Independence Mine

It was Meg's first day on skis, and subsequently her first day in the backcountry.

We took it pretty mellow, and headed up to Hatcher's Pass and toured around the Independence Mine area. It was an easy skin to get the ski legs back under us, and we hit some nice shallow fluffy powder on the way back to the main groomed road.

Here is a pic of just 1 week ago, when we snowshoed and it was -1F, and a slight breeze. Lobita was in full "anti-cold" attire with her hoodie and booties.

She was like Michael Jackson, 3 blaze orange booties, and 1 black bootie.


It was much more bearable this week. 27F and no wind. Lots of classic and skate skiers - to include our friends Marc & Gayle and Jon & Jessica (and Hannah & Chili)

Meg makes her way up to the visitors center.

Meg poses for a quick shot in her new hat. C'est un beau chapeau....(that's right suckas I know French!)

Dogface (AKA Lobita) sits intently while we enjoy our hot cocoa on a well placed rock adjacent to the visitors center. We watched all the 16 year old skate skiers from APU. Damn they make that sh*t look easy!


Next was the way down. Super easy and un-eventful. Good to get our ski legs back under us on a nice mellow groomed slope.

"Bring on the powder" --Meg

Fresno Ridge

No...not the Bay Area.

I took the newbie down to the Summit Lake area for a little exploratory touring. I didn't exactly know the beta on the route, so we had one hell of a bushwhack. The skiing was decent. They had about 12" of base, but the top ~6" was nice and light. Another foot of snow for the southcentral region and we'll be doing good.

Ryan on the skintrack with Manitoba Mountain in the background.

Nice views with the upper Summit Lake area lit by the afternoon sun.

Dogface on the uptrack.

Not sure what this peak is called. I think something back here is called "Spiritwalker"??

Ryan getting his first powder turns. Denali and Lobita close behind.

Ryan laying waste to fresh powder.

Ski it if you can...

And if you can't, this is what it'll look like...

The Sunnyside

Ahhh yes, the Sunnyside. This is probably the best time of the year to ski the "motorized" side of Turnagain Pass, also known as the sunnyside. It needs about 30" of snow to be ridable for a snowmachine, so we need a couple more big dumps until the USFS opens it up to all of the slednecks.

Jon Page and I left Eagle River around 0900 and were pretty sullen as we drove through Portage looking at the nuking winds coming off of Carpathian and the surrounding peaks. We hit up the Sunburst parking lot and found similar conditions, 15 degrees F ambient temperature with wind gusts into the 40mph range. So we headed to the weather station and decided to take a tour.

As with all early season conditions, you have to manage the alders until they get beat down.

Alderbashing. Chili and Hannah wait.

It started out with the sun shining on the Sunnyside. This is looking across the highway to the "non-motorized" side. Tincan ridge (center) and Eddies (right).

Another good look at Tincan. The run from the top is known as "Todd's Run." Usually not skiable unless we have bomber conditions. I guess some folks already tagged it this year...

Looking down the entire length of Turnagain Pass

Jon thrashes the breakable crust and blower pow. Hannah and Chili are on his heels.

The reward. Nacho Supreme, Chicken Wings, and beer at Chair 5 in Girdwood.

First Turns of the Year...(and a little Packrafting)

Its been a while since i've been on the snow....but its good to be back on the Uptrack...

My last ski day was May 15th when I skied the S-Couloir with Todd Kelsey. But to replace all those endorphins over the summer months, I discovered Packrafting. I've only been rafting for about 4 months, but have managed to float all of the major rivers/runs in the Anchorage area.

Last night the Anchorage bowl received about 4" of white stuff, so I headed up to Arctic Valley for a quick after work shot. It was an awesome sunset, but no views of the Tordrillo's or Neacola's.

But I skinned to the top of the mid-mountain lift and this is what I found. Anchortown backlit by the sunset.

Gordon Lyon and Tequila Bowl shown in Alpenglow. Now I know why they used to call this place Alpenglow.

Looking into Ship Creek Valley. Speaking of Ship Creek...hopefully a packraft destination next season.

And my favorite shot of the night.


But I did promise some packrafting.

Tim Johnson (my brudda...) and I headed down to Six Mile Creek on Sunday. The rest of the crew got the goods with their new leg straps on Saturday.

Ambient Air Temp: 27 F
Weather: mostly cloudy skies, light snow (what a day for rafting!)

Check out the video Tim made. I had my first successful run of "Staircase", but got bandersnatched on "Merry-go-round". Lots o fun...

Icerafting...I mean Packrafting the Six Mile

We have had a pretty disappointing fall ski season. So why not go packrafting? Marc, Jody and I decided to run the 2nd and 3rd canyons of Six Mile Creek.

Ambient air temperature: 20 deg F
Weather: bluebird skies.
Precipitation: 2-3 inches of snow on the ground in Turnagain Pass.

Marc and Jody getting ready to get strapped in just above the entrance to "Pearly Gates" and "The Nozzle"Ice forming on my paddle. All the eddy's were pretty much frozen over and were quite difficult to get in and out of.
My nemesis..."Staircase" at the entrance to the 3rd Canyon. I aptly named my previous bloggage "Six Million Dollar Creek" because this rapid claimed my knife and the inflatable portion of the spray deck. This thing ate my lunch. I trashed my spray deck...I mean totally trashed it. It ripped all along the velcro, and all the way across below the stow clips. What does this mean? I had to raft the remaining 5 rapids with no spray deck. I was basically floating in a bathtub.

Notice the ice forming on my PFD. Everything was frozen. Including my hands and feet!

Success. The token group shot from the car hood at the take out.

Special thanks to Luc Mehl for helping us out with boat chasing, throw bags, river reading, paddling techniques, and "how not to get your ass kicked" advice.

Marc put this video together:



My trashed boat. Nothing a little aquaseal, tyvek tape, and Winter Ale wont fix!

Bird Creek

Folks have been raving about this Ship Creek substitute. So Doc, Big and I headed south on the Seward Highway and checked out the Lower Sanctum of Bird Creek. Its a pretty quick run, with a lot of whitewater excitement packed into a 1/4 mile stretch of river.

After the hike, we put in below "Mushroom", and quickly enter the "Commitment Cauldron", "Elbow Hole", and "Whirly Bird". The most exciting drop is "Center Falls", which is a 10 foot drop into a nice recovery pool. And the upsetting backender is called "Bronco", the last rapid.

Check out the goods:



I took a very nice swim lesson after center falls. Good practice.

The next weekend Marc, JD and I ran Bird Creek again. We streamlined the hike into the run, and made two laps. We saw another group of 4 rafters at the take out.

One of my favorites of the year!

Six Million Dollar Creek

You can't fault us for not getting after it.

Three months ago, I never would have told you that i'd be floating down Six Mile Creek, all three canyons, in a packraft.

8 of us brave souls, along with another group of 8 crazies, were thirsty for a stoke bump and headed down to Hope, Alaska for some gnarly whitewater.

Although I dont have many pictures, the video tells the tale of the mighty Six Mile. Or as I call it, the Six Million Dollar Creek - named because on the "Staircase" rapid, I had some thrashed gear.

The crew before departing.

The first rapid of the first canyon, "Seventeen Ender". This always got the blood pumping because the consequences are pretty big. You swim the first drop, you swim the entire canyon.The other rapid that was extremely intimidating was "Staircase", at the entrance to the third canyon. I took a small swim lesson at the bottom of this rapid. 2/4 swam this rapid in our group.

The real proof is in the pudding...check out the YouTube video by Marc: