April Fools Update

March skiing sucked in Alaska....April Fools!

Just the opposite, as an east coaster would say "it was wicked pissah".

Dang, i've got a lot of updating to do.  I apologize, to be quite honest, for being down right lazy.  I've been getting after that March powder, visits to the cabin, the Last Great Race, and celebrating.

As part of the Iditarod weekend, we all met in Hatcher Pass for some skiing on Saturday.  I made the reverse commute from Talkeetna and met the crew.  We headed up Pk 4068 and skied a lap in Wimp Bowl, and then skied Lodge Run (north face of 4068).  Here are some pics of those powder pursuits:

Its all about the Uptrack.

Seff enjoys the slash fest.

The CD killin' it with the DPS's!

Gnarly Gnicki proves there are no wimps in Wimp Bowl.  Notice the contrails 3 turns back. #maching

Picture of the Year!

Heading home.

Lodge Run.....check.

Yours truly and LB - needing a chiropractor after wrecking that spine :)

We all retired to the cabin where the festivities commenced.  What would an apres ski be without the shot ski?!?!

(L to R): Birdcage, The Shrink, HD, Seff

$10 gets you a musher.  If your musher comes in first, you win the pot.  We picked from the favorites: Meg had a repeat of last year with Aliy Zirkle, and I had veteran Martin Buser.  Things looked good.

The group is stoked.  Bring on the Harlem Shake.

The ladies enjoying the Vitamin D (L to R): Em, HD, The Shrink, Dirty Diana, C-Lo, Gnarly Gnicki.

The Shrink gives well wishes and a high-five to Aliy Zirkle....second place two years in a row.

In mid-March I decided to go off the beaten path and ski the Willow side of Hatcher Pass.  Seff rallied and we enjoyed the sun, views, wind hammered alpine, and creamy tree skiing.  Meanwhile everything that was white got skied in Southcentral Alaska.  Wolverine, Big Chief, Captains Chair, SOD, Carpathian (NF), Silvertip, Twin Peaks...and the list goes on.

And I even got credit for a first descent!  First turns on "LB's Run" in Talkeetna. Yes it counts as a ski day.

Meesh and I met the HYT crew at Porcupine Meadows for some storm skiing.  HP reportedly received 23" fresh that day.  We skied about a foot.

Anchorage was also greeted with a late March refresh with as much as 15" in town, and 18" on the Hillside.  We skied the trees in the South Fork.  Mr. Cody chases Meesh's shadow.

Bout the only other news is that the CrossFit Open is almost done - featuring a fierce competition between me and my brother-in-law.  I'm 11 points in the lead going into the final workout (13.5).  And Syracuse (my alma mater) made the Final Four.  Go 'Cuse!

"March in Alaska is the reward for December in Alaska" --SF

May Day!

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

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!

Lots of Blue and White!

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

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.....

Hatcher

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.

Champagne Brunch

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!

Marmot & Peak 4068

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.