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!

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.....

Microdot

10" of new snow fell in Hatcher Pass this past week, so a group of 6 skiers headed up to the Pass to take advantage of the goods.
Sunrise over the 'Gach.

Our destination was Microdot.  We were in search of deep powder on a run called "Nosebleed."  One of my favorite secret powder stashes in Hatcher Pass.
The Band of Brothers (and sister) on the Uptrack.

This was my view most of the day.  In the back, slow and steady...

The group on top of our run.  Skins peeled, helmets donned, avalung ready, grins from ear to ear.

 

Looking back towards "Nosebleed".  Sam C and I skied this run in late april last year.

 

 Greg on our way to the next run.  Independence Mine in the background, and Skyscraper Ridge.

Inspecting my tracks (and LB's tracks) from run #1.

For our next run, we decided to ski a south facing shot off the top of Microdot.  By this time we were climbing and skiing in the sun.  We chose to ski cut this 38-40 degree slope.  It was a little rocky, but certainly worth the extra effort.

Justin ski cutting and dropping in.

Justin cranking turns down the steep couloir.

This one may win picture of the year award.

Jon joining the group.  But at this point things get interesting.  Chili decided to leave the group and make a solo descent of Microdot.

Not knowing his location, we climbed to the summit again in search of Chili Pepper.

Me and Lobita on the top of Microdot (for the third time today).

Eliminating all the possibilities, Marc and I skied Nosebleed again, and Jon skied the south side in search of the Chili Dog.

Me and LB finding the stash of goods.

Marc skiing the Rock Garden (aptly named)

Justin heading out after skiiing a lower elevation chute off of "Microbump".

The total annihilation of Microdot.  Lobita and Hannah make their way back to the cat track.

This one may capture it all:  "Where's Chili?"

All ended well.  Chili ended up following the guys from HatchYourTrax back to the parking lot.

Lots of blue and white made for a pretty stellar day in the Talkeetna Mountains.