first solo to hatchers

     So I heard hatchers was the best bet for sun today and with the front range looking as blown as it did I figured I would head out there.  I wanted sunny skiing, it was today's priority.  I also had a gift certificate to the Wasilla Sportsman's Warehouse that was burning a hole in my pocket. 
     I had only been to hatcher's once and we had gone up marmot.  I drove around looking for something but had no ideas so I just repeated that, only I did a ridgline-skin beyond the weather station a ways just to see what kind of lines were out there.  I gathered some ideas for next time as it was clear, thus affording great views.  I also saw some pretty sweet lines skied around the area.  The Rae-Wallace chutes "the uptrack" mentioned were well-skied out but I could see the fresh-and-deepness of them.  I wasn't interested in shaded runs either.
     Snow was good, nothing deep but enough of the freshness to make is soft and swishy.  There was a mild breeze at the top, mostly sunny skies, upper 20s I'm guessing.  I skied Marmot twice, the second time some snowboarders snowshoed up my skin-track, making it less than smooth.  Didn't they get the etiquette memo?

     I definately have ideas for next time.  Those mountains are amazing as seen by my panoramic shot.  More exposed rock it seems than Turnagain which makes for good pictures.  I feel like it is sunny there more too.  I stocked up on beef jerky and soda at the warehouse.  I couldn't think of anything to buy that I needed so I went impulsive.

just to humor me, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Peak 3........x3

     So today I woke up to a fresh and fluffy 4-6".  The XC ski trails were likely ungroomed at this point and it seemed like winds up high were minimal so of course I opted for an AT outing.  With no takers I was flying solo and wanted to do something near town, front range of course with short skin in and ideally a ski-out as my legs are gassed from yesterdays long XC ski.  Peak 2 or 3 it would be.
     I noticed plenty of fresh snow and surprisingly few tracks heading up to the TH.  Coincidentally I saw too ski buddies leaving as I was pulling up: they had gone out much earlier than I was willing to wak up on a day off.  Reports from them were good.  Weather: snowing hard/soft, mild winds, cloudy, fair visibility, high 20s.  Forecast was calling for partly cloudy in the afternoon so I was hoping for better lighting. 
     I skinned past their recommended Peak 2 and went for Peak 3.  One guy had single-lapped it so it was looking PRISTINE for riding.  I skinned up and skied it down to merge of back of peak 2 and absolutely had to repeat.  It was fresh and swishy, light, with a good carve-able base beneath, not wind affected.  No one was around, no one was coming up the skin track, the lighting was improving, I had no choice. 
     I knew my legs would pay the price but I had to do it again. They were already tired from yesterday but between the snow, weather, sky, good views, solitude, and the fact that I would have to work the next two days drove me to repeat and it was so worth it.  As I was skiing out I came across 3 others coming up.  Good timing, there was plenty of goodness left for them and the sun was popping out, lighting up the face.  Lucky bums, I hope they enjoy it.  Nothing beats skiing in the sun.

Above:  All those tracks are mine, except far faint right ones.

On a different note, I read a provocative article that I found myself resonating with after some introspection. Interesting. 
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/The-Paradox-of-Going-Outside.html?page=9

i've got sunshine....a morning on Gordon Lyon

     So today we tried to do something local and short, like a morning tour and home by early afternoon.  Unfortunately the wind came from opposite directions over the past few days with enough force to leave almost every aspect unskiably thin up high.  Pickings were slim given our criteria.  We decided to just head out anyway and hope for the best.  Like a recent post title from The Uptrack blog: "you don't know if you don't go" I have been finding this is indeed a good policy for skiing and find it to be worth it more than not. 
     I too was investing in some newer backcountry folks who contributed to a well balanced/rounded group for the outing.  We headed up Arctic Valley to ski whatever aspect of Mt Gordon Lyon looked best.  Weather was cool and calm with a mild breeze coming down from the saddle.  Mostly cloudy at first with light, but noticable snowfall and turning into mostly sunny by the start of our first run.  A light dusting from the previous night softened the pack under the skis a bit. 
     It was thin up top so we skied from a bit below the summit after taking in the incredible views of Anchorage, the Alaska Range, S. Fork of Eagle River and the view to the south of the front range.  The gully down to S Fork of Eagle River was too thin and the Northern chutes looked bare and were shadowed with flat light/low clouds.  We chose the runs in the sun. 
     We were the only ones there until we got our two laps in, then we saw 8 people at various points heading up as we were heading out.  It is nice to hit the local spots before the crowd.  It helps maintain that solitude most backcountry travelers, especially me, appreciate.  I still want to head back there and ski the other two aspects of Gordon Lyon, but will have to wait for more snow. 

https://vimeo.com/59955793

 

Lower Penguin Ridge

     So a few days ago a buddy of mine and I headed out to Bird with the intention of riding his prowler down the ATV trail to access some skiing a few ridges back.  We found a "no snowmachines" sign and the gate was closed so we elected to go up the much closer penguin ridge.  Weather: snowing but a wet snow, temps hovering at 30, calm, cloudy.  We were starting from sea level and after a short skin and some climbing the snow changed to much friendlier stuff around 800ft.
     In the summer this trail is thick with alders and heavily laden with rocks and ruts so the snowy skin track and bare branches was easier to navigate in my opinion.  Some random local showed up and broke trail for us, thankfully.  We went up to the treeline before stopping for lunch and to ski down as some weather was moving in and made visibility incredibly poor.  Our inability to assess terrain,the flat light, and the snow that was becoming punchy from wind buffing all supported this decision.
     The ski down was fabulous.  Not the deepest or most amazing conditions but still just fun.  We skied a few shorter tree shots then clowned around in the gully the rest of the way down.  Though it isn't the most fun, I still enjoy being able to ski out/down, even if it is a luge down the skin track ducking and dodging alders while trying to preserve the integrity of my face/goggles/body parts.  It keeps me agile.  The hope is to ski Penguin top-to-bottom, approx 3800' run starting with the bowl up top and ending down at the trail.  I'll keep you posted on that one.

     Working on short video from the day, if you follow the link below it has my videos as I am able to edit/upload them: I struggle to learn the  technology, especially when there is skiing to be done, but, at the same time I like to share the experience with those interested.  Still working on getting a better quality picture on there too.
https://vimeo.com/59828161  (KGK upper bowl from the other day)


random Alyeska shot, because yes, I do ski there sometimes:

KGK.....get after it.

     So a meeting this morning didn't allow me to meet up for an AM ski.  We got a fresh 6" at our house here and the lack of updated grooming news for the XC ski trails left me no choice but to go backcountry.  I chose my go-to run for long, solo and good weather days as the sun popped out just as I was contemplating the days activities. 
     The KGK (Kanchee-Gully-Knoya) is a long gully accessed by the stuckagain heights TH on the military land that runs west down between Kanchee and the false peak of Knoya.  It holds snow well, is sheltered and is low-angle which makes it a safe bet.  It also affords amazing views of Anchorage, the inlet, and the Alaska range as well as major mountains such as Denali and Iliamna.  2200 feet of vertical according to my iphone app(including the top bowl).
     Lucy and I got a late start, leaving the TH around noon.  I was pleased to notice about 8-10" of the fresh-and-fluffy which means even better skiing than anticipated.   I also noticed early on that I was breaking trail in this fresh 8-10.  I chose the cut-off going up-valley toward takishla then popped over to the drainage of the KGK to minimize up-and-down and reduce distance.  After 2 hours I was at the base, another 1 and was at the top of the bowl above the KGK. 
     It paid off: excellent views, some of that super light weight borderline blower pow, and the stoke of 3 hours of breaking trail pent up.  The bowl was perfect, shin-knee deep awesomeness not yet seen this season in the front range.  After warming up with that I rode the long KGK all the way and it was amazing.  Shin-deep bouncy stuff, a little hard/icy underneath near the top but that quickly went away.  I was so pumped after that I knew it would kill me but I had to do it again. 
     So I did.  A set skin track made it easier and the views were even better with the sun setting.  I only wish my legs had more in them.  I had to stop several times but it gave me the chance to soak it all in.  After that I slogged my tired legs to the trail, but not without some alder-bashing of course, and spaced out at the city lights to pass the time back to the car.  Bam what a good day.

 

 Above is the upper bowl, a nice shot off that point.

View from the top of KGK. Anchorage below.

Video links:
KGK gully itself  https://vimeo.com/59829490
KGK upper bowl clip https://vimeo.com/59828161

skiing today.....IN MY MIND

     So I had to work again today what's new yada yada.  I realized my iphone takes pretty good video.  It shows up on youtube better than my Gopro stuff, something I will have to fix and figure out.  Any tips anyone?  Anyway this is a crazy Canuck demonstrating some front range action.  Until next time.........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsg9rpHBa48

a short peak 2 outing

     So after we got 4-6" but it all blew around and drifted up in the mountains.  We went out yesterday for a short 1-lap tour with super unimpressive conditions: punchy/slabby/drifted/variable snow, winds 30-60, flat light.  It was still good to get out though.  Today we figured that the gullies of peak 2 and its' leeward aspect would be decent.  We toured up on thin/icy/ground or drifted/punchy/deep.  Temps were warmer today and I was cooking until we got high enough for some wind.
     We popped above the cloud layer to reveal fair lighting and a gentle breeze: perfect skinning and skiing weather.  The snow was not as good as I had hoped, decent in the absolute leeward aspect but punchy/slabby almost everywhere else.  Pickings were slim for lines so we stuck to the middle and skied it out to the car.  Perhaps another good snow will help out but we still hit a few rocks just below the surface, the good news is no loss of p-tex.

Below are two shots of the small slide that I triggered, as it is moving.  crown about 6-10", leeward windloaded sloper, convex rollover.  Much like the last one. 

 

my first video/editing film: http://youtu.be/YuBJXjPj12k

100%

 

 



O'malleys' Back Alley

     So I had a number of ideas of what to ski today, mostly local stuff because driving to turnagain gets old and the raincrust going on there is less than enticing.  I checked the weather info and stations to eliminate options and reduce my challenges with indecision.  We headed out to glen alps to ski the gulley that leads to the ballfield.  Weather looked less than promising.  Flat light, high 20s/low30s, steady wind increasing in speed with elevation, snowing on and off, and of course the unchanged bare snow conditions in the front range. 
     After reaching the saddle we went up the ridge a little bit and skied a short stint down into the ballfield and continued down the mellow run which, for a lack of knowing its' proper name if it has one, we called O'malleys' Back Alley.  The short stint offered some steeper terrain that wasn't too slabby, windloaded or bare.  The Alley was a smooth and mellow backcountry "groomer".  The gulley walls offered perpective and contrast and the depth sheltered us from the wind and blowing snow.  It was chubby enough to arc some turns.  Overall, better than expected.   We lapped this combo thrice and called it a day.  The gulley from the ballfield was surprisingly soft.

     Free-streaming thoughts of the day:  I can feel my legs improving in both strength and endurance, which equals more backcountry skiing.  Bonus.  I need to bring more food and water with me so I can take advantage of this improvement and ski more.  I really appreciate, and would recommend to any backcountry traveller, always having eye protection from wind/snow/sun/debris.  Life-saver today.  Due to my high rate of losing/breaking glasses I picked up some $4 safety glasses as seen above: cheaper, stronger and I feel less guilty when they're gone.

Ski in the front range? What???

     So another day off means another day of skiing.  Partly cloudy skies, mild winds, warmer temps set the stage.  I met up with a ski buddy or two and elected to hope for the near-impossible: ski something in the front range.  We were going to pick a place further out and plan for a long skin to see what we could see.  We did not get our hopes up for much vertical, you can see from the pics what the front range looks like now.
     We skinned back toward rabbit lake, eyeing the typical close front-range runs: peak 2, peak 3, any of the peak 4/flaketop gullies.  A peak 4 gully looked somewhat promising but we decided to keep skinning to check out Ptarmigan, maybe even the Suicides if we were ambitious and desperate enough.  There had to be snow somewhere.

     As we skinned across icy patches of tundra and rock we saw a large white swath that ran continuously from top of Ptarmigan to the valley floor.  OK, so there is snow, but is it ski-able?  We sure as heck were going to find out.  As we approached things looked better and better, my mind was drooling over the appetizing thought of skiing something today.  We skinned up a wind-buffed but carveable snow to the shoulder.  We noticed the gullies were loaded with more of what looked like softer snow.

 

     We were proven right.  We traverse-booted to a couloir, ate some food, soaked in the sun, ripped the skins and skied a pleasantly long run down to the valley floor.  After a second and shorter skin up to the shoulder and a ski down the large wind-blown field of snow we were able to ski almost the whole way back to the car.  Easy on us, but the dogs were definately beat.

     Driving back down to town I soaked up the water-color sky as the sun approached the cloudline.  My legs were tired, my stomach was hungry, my mouth was thirsty, but no big deal because it was worth it.  A small price to pay to spend a day in the backcountry with friends, doing what we love, no place to be, looking at a constant stream of national geographic quality views but actually being there.  mmmm,mmmm.  No words.  If you've been there you know what I mean.  

North Bowl investigation

     So I was going for a mellow/easy day, something local and short, not too taxing.  This would prove to be tough given the paucity of snow in the front range.  I only heard one report this whole season, just a few days ago, from a co-worker whose husband had skied north bowl and said it was decent.  There was some wind between today and then but I thought the bowl would be sheltered enough to hold snow and be minimally wind affected. 
     All my ski people are working and meetup group people are flaky at best so I went with the dogs.  Worst case scenario I would get out and tour around a bit, get some good views, fresh air, exercise the dogs and get one gully-worth of skiing, get in shape for when I need it later.  No dogs peed on my backpack today, which has been becoming a trend.  One did pee on its own leg though.
     Conditions looked bare but the gully up to the pass was snow-filled enough to make a decent skin up and descent down.  Light was flat, no surprise there.  I was by myself and sketched-out after yesterdays' slide so It took me 3 attempts at different routes up to the ridge before I found one I was comfortable with.  The north aspects were the ones holding wind-loaded snow, the same aspect to skin up. 
     After gaining the ridge I noticed a large cornice had pooped out a massive debris field down the main bowl.  That's disappointing.  I went to the top anyway as the sun had come out, skies were clear and the views were just what I needed.  The south(?) shoulder of the bowl looked least wind-loaded, most consistent snow, good slope angle, and would allow a nice long run to the bottom.  Done.  Well worth it.  I skinned out the pass and skied the gully down to the car.  Shwas good. 
     I've been using this ski tracking app as another way to recount my outing of the day.  I tell myself I won't be one of those people who counts vertical and miles and laps, but I will allow myself that information for day-of use only and for future references/planning.