Sunburst Ski Posse

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

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.