no-ski day entry

     So no skiing due to illness, I really need to rest up a bit.  Then I have to put in my time at work.  I feel that spring may still offer some great opportunities and I am hoping that they align with my time off and that others can participate.  As I was watching the spin-drift coming off the tops of the local peaks here I wondered what would be do-able the next time I could get out. 
     I have this hankering for that line that is original, not necessarily huge or epic, but just different, not thought of, rarely attempted.  I like the solitude that belongs to those ski outings.  Peak 3 is like the backcountry resort.  It is convenient and usually good skiing and snow, but I walk away from it without feeling like I really got out there.  I had a lot of down time today and was looking through some panoramic pics and videos in my collection that inspired some ideas.  Overall I just need to get out there.  I will need a stove to do this (wish me luck).
     The weather folks here are so horrible at predicting: the past two days they called for mostly cloudy/warm/chance of snow and it turned out to be cool and blue-bird both days.  This happens regularly.  I know just to guess based on trends I see and to just go.  I don't know how they can maintain employment.  I certainly wouldn't pay them.  They should forecast generally so they are right more.
     I have given up on some of my Front Range goals due to lack of snow this year.  I have done more damage to my skis this season than last.  I get worried about how long they'll last when I look at the bottoms and the wear they have sustained overall. 
     I skied with a buddy recently who does a lot of tennis-shoe hike-ins to ski late spring stuff.  I like that idea and might try to join him on a few or try my own.  It will be hard by then to put the skis on the pack when I can just run with super-light pack and cover so much so easily.  Two random videos for you.

but of course that's how it is.

     So I have 3 days off work in a row, the front range gets one of those spring snow storms I have been banking on during this year of low snow, this morning I woke up to sunshine.  Sounds like a recipe for great skiing considering my number 1 favorite place to ski is the front range.  Nope. Not for me.  I should almost have expected this to happen.  I had been on the brink of illness during my last 2 days at work and it finally caught up to me, squashing my endurance and resilience, during this time of potentially epic skiing.
     This time of the season my legs are in just about prime shape, my skiing gets me almost everywhere comfortably and the days are longer and more likely to be full of sun.  Now is not the time to be wasting days off work with illness.  So last night I went out for a short storm outing that should have been a cake-walk but it almost killed me.  And I sustained another core shot.  Drugs, food, water and sleep later I woke up to sunshine and had to do something about it.
     I knew some folks heading up peak2 to bask in the fabulousness of the conditions before they had to head in to work, keeping it low-angle post-storm.  I rolled out of bed and threw my ski gear on and headed there late, fortunately they were running a bit behind too.  Sun was out and no one was at the trail head....why the illness now?!?! 
     It was mostly sunny, "misting" snow, calm.  The upper slope appeared to be wind hammered with massive 2-3 foot sastrugi, however, we came to find out those usually rock hard snow formations were soft pillows to play with today.  Bonus.  Speed was a little challenging to come by given the low slope angle but given time limitations and proximity to the end of the storm we played it safe.  We enjoyed the snow anyways and it took just as much out of me as last night, I'm good for nothing the rest of the day.
    So now I am typing this looking out my window at some of the lines I would like to be and would be skiing right now if I felt better.  I'm hoping for more snow events like this, even though April is right around the corner.  Goal: ski more and take advantage of fitness to ski new stuff.

Here's a link to the quick video from today.  You can't tell but it was knee deep.  Could have used a spray-skirt.     https://vimeo.com/62750832

 

camp/ski S ptarmi and N suicide

     So more winter camp/ski trips are filling my schedule now that I am acquiring some gear for an upcoming mountaineering trip.  That gear and my legs both need testing so two buddies and I headed out for an overnighter in the front range.  We headed out from the canyon road trailhead and skinned along the base of peak 2/3/4 and flaketop in perfect weather: sunny, calm, clear and warmish.

     We were shooting for skiing something back near Rabbit Lake and decided to set up camp near the base of Ptarmigan's south face.  We went with the Black Diamond mid as we had another person compared to last outing's Go-lite shangri-la 3 as it offered a bit more room.  After constructing our sleeping ground and wind-break we skinned up Ptarmigan's south face to the bottom of the cliff bands and turned it from there as the sun was getting low and snow was hardening up.  A beautiful sunset run on better-than-expected conditions was the perfect way to conclude the day along with dinner.

      We melted our snow for water and ate dinner then hit the sack.  We were hoping for the forecasted northern lights show like the night before but didn't see anything.  The night was cold, calm and super-bright.  The lights from the city, stars and 1/3 moon reflecting off the snow were enough to make a headlamp unnecessary. 
     Rise and shine we got up whenever it was we got up, ate some breakfast and melted more snow, geared up for the goal of skiing something around Rabbit lake.  I had in mind one of the chutes off the Suicides, North in particular as that aspect had decent snow elsewhere.  After a short and easy skin back to the base we found the S. Suicide gully blown bare but the North one looked promising despite the rock field 2/3 of the way up so we went for it.

     It skied better than it skinned which was nice.  Amazing views out there, especially from Rabbit lake with all those peaks just shooting straight up.  Looking down Rabbit creek(?) valley was a great view of the Alaska Range and Sleeping Lady.  Nothing but breathtaking views in every direction: sunshine, ice flowing, rimey mountain tops, blue-est of blue skies, endless beautiful sastrugi.  The ski down was the cherry on top.
     We had a mellow and easy mostly-downhill skin back to camp, broke it down and skied the remaining ~3 miles back to the trailhead.  Another good outing. 
     My winter camping skills are improving as far as temperature and moisture management.  Still need work on hydration, but on the nutrition front I made huge progress with the help of a Mountainhouse Beef-Stroganoff meal and some home-made burritos.  mmm, mmm.  Good news is I can ski with a large and heavy pack.  The bad news is that the pack is noticably heavy and took it's toll on my legs by day 2.  Good news is I skied something new and after looking around back there I have a ton of ideas for other outings, both day-trips and overnight.

video of this outing:
https://vimeo.com/62133332
recent video i forgot to upload from the twin peaks outing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_0ZdxvgwNM

Rusty shoulder

     So yesterday I went out and did a partial peak 3 lap and due to pretty much everything going sour from start to finish I won't mention any more of it.
     So today I tried to redeem that experience.  It's my last day before returning to work: sunny, clear, calm, and upper 20s.  A perfect day for a ski.  The Front Range is looking near it's worst for the year after that last wind came through.  When can I catch a break?  Where are these spring dumps I have heard about?  Anyway, I had no idea what to do, too few options.  I wanted to go back canyon road but our jeep is broken and the front-wheeler wouldn't make it. I definately wanted sun exposed slopes for softness and joy for the cheeks.  Glen Alps it was.
     I could head back by hidden lake, or little omalley, but I love doing the new and noticed the southwest face of rusty looked coated with the whiteness and I had never been.  With no companions to annoy with my personally guided alder-bashing sessions I thought it would be a good recon/exploratory effort.  Rusty is also on my list of to-do's in the front range.
     In about 45 minutes of easy skinning from Glen Alps I was at the base.  I believe I followed the middle fork trail? the one that splits and heads west from the williwa lakes trail.  Anyway, I did alder-bash for a little while but not bad at all.  I linked clear patches up then headed south and crossed the gully splitting the west face and headed up looker's right for the best snowfield.  There was about 4 inches of good stuff on an icy base: too slick to skin so I booted most of it above the alders.
     It was probably the 2nd best run to be had today in the front range with the 1st best being that someone had nicely skied the looker's left gulley of Wolverine.  Good idea, I wish I had thought of it yesterday.  The view from the top was great, a new one I had never seen which allowed good view of upper hillside and the Williwa drainage.  After the satisfactory run down I was able to ski the trail back toward prospect heights all the way to bridge (the ski and hiking trails were all slightly down hill).  This was much appreciated.
     Given the ease of access to this run I will definately keep it on the list for when the snow improves.  The easy ski out was also nice but arranging one car at glen alps and one at prospect could be a future challenge.  Or like today, having someone extra made it happen (thanks Sarah and friend).  A bonus is that the line can be seen from much of Anchorage for those who look for it and can appreciate it.

so much is going on all at once

     So I had two days off work following the Tour of Anchorage and needed to both backcountry ski and get in some winter camping practice in.  Ski-buddy had recently been out by Twin Peaks in turnagain pass and gave stunning reviews.  We elected to do an over-nighter and check out the area.  I wanted to test out my home-made pulk, some winter camping theory and my gear. 

     We got an afternoon start, geared up with the dogs and skinned in to a central area in the valley and set-up camp.  We did a shorter ski that evening with dusky skies, warm temps, calm weather and pretty good snow off a lower shoulder of Twin Peaks: a good way to end a day and start the outing.  After eating some dinner we hit the sack as it was dark and had nothing to do but get rested for our skiing tomorrow when we planned to ski from the summit proper.  Lucy did very well sleeping outside, she didn't want the pad/spare bag we brought for the dogs and was in good spirits every time I checked on her.  As seen in the pic I gave her a fleece, but she wanted nothing to do with it.


     The gear testing went well and I can conclude: canister style fuel and stoves don't work well in cold, my sleeping bag is warm and is good warm storage at night, have water in bottom of pot when starting to melt snow, weight the pulk in the front and keep center-of-gravity low, drink way more water.

     The next morning we woke up, melted some more snow, ate breakfast, geared up and started the skinning.  Weather was PERFECT: warm, sunny, calm.  Snow was a little wind-crusted on the lower couple hundred of feet but quickly softened with elevation gain and sun.  We skinned and skinned, or so it seemed.  I was dying, sweating, dead tired legs.  I had a unique experience in that I was bonking hardcore.  Not even my ski-stoke was helping.  What the heck?!? Of all days???  Yea, that's what was going through my mind.  I guess is it was not because of lack of food, but more likely a combination of dehydration and the cumulative fatigue of the Tour and skiing yesterday.  This rarely happens to such a degree.  I remember feeling better at the end of the Climbathon than today. 

     We did make it thanks to Ski-buddy trail-trailbreaking the steeper and deeper.  The summit was too rimey to ski so we stopped a bit below.  No loss though.  We enjoyed a 3000ft+ descent on an ontouched, mostly even-grade slope with fabulous snow, sunny skies, and reeped the benefits of every step up......so worth it.  Thanfully the legs came through for me.  I must say it is my "Line of the Year" which isn't necessarily gnarly, just all around good as judged by me.  You can't get that at a resort.
     After skiing down to camp we packed up and skied out to the car.  Just in time, again, as we noticed two parties skinning up various slopes around us.  The early morning start payed in our favor.  Then of course there was the traditional stop at the Girdwood Tesoro for Jalepeno-cheddar corndogs and a dewski for the ride home.  Bam, what a day.

Tour of Anchorage

     So the Tour of Anchorage was today.  This meant no backcountry skiing yesterday to save the legs for today.  I signed up for the 50k freestyle.  AM weather check showed weather was looking good and I waxed for the warm temps they were predicting although it was about 10 degrees cooler at the start.  Up to this point, the farthest I had skied was 25k so I was sort of concerned that I would have to go so much more.  I was internally emphasizing the lack of pressure to perform and that it was just to see how I like XC ski races.  No expectations.

     At the start there was less hype than I expected, it was probably all at the 25k start.  Sarah and Lucy saw me off and we started Spencer Loop which is known for the hills.  It is the first 10-12k of the race and I would dare say the most technical due to curves, ups, downs, and crowds.  I tried to position myself with like-speed people or just a bit slower to control my own speed on the uphills, otherwise I would burn out.  This went well, and before I knew it I was in my "backyard" section of the course: homestead to viewpoint to the chester creek trail system. 
   This section I had skied the most and I knew it well.  I was able to get in my groove here, also, the snow warmed up to the temperature of my waxed and I noticed an obviously improved glide.  I made good time here, passed the lady giving me the stink-eye for skiing right behind her.  She wouldn't make room and I didn't want to burn energy to pass her.  I would have fallen for sure. 
     Once on the chester creek system the race continued to go well.  I got in a good stride, the crowd thinned and the trail widened.  This continued until westchester lagoon where the fatigue started to become apparent but not bad.  I kind of bonked around 40-45k, not from lack of food or water but just being tired physically and mentally.  My mind finally accepted this and I was able to finish the last 5k peacefully and without more than the expected level of struggle. 

     Overall I thought it was fun.  Good weather, good organization, my hydration and fueling worked out, and the technique tips from a buddy paid off for sure.  Now my legs are tired.  Next XC posting will likely be spring crust skiing.

mildest of milds

     So yesterday I was planning to rest, do a little XC skiing in preparation for the Tour of Anchorage, get some around-the-house stuff done and keep it mellow.  Then the invite for a mellow backcountry ski outing to turnagain came through so I figured it wouldn't hurt.  There had been a lot of snow (2-3 feet) during the work-week that needed tracking. To start the morning off right I locked the keys in the car but fortunately already had the other vehicle loaded up.....might as well ski.
     We elected to do Tincan trees to save the legs from vertical and to make up for the poor visibility.  We didn't go any higher than treeline due to the unbroken trail and lack of visibility.  The snow was on the damp side, super deep, calm weather, warm temps.  The snow was so deep we could have used more consistently steep terrain to maintain speed but that would have required clearer skies and more energy than I was willing to sacrifice.  Either way, it was a good time.

     The chugach-lucy was really struggling to make it through between snowballs in her fur, lightly packed skin track, and the super-deep with not enough steep.  I was sick of waiting for her, she was getting exhausted.  I tried to carry her a bit but then I couldn't ski, was working too hard, it was awkward.  I dumped her on the skin track and she figured it out from there.  This deep-snow that doesn't work with her is a lesson I should have learned already but whatever. 
     Then I went back to unlock the car (all the way across town) and realized I forgot the spare keys.  Yup that's life as a Resseguie.  The car is still there with the keys in it if you want to steal it.

Did you all get rick-rolled by that last video link?  did ya?  did ya? sweet dreams.