Soft...Buttery...Corn

A few years ago, we all rallied at the Bear Tooth for the CNFAIC Fundraiser to listen to Kristoffer Erickson talk about his Alaskan spring skiing adventures.  It was a sweet presentation and this cat really got after it, but all he talked about was skiing some "Soft Buttery Corn."

Long days and warm temps rewarded us with some nice spring skiing last night in the South Fork valley. B-real and I hammered up Harp Mountain after work.  We arrived at the top wiping the sweat off our brows, dehydrated and looking for a Coors Light.

When the Mountains turn blue, It's as Cold as the Chugach!

I think Eddie said it right... "if you know someone who’s still looking rather pasty, tell em to get off their ass and get into the hills."  And if you haven't check his latest footie from his seggie, do so; it's pretty tight.

Its the time of year when all of the season ending parties take place like the Champagne Brunch and this years inaugural "Corn Harvest" sponsored by the CNFAIC.  And we all have those good "farmers" tans.

B-real harvests his own crops...

As this epic record-breaking winter winds down we all have to answer the question, 

"Whoa, where have you been, vacation?  

"Nope, ... Alaska!"

Front Range Powder...

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!"

Get Your Fix...

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.

Front Range Adventures

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?