officers of the Alaska District, Corps of Engineers. The purpose of the trip was professional development, specifically to see the terrain surround the Battle of Attu, which took place in 1943.

We arrived in Kodiak and prepared for the USCG flight to Attu the next morning. The flight goes to Attu on a USCG C-130 every 2 weeks for resupply and personnel change out. With a night to kill in Kodiak, we hit up the Kodiak Brewery for some Liquid Sunshine and Sarah Pale Ale. Dinner festivities took place at Henry's Great Alaskan Restaurant.

We awoke early the next morning after attempting to drink the island dry. At least we had a 4 hour plane flight to sober up.

We had about a 4 hour layover on Attu, the farthest west island in the Aleutian chain.

Our tour guide, Chief Beeson, the officer-in-charge of the United States Coast Guard LORAN station, took us in the snowcat to the top of Engineer Hill. I should've brought my skis, as this was our transpo for the trip.

Engineer Hill is the location where the Japanese made their final offensive maneuver. Engineers from the 50th Engineer Battalion and 13th Engineer are responsible for the fending off the Japanese counter attack.

This is a peace memorial constructed by the Government of Japan. Notice the large peak in the background. I am sure it would be a first ski descent.

Remnants of war still exist. A tent stake remains in the ground; 67 years after the guns went silent.

We toured a good part of the eastern half of the island. We walked through the brig, as much of the structures are still visible, but fallen down. Looking into Massacre Bay.

The Coast Guard station is some pretty nice digs. Approximately 20 full time personnel are present, and they have a full service kitchen, wood shop, entertainment deck, sporting equipment (snowboards only), and yes.....a bar. You get 4 beers per night if you are over 21 years of age.

All of the personnel assigned to the District assemble for a group picture.

Marston Matting, which is a steel mat layed down on a subbase material for field expedient airfields, is found discarded everywhere. This mat was most likely installed by BG Benjamin Talley's Engineers, an icon within the Alaska District.

An old anti-aircraft artillery piece overlooks the current airfield.

Stay tuned for some additional pictures from our 'team building' event in Shemya. We "double dipped" the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Ambient air temperature: 41 F; Water temperature: ~37F; 40+ mph wind not factored in to the windchill. Pics to follow.

The Raina and Peeking Amphitheater

2010-05-23T22:24:00.001-08:00

The Front Range goods are just that...good. We've had a decent spring/summer snowpack, so it's couloir season (also know as cooler season, or coolie season).

Local Anchortown friends Matt, Agnes, Marc and Gayle headed close to home to explore what the North Fork Eagle River Valley had to offer. And I must say, it had lots to offer - sunshine, warm temps, corn snow...and Coolers!!

The group headed up Falling Water Creek.

Mission essential snacks.

Making our way to "Couloirland"

Said couloir's on the lookers right. We skied the main couloir off of Raina's NE face. We certainly scoped out the N couloir, but it looked pretty burly.

So about now the group is split. Gayle took a much mellower route that overlooked Ram Valley, and Matt and Agnes basked in the spring sun, took a nap, and ate some bon-bon's. Meanwhile, Marc and I booted the 2000' NE couloir.

Marc earnin' it.

Bootin' the coolie.

It was all ice axe's and crampons for this boot pack. Marc and I finally made it to the top, after a dicey top-out on the cornice. I must say, we were tattered. We shoved some food down our throats, drank some water....oh wait i'm out of water. That's what you get after 6 hours of climbing.

Polar Bear (center). Notice the large crown face. This slide down to glacial ice about two weeks ago.

This is the view from 6500'. These pictures never do these runs justice. (Denali, Sultana, and Beguya in the distance)

The entrance was surprisingly steep...lets play guess the slope angle!

Enjoying the jump turns.

Marc taking advantage of the late May corn harvest.

So now it was time to gather the stragglers. Matt and Agnes (both with fresh legs), set off on a sprint only to see corn snow rooster tails in their path. We linked up with Gayle, and made the long run to the toe of the moraine.

We stopped and marveled at Raina's N couloir. Matt was wishing he got the shot.

Agnes in awe.

The North Couloir of Raina Peak in all her splendid glory. Definitely on the "to-do" list.

We finally transitioned back to sneakers, well some of us, and headed down the valley.

Making our way back, with Eagle Peak in the background. Interesting note, this peak got skied a couple of times this year.

We finally made it back to the Delta Tango in about 9 and a half hours time, not a bad days work. I grabbed Meg and LB, and we all enjoyed beers and dinner at Marc and Gayle's.

This is where our travels took us today. ~10 miles round trip???

I also got a Spot for my b-day. If yer lucky, yer on my email list. If yer not, too bad soooo sad.

T'Bird Falls

2010-05-16T21:49:00.001-08:00

With a backpacking trip planned over Memorial Day weekend, Meg and I decided to get a little practice in and visit some local sights. Meg's choice was Thunderbird Falls, so we loaded our packs, filled the CRV, and made the short jaunt to that wierd purgatory between Eagle River and the Valley.

Meg making her way down the trail.

The better half.

The not-so better half.

Meg's favorite site are the waterfalls of Southcentral Alaska. So if you know of your favorite spot, let us know, we'll definitely visit! Meg standing under Thunderbird Falls.

Now she's ready for the big show! Our destination is Rabbit Lake for an overnighter.

The Uptrack wouldn't be complete without a picture of Dogface (AKA. Lobita)!

Pete's North and Glacier Creek

2010-05-16T21:43:00.002-08:00

Another year older...

I celebrated my 32nd birthday this past week. What a better way to ring it in than with an outdoor backcountry adventure. I got this hairy idea to ski-raft-bike all in one day. What the heck...lets do it!!

I convinced my buddy Marc to join me. He just returned from 6 weeks in the lower 48, and was jones'ing for an outing. The plan was to ski this couloir in TPass off of Pete's North, packraft Glacier Creek, and mountain bike back to the truck.

Phase I: Backcountry Skiing

We headed down to the pass with a truck full of gear to find dismal weather. Typical Western Prince William Sound weather - windy, rainy, and snowy.

Marc making the best out of a difficult situation - skiing in a ping pong ball...

We never reached our destination. We lived to ski another day, and skied the mellower aspect down to Pete's Creek. The pass received about 6-8" of fresh heavy snow, so we saw a lot of wet snow slides.

Marc workin' it.

Marc hucking his meat.

Marc enjoying the heavy wet stuff. But its fresh, so that's why he's in the back seat...

This is what May skiing is all about.

Instead of going back the way we came (good idea), we headed down Pete's Creek (not so good idea, but interesting and fun).

We made it back to the 'Delta Tango', and were headed to the next destination. Damn that's a lot of gear.

The finer things in life. Utica Club and Dynafit's. Phase I complete.

Phase II: Packraft

We headed back to Girdwood and dropped our bikes at the bridge near Chair 5 and headed to the Crow Creek Mine. Our objective was to float Glacier Creek, but the lack of a recon would prove to be a terrain mistake.

I did see a pretty neat vehicle though. This is a vintage 'Deuce and a half' with the US Army Alaska shoulder sleeve insignia. We call it the "Binky Bear".

We rapped down to Crow Creek and inflated the boats. Marc making his way to the put-in.

And the parting shot.

At this juncture, I am unable to give details about the final leg (ie. Phase III) of our trip. You'll have to ask Marc or I for further details. All I can say is that it involved a situation that would require problem solving and both of us swimming. Nuff said.

We were successful in our triple header, finally navigating lower Crow Creek to Glacier Creek. We made it back to the bikes in wet gear, and pedaled the ~4 miles back to the trailhead.

As one of my skiing buddies say, "Backcountry adventures make you late for dinner."

May in AK: Pastoral Peak and the Grandaddy Couloir

2010-05-04T20:37:00.003-08:00

Well its been an awesome run of high pressure to welcome the month of May. So good, that I had to bag work the first two days of this week and go skiing. I didn't have much going on, so local photographer Matt Hage and I had plans to ski Mount Alpenglow after returning from Girdwood on Sunday.

Conversation in the car:
#2: "Hey what are you doing tomorrow?"
#1: "Nothing....why?"
#2: "Lets ski that [pointing to the large north face of Alpenglow]"

This run taunts every backcountry skier on their way to TPass.

But mother nature and the Six Mile Creek had their vote. We got turned back here:

We brought hip waders and sunscreen. But we forgot the packrafts.

So we headed to Turnagain as the backup plan, and toured up Taylor Creek in hopes of skiing Pastoral Peak....a run i've been wanting to ski for a long time now.

Matt making his way up Taylor Creek.

We got to the pass, and these were the sights.

I left #1 at the pass with some boot issues, and I pressed forward. I made it up to summit in just over an hour to find powder preservation.

While on the summit taking in the views, I noticed this obvious couloir on the adjacent ridge - the Grandaddy Couloir.

Conditions, weather, and snow stability were so good that I had to go after it again today!

I got an early start, and was climbing by 0930. I toured up Bertha Creek and made the pilgrimage in about 3 hours, taking my time. I ran into a guy yesterday who was going to ski a line essentially on the northern side of Pastoral that drops further into Lyon Creek. Here they are on the top. They had plans to continue on and ski the Grandaddy...good on them.

The view from the top was terrific. Carpathian is the obvious peak in the center.

Looking down the Lipps ridge. The cooler is below.

The B-I-G P-O-P-P-A on the approach.

This way back home.

The entrance to this chute was hairy. There was a massive cornice, and I didn't feel like dropping it with me on top. Mandatory air was not in my vocab for the day. I skirted around the skiers right and entered from the side. It was boot-top powder goodness! It got a little punchy and scrapy down low, but it was powdery the entire run.

All in a days work.

Another look, riding the sepia bandwagon.

And the parting shot...

My legs are smoked, blisters on my feet, i'm sunburned and dehydrated. And now I have to go back to work. Here's the trip route:

Note: no Yellow Labradors were harmed in the aforementioned powder pursuit.

Swiss Bowl

2010-05-01T17:57:00.001-08:00

Its back to my old stomping grounds. After a morning of Eagle River being socked in, overcast skies, and snow (that's right, May 1st and its still snowing), I headed to the South Fork for some spring turns. I received reports of an isothermic snowpack in the SoFo, but I certainly didn't find that on the shady northies.

The backyard.

After a short hike, I found myself at the bottom of Swiss Bowl, a run I usually do this time of year. But it seemed that the peak was just socked in with low hanging clouds. I continued to climb, and found myself on the top of the ridge. I wanted to ski this line, from upper right to lower left. Notice the lower flanks of Eagle Peak in the sun (Note: future ski destination)

Just my luck. As I reached the summit of Peak 4219, it started snowing and heavy thick clouds blew in. After a bite to eat, I was forced to ski in the soup. This area got a freeze last night, so there was no collapsing underfoot. The skiing was heinous. I did survival turns down most of the run. The snow was almost boilerplate, with a dusting on top, and very grabby.

Skiing solo. The lower valley of the South Fork, Eagle River. (Note: future packraft destination)

I was able to ski all the way back to the parking lot. I couldn't do that a year ago....cuz Mount Redoubt had a vote on last year's spring skiing season.

Swiss Bowl on the right, and my run in the center.

I heard of a skier triggered slide on Hiland Road this past week. Temps reached 60 F this past week. Shown below is an area that slid on Superbowl Sunday, caused by some F-15 pilots. This avy slid all the way to some dude's house. This run is called "Leighow".

Q: How do you know there's a fighter pilot at your party?
A: He'll tell you...

ok, one more...

Q: What's the difference between God and Fighter Pilot's?
A: God doesn't think he's a Fighter Pilot...

Lobita all loaded up.

And the finer things in life. Thank you Alaskan Brewery.

After Work Commute

2010-04-20T07:22:00.004-08:00

Tis the season for after work skiing. Newlyweds Matt and Agnes Hage headed up to Peak 3 for a quick ski. Conditions didn't look like spring skiing from our point of view. We saw other usuals headed up to get the goods, like Billy Finley.

The Anchorage Ants making the nightly commute. It looks like Peak 3 is erupting. Not another Mount Reroute, I mean Redoubt.

The weather was calling for high winds. Spindrifts and plumes coming off of Peak 2 and Flattop.

Conditions were better than expected. We found decent wind buffed powder on the top 1/3, and breakable styrofoam wind slab on the lower reaches of the valley. Not bad for an afternoon jaunt.

"The Misses" (AKA Agnes) ripping it up.

"The Mister" (AKA Matt, #1, The Shralpster) dropping the knee.

Quotes I heard during the tour:
"Lets go find some windslab!!"
"If you want summer, go to Fairbanks"
"It doesn't look like spring up here."

Happy April 20th you hippies!

Champagne Brunch

2010-04-17T10:31:00.001-08:00

Well it's that time of year again. Every third Saturday in April we head up to the Rae-Wallace bowl in Hatcher Pass for the Formal Champagne Brunch. This event is sponsored by the Anchorage Nordic Ski Patrol.

Bottom Line: dig a table in the snow, drink beer/bubbly, eat good food, ski. Nuff said??

Here is the table shown and everyone enjoying themselves.

Meg and Gretchen all dressed up, enjoying the drinks. Jasper providing rear security.

Meg behind our grill. Yes, I said grill. I almost had a heart attack dragging our Coleman portable grill up to the festival in a sled.

Indiana Chamberlain. Sam gets to wear this tie once a year. And its like 60 years old.

Who's hungry? LB waits patiently for someone to drop some food.

This guy's all dressed up. Did I mention this is a formal event. Nice flannel.

It's time for some skiing. Cowboy Sam dropping the knee.

Meg showin' us how its done.

Our setup, shown from above. And LB headed back to the ranch.

Let's go make some turns!

Pigot Bay, Prince William Sound

2010-04-13T23:07:00.003-08:00

Sam C and I have been planning a ski trip to PWS for a while now.

We reserved a USFS cabin in Pigot Bay, and skied for 4 days in and around the cabin and surrounding drainages. I took some good advice from friends who had done a similar trip last winter, and brought along a 14' Zodiac and 15hp motor. And it paid dividends...

Sam, Justin and I landed on the beach to find bluebird skies and lots of snow. Estimated snowpack depth was about 12-15 feet!

Preparations started early. I brought the Zodiac, Sam brought the kitchen sink.

We got a water taxi from Cap'n Mike Bender at Lazy Otter Charters. His boat, The Explorer, devoured all of our gear.

The shooting gallery.

Yes we have a maritime snowpack. Heavy and wet gives way to cold smoke.

After setting up camp and downloading gear, we headed out for a maiden voyage of the Zodiac to ski from the USCG Communications Tower. Enroute to our objective.

Lots of up and down, bushwhacking, deep snow, trailbreaking.....and sunshine.

Lobita enjoying the cold smoke April powder.

A look at our tracks just left of center below the tower. Beautiful steep tree skiing. Reminds me of glade skiing on the east coast.

Out of our front door on Saturday morning. Its gonna be a good day...

A rare view. Skis on a boat? Putting a new meaning to "sea to summit".

Just about the only wildlife we saw.

We climbed in the sun and gained the ridgeline. Justin drops over the north side to find more April powder shots into Pirate Cove.

Another run of the goodness. We actually wanted to ski the couloir in the background, but were thwarted by cliffs/nogo terrain, and tidal flats.

Dogface got quite the workout. I've never seen her do this before. She made a bed and took a power nap, like a sled dog.

Literally skiing to the ocean, from summit to sea.

Cabin life. The PB cabin was really nice. It got an upgrade recently, and has a nice propane heater and some new furniture and woodwork. Thanks CNF!!

Sunday was a bit of a touring day. We were headed for the backside of the cabin, but Jack got quilled by a Porcupine. We returned to the cabin for first aid, he wasn't having it. We headed out again in the Zod, and were turned around after a puking snow storm, bad vis, and one hell of a bushwhack.

The staples of a skiing trip. Summer Ale, pontoons, and a PFD. Glad we had them. We received about 12" of fresh the morning we left. We ate like Kings. Sam C grilling steaks from Mike's Meats in Eagle River.

Storm skiing in the P-dub! Justin contemplating the drop in.

All in a days work. The Cap'n and his second mate (Meg would be the first) headed back to the beach.

Not sure exactly of the totals, but somewhere in the neighborhood of 7000 vertical feet skied. Here is a map of our climbing (red) and ski descents (blue).

This type of trip is certainly on the agenda for each spring, and to explore what else PWS has to offer.

Resort Storm Skiing

2010-04-04T23:29:00.000-08:00

Megs and I hit the resort on Easter Sunday in hopes of catching some fresh snow and small crowds. And we got lucky and found both!

About 6" of snow had fallen while we were skiing, and Alyeska Resort received about 35" of snow total from this storm system.

Meg earnin' it in the low vis powder conditions. Quote from Meg while tearing it up, "I was following the pow..."

And the problem with April storms is that they come in heavy and wet. Meg and I enjoying the wet portion of our day.

Meg and I enjoying the Bloody Mary portion of our day at Chair 5. Look at all that stuff!

We are on a quest to find the best Bloody Mary (besides my Dad's) in the Upper One. But all in all.......good powder, and good apres ski!

Site Summit

2010-03-24T22:06:00.002-08:00

I finally got to tag a line that has been a long time waiting.

Marc and I arrived at the Arctic Valley Ski Area around 4:30PM for some after work turns. The Denali Patrol was working on the finicky T-Bar. Maybe they'll get it working for the Merry Marmot Festival.

We made it to the saddle below Site Summit in about 30 minutes and were prepared to shred the goods.

Conditions were variable, but we found some softer snow in the gullies that were north facing, and a breakable "pizza-box" like crust everywhere else, combined with boilerplate wind hammered snow on the ridges.

Marc schralping the gnar.

Site Summit actually has a lot of very interesting history. The former site of a Nike Missle silo, and a military ski area. Check out this site, for some more interesting information.

I think this dude has Marc beat in "Schralp" status.

This is a picture of an actual Nike Hercules Missle launch. This is the last Nike Missle site in Alaska. (Photos courtesy of www.alsap.org)

We made two runs down "Grezelka Couloir" and "KD Couloir". Tracks are visible from the Glenn Highway...check it.

Manitoba

2010-03-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

Greetings powder fans! Marc, Sam, Gretchen and I headed south to enjoy the sunshine. But TP was eerily empty considering the 15" of new snow, bluebird skies, and warm spring-like conditions. It must have been the recent avalanche activity.

We continued our drive to Summit Lake and headed up to Manitoba. I've always heard this was a slog, and we certainly had a hike in front of us. I took nearly 2 1/2 hours to gain the ridge, and ski from just below the summit. Our second run was from the top. Some pretty awesome terrain back there.

Sam and Marc earnin' it.

There was a hardened death crust as we climbed, made from the nasty melt-freeze cycle we've been in lately. But there was some nice soft snow on the shadier aspects that didn't receive direct sunlight.

S & G skiing "Canadian". That's everyone skis at the same time (Note: phrase borrowed from another BC skier :-)

Gretchen loving the down.

Sam loving the down.

Stitching up "Manislowba"

Marc and Sam. Upper Summit Lake in the background. This way to Seward...

Lobita looking for some slope angle.

This one is certainly near the top of my wish list. Spirit Walker looking loud and proud.

First tracks of the day. Pacemaker scars on the west face of Manitoba. All in a good days work.

LB says we need to roll. We Audi 5000...

The Italian Job

2010-03-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

I got an interesting opportunity to show some folks my favorite Front Range powder stash. Matt (AKA #1, the knee dropper, or he who takes bad ass photos) called me on Friday afternoon looking for some route beta to show their friends.

It just turned out that Italian Photographers Dan and Janine Patitucci presented the sold out show titled "Got Huts?" at the Bear Tooth the previous Thursday night. These guys have some pretty stellar photos also, check it out.

I couldn't resist the invite. After a flat tire, stop at the camera shop, and the drive to the South Fork Trailhead, we finally linked up to get some powder turns.

The South Fork must have gotten some recent wind events. It was a little bare in spots. I heard things like "I doubt we'll find powder", "I'll be really surprised if we get good snow", and "this is gonna suck." My only comment...."Trust me."

I didn't have my camera for proof of "how good it was". Everyone was thankful for the Chugach powder stash, so much that they all did another run. I had a dinner date, so LB and I headed back to the truck. But not before enjoying a snow chilled Silver Bullet.

Mount Gordon Lyon

2010-03-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

I just had to get out and ski again. Meg had ladies night.

We left the Arctic Valley Ski Area parking lot at 3:45PM.

We had the intention of skiing Gordon Lyon from the tippy top. Conditions were a tad bid wind loaded and styrofoamy, so chose a mellower line off the skiers left. My camera went rogue, and all the first run photos were washed out.

Debating on the second run, Alan, Marc and I hit up the goods for another stash of white stuff.

Alan dropping in.

Marc dropping in.

Witnessing the overall annihilation of the Front Range powdery goodness.

So someone had the bright idea of skiing to the Glenn Highway. After 2.5 hours of bushwhacking and alderbashing, we arrived at Grezelka Range for an exfil by Sam C. Thanks Sam, I owe you some beers!

But I got some awesome shots of the sunset over the Tordrillo's. The peaks on the lookers left are Redoubt and Iliamna Volcano's.

We arrived at the Glenn at 9:15PM. I ate McDonald's for dinner...it was soooo good. I think I burned about 8000 calories.

North Bowl

2010-03-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

Its been an awesome run of high pressure, stable conditions, and cold smoke powder on north facing aspects.

I headed to North Bowl after work on Monday and met up with these guys.

Eric and Alan, fellow Eagle River and South Fork residents, respectively.

Alan, the token splitboarder, drops into the bowl.

Eric hucks the cornice.

They Headed North

2010-03-18T22:45:00.002-08:00

So Meg and I decided to make a weekend pilgrimage to Fairbanks, Alaska.

After just under 6 hours of driving, we ended up at Pike's Landing. For the weekend, we had the Ice Festival, Chena Hot Springs, and a remote cabin on tap.

After arriving in town, we had plans to eat at the Turtle Club, but those plans went awry with a 2 hour wait. We headed to the Silver Gulch Brewery instead and had an awesome dinner.

With only a couple hours left, we checked out the International Ice Festival in the single digit weather. It was pretty damn amazing...

This is Meg's second snowmachine ride, on her own personal pink snowmachine.

Meg rockin' out in the kids ice tunnel.

Riding the ice luge on a cardboard box.

North to the Future!!

This sculpture was titled "Coming Home".

Later that night we retired to Pike's Landing, and grabbed a drink at the bar. We got up the next morning and ate breakfast at Sourdough Sam's and checked out the Ice Fest in the daylight. By the way, it was -20F when we woke up...

Meg makes her way through the ice maze.

It was rather cold riding the free train. What a cutie!!

Hitting the bowl. No Mom, not that kind...

More ice luging.

What can I say...they did an ice job with this one...

Meg's favorite animal.

Titled "Conception", how'd they do that?

The next adventure was getting out to a remote cabin that was 6.5 miles off of Chena Hot Springs Road. The Nugget Creek cabin is accesible only by foot, ski, or snowmachine. We chose the latter, borrowing a sled from one of my buddies.

Meg prepped for a little throttle therapy.

The Nugget Creek Cabin.

The cabin via the wood line...

After we got the fire stoked, we headed back out to the road and drove another 25 miles to the Chena Hot Springs. Arriving just before sunset, we soaked in the hot springs while the ambient temperature hovered in the single digits.

Cabin life. Drinks, hot dogs, snacks, cards (Hands and Feet), lanterns, and dogface.

The necessary items for Hands and Feet.

Cool picture of cabin life...with a lot of stuff going on (new BD Lantern, cabin log, "The Club", iPhone music, and Meg).

Taken just before we would see the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. I really couldn't figure how to use my new bad ass camera, so no bad ass pics.

We had some pretty stellar views of the aurora. We headed back to Anchorage the next day, of course losing an hour due to daylight savings time.

860 miles of driving...but it was soooo worth it!

Coyote Ridge

2010-03-18T21:55:00.000-08:00

This the start of many blog updates. We got anywhere from 8-20" of fresh snow with the last front range storm, and the skiing has been awesome for about 2 weeks.

Last Friday, Marc, Agnes, and Matt #1 headed out to the Hillside in search of champagne powder.

And we found it.

Marc and #1 contemplate the exact location of the goods...

Now i've always thought that an interesting photo was taking off your skins with skis still on, with a nice background of blowing snow, and ready to be skied powder. This was #1's idea...

Hey Matt #2, get this...

Ok, how about now...

Defeated...

Let me try again...

And again...

This guy is a bumbling idiot...has he ever backcountry skied before???

Success!! This is the picture I was looking for.

Now back to skiing. Agnes ripping up the freshies.

Marc takes no prisoners.

Matt drops the knee with Ptarmigan Peak in the background.

Marc actually skiing with his legs together, east coast style.

Our tracks, and only our tracks. Front Range goodness!

AVSA

2010-03-02T21:59:00.001-09:00

I just downloaded pics from our excursion to Arctic Valley Ski Area, or formerly known as Alpenglow. I prefer Alpenglow, as this jives with their bar....Afterglow. I had mentioned in previous posts that we had a spell of warm weather and less than ideal snow conditions. We skied about a half dozen runs on a styrofoam crust.

Overlooking the origin of this ski area - Arctic Valley. The flat peak over Meg's head is my local favorite powder stash, North Bowl. NO friends on powder days.

Meg in perfect form: knees bent, shoulders perpendicular to the fall line, weight forward... Tequila Bowl and Center Bowl in the background.

Wassup with the poles?

Meg with Anchortown in the backdrop.

Before we left, I talked to my Dad on the phone and he said, "keep your tips up!!" This one's for you LJ!

Meg ready to hit the Afterglow...or maybe bloody mary's at Orso...or maybe schooner's at Pizza Man - so many choices!

Marmot & Peak 4068

2010-02-28T09:53:00.001-09:00

Finally some new snow after nearly two weeks of above freezing temps. With warm temps comes a melt-freeze crust. With a melt-freeze crust, comes "dust on crust". Well maybe not that bad, but we found some decent snow while skiing the west face of Marmot.

HP was eerily deserted as we pulled into the lower mountain parking lot. This is just after we all discussed the Tsunami Warning over a cup of Joe at Jitters in Eagle River. Matt, Agnes, Marc and I were stoked for some powder skiing, after 8" of fresh fell on the Talkeetna Mountains.

Marc makes his way to the ridgeline.

Matt and Agnes make their way to the ridgeline. The goods are located down and to the right. No lift ticket required. (Edited: picture of the year nominee!)

The standard pre-run stoke. I should prolly take my skins off first...

Conquering the west face of Marmot.

After this challenging run and grueling skin track, we decided to head across the road and ski a shot off of Peak 4068. After putting skins back on, the bluebird day was quickly turning to greybird.

Is moisture forthcoming?

Matt making tele turns in the flat light.

And the lack of slope angle made it very difficult for the Powderhound. LB is officially tattered, as depicted below.

In other news, I was the only person in this ski group not to have climbed the tallest mountain on at least two continents. Very humbling....but I just like to ski. Any nobody makes me, i'm a volunteer.

East Coast Stoke...

2010-02-26T12:52:00.002-09:00

So we finally got some snow in Southcentral Alaska. The warm temps and wind wreaked havoc on our snowpack, and kept us out of the mountains last weekend - except for a jaunt to Arctic Valley, or Alpenglow...whatever they're calling it these days.

But even more interesting, the Adirondack Park is getting slammed with a 'Noreaster.

I checked the radar for the East Coast, and this is what I found.

This comes just in time for the Adirondack Backcountry Ski Festival.

Very tempting...I may have to make an emergency trip to the East Coast.

But back to the matter at hand....8" fresh at Hatcher Pass. Time to go check out the goods in the Talkeetna's with the Snobomb and Marc.

Tincan, Gold Mint, Avalanches

2010-02-17T19:08:00.001-09:00

I've delayed posting the most recent update, as we've had had some recent avalanche incidents in South central Alaska that takes the wind out of your sails. But i'll take it from the top...

TP has received an enormous amount of snow (in the high country) and rain (at sea level). Me and JD drove to Tincan to do some storm skiing. The snow was thick and deep, a typical Tincan trees day. I think we saw the guy who posts as "Dongshow" on Telemark Tips.

Justin breaking trail.

Me breaking trail.

Lobita breaking trail. Actually not really, just trying to keep her head above the snow.

Justin shredding the gnar.

Justin took some nice footage of the deep powder.

So on Saturday, I headed up to Hatcher's to check out the conditions. As my luck would be, the reports from Turnagain were "best day of the year" and "dude it was so awesome" and on and on. Ya can't win when yer losin'!

We decided to veer off the set path of the upper mine area, and headed down the Gold Mint Trail.

On our climb, looking up valley towards the Mint Glacier.

Jody skiing carefully down the less than ideal dust on crust.

This terrain looked nice. I believe the peak in the background is Arcose Peak, but am not sure. The ribs and spines looked really nice, but the cover is a tad bit thin.

As I returned home, I started getting a lot of calls from backcountry skiing partners. There was a common relief, as all said "glad to hear your voice, there was a fatality in the South Fork". Not knowing the victim, we started a BC ski partner accountability check, and I called everyone I knew.

This happened in an area we call "Three Bowls", which was the site of several avalanche incidents in past years. The most recent 2 seasons ago that buried a Fort Richardson Soldier, although I dont think it was reported.

Additionally, there was a separate event in Grandview that killed two snowmachiners. One of which was the President of Conoco Phillips in Alaska. At the time of this post, his partner Alan Gage, is still missing.

However, lets end on a good note. Meg and I spent some time down at the Alyeska Resort for V-day. The skiing was marginal, and was like skiing inside of a ping pong ball during a blizzard. So we went to Chair 5 for Bloody Mary's and wings.

Meg sporting her "uniquely Alaskan" attire.

Harp

2010-02-09T21:39:00.000-09:00

When it comes to after work adventures, this is as good as it gets. Justin D. and I headed up to Harp Mountain for a post-work ski outing. The Eagle River Valley received nearly a foot of new snow in the last 48 hours, with a nice dusting of champagne powder last night.

Where is everyone? All of this for ourselves? You mean I don't have to share?

We headed to the end of Highland Road and started our ascent up the ridge. With bluebird skies, but fleeting daylight, we made it as far as we could before beginning our descent.

Kicking in the skintrack.

First tracks. Why do I always let him go first?

Look closely. Why am I smiling? Dude, because of the face shots!! Nice picture Justin...my new nomination for picture of the year.

Continuing the run...

This blog wouldn't be complete without a picture of LB.

Our tracks, and only our tracks. I can confidently say that this was one of the best runs of the year. Haven't skied powder like that in a while. The Snobomb says, "that's alotta fuggin snow". Matty don't say eff.

To put it all in perspective, I toured up Harp again today with my buddy Scott. In just 24 hours, the pristine powder had disappeared, and the wind was nuking through the South Fork valley. We cut our tour a bit short, and observed shooting cracks and soft slab releases as we did survival turns all the way back to the truck. We practiced some avalanche rescue and lived to ski another day.

"The wind works quick..." - The Token Fat Guy

Super....bowl???

2010-02-07T20:56:00.000-09:00

Well, not quite. I skied my local Eagle River favorite with my local favorite ski dog - Lobita. We had received about 8" of fresh snow in the ER, but I would say there was about 12" of blower powder in the bowl. I was presently surprised, and would almost say that was the deepest snow i'd skied in North Bowl.

Making my way up the ridge. Wind buffed powder. It's usually scoured up here, what a nice surprise. Dogface getting after it...

Looks like someone tracked up Three Bowls. My guess would be JT.

The everpresent cornice on the ridge. Anchorage in the background.

Trying to get this new tripod thing working. Its getting better.

I think i've posted this picture before. About half way down for my rest break. Lots of face shots to go around.

Sorry for the flat light. A look at my run. I made about one thousand butt-wiggle Suzy Chapstick turns all the way to the valley floor...it was that good.

While skinning back up to the saddle, I ran into this dude who lives at the base of the South Fork Trailhead. We noticed a skier triggered avalanche on a chute on the east side of Highland Road, a run locally known as "Leighow".

It ran for about 1800 feet. I saw a ski party of 4 ascending the gully and thinking that they are going to get themselves in some trouble. And they did...

This entry wouldn't be complete with a parting shot of The Shrink ripping up some freshies at the resort!

By the way. The actual name "Superbowl" is a run in Turnagain Pass that was named on this day by Eric the Viking. That's your little known Alaska backcountry skiing fact.

P-tex

2010-02-02T21:43:00.000-09:00

When thinking of what I should name this post, the only thing that came to mind is Greg Stump's 1994 film, P-Tex, Lies, and Duct Tape

.
Big names Like Glen Plake, Scott Schmidt, and Mike Hattrup also appear in similar movies. Its always a crowd favorite when the ski season is sneaking up and you all pile around a TV to watch The Blizzard of Aahhh's to get your stoke on!

But back to the matter at hand...

"Dear Ullr,

Thank you for the sick pow that we've been able to ski lately. In recognition of your plentiful blessings of cold smoke blower powder, I have made a p-tex sacrifice that is in dire need of repair."

The shop. This is my favorite room in the house.

Step 1. Melt p-tex into core shots using the base repair iron.

Step 2 and 3. Ground smooth with the Surform, and finish with a metal scraper.

Finish with a coat of wax, and you're race ready.

Shown below is a home-made ski repair "vice". I used some scrap 2x4's, and some butyl rubber underlayment from Home Depot (the kind you line your shelves with).

A couple of nice Hatcher's core shots repaired, and ready for a coat of wax tomorrow night.

All of the ski tuning supplies can be purchased from Tognar Toolworks. Awesome swag, they'll ship in a flat rate box, and give you a 10% discount for serving your country.