Ski Prince William Sound

     So a backcountry ski outing from a boat has been on my list of dream-outings, and quoting The Uptrack, "If you've never skied in the Sound, make it a future destination on your backcountry bucket list.  You won't be disappointed."  The opportunity came knocking so we opened the door.  A few of us had off for almost a week, Cap'n Pete had a boat, and the weather was looking good.  We had several windows and options for ski trips so we went with a boat-based one to ski areas of Prince William Sound.
     We left out of Whittier and had a pretty open itinerary, just be back in 6 days.  I could go over each day, but just like any wilderness/backcountry outing, the words and pictures won't do it justice and your best bet is to try it for yourself.  I'll provide a summary and a few pics/videos for the sake of stoke spreading and inspiration.  For those of you up here in AK, this is our backyard and is closer and more affordable than you think.
     Weather was perfect: bluebird skies, winds 5 to 10 at peaks or coming off glaciers and otherwise calm, temps were cool in shade and warm in the sun, and the seas were flat.
     Snow: a low year so perhaps even more lines are open other years(but still too many to ski), northern aspects were consistently 4-6" of stale powder on carve-able crust with mild-moderate wind and sun affect up high.  Other aspects were crusty or corny depending on how much sun got it and elevation.  We were finding corn on southern aspects by 3pm on mid-elevations. 
     Our typical day meant getting up when the sun hit the boat, usually 9-10am.  We usually anchored in the bay we'd be skiing from that day, having scoped our lines the evening before.  We'd eat breakfast, take care of business, prep gear and lunch, then ferry our ski stuff from the boat to shore and start the skin up.  Upon reaching the summit or goal we ate lunch and enjoyed more of the phenomenal views, then skied until 6-7pm, returning to the boat for dinner, beer, sunset vistas and rest. 
     We did the majority of the main summits on Culross Island and stayed in a different location each night.  We also skied out of Deep Water Cove and Three Fingers Cove.  The terrain in this area is unique.  The mountains as a whole have a convex shape to them.  The glaciers left gullies and ravines running perpendicular to the fall line, ranging from steep cliff-like drop-offs to fun rollers and playful terrain. This made route finding a bit challenging at times, but overall we skied some really nice runs. I would also dare say this area offers some of the best tree skiing in Alaska.

     We didn't rack up huge vertical or ski sick lines, but the experience as a whole was incredible. The views from 500 feet and up were breathtaking: a backdrop of ocean, mountains, glaciers, forest, and plenty of good skiing terrain. We saw a fair amount of wildlife as well, including otters, seals, eagles, porpoises, and abundant waterfowl.

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKNjEqDQVjA&feature=youtu.be