Snowbird: checking it off

     So I put a night at the Snowbird Hut in the Talkeetna Mountains on the list this fall as I am on a "start doing it" push for personal goals like that.  I had been to the Mint and Bomber huts as part of a ski traverse this past spring, but we headed out after the Bomber.
     Saturday morning we went to check out the Snowbird.  Based on what I read, it sounded like the best travel conditions over the boulder fields would have been either dry or covered by enough snow to ski/skin.  However, when the mountains got a thin and slick dusting I was too internally committed to wuss-out because of the inconvenient travel conditions.  To Archangel we went.  I was also hoping they hadn't closed the Archangel road yet, and despite the 2-3" of wet snow it was still open.  I brought my ski stuff with the chance that the 'bird got enough snow for the seasons' first turns, if not it would be good training.

Heading up Reed Lakes Trail.

She was not a fan of the pack.

     We left the cars beneath overcast skies and trekked down a snowy trail with increasing snow depth and sunshine as we gained elevation.  As we ascended we came across a pair who were at the hut, they reported ~6" fresh and dry which increased my stoke with the possibility of rewards for my work.  The boulder fields turned out to be as inconvenient as I expected, but the group handled it well.  As we crested the pass it started to snow and it seemed there was enough to ski.  We descended down the glacier then up the boulders to the hut, fixed dinner, dried out and warmed up.  I would attempt to ski the next morning with hopes of more snow at night.


View of the Snowbird Glacier from the hut.  Note the former 'nunatak'.

     It didn't snow much, but there was enough: about 6-8" of fresh and dry.  The sun was trying to poke out and not another track on the glacier was visible: I was so stoked.  Lucy didn't know what we were going to do yet as I busted out the skis and skins.  It has been awhile and I felt like someone in a movie picking up a lost and cherished object they hadn't seen in years as I put the skins on.  We traversed the glacier and ascended.  I was pleased with the lack of rocks I heard could be there.  Skinning to the top I caught glimpses of Denali and Foraker.  The views of the Talkeetnas continue to amaze me with their ruggedness which was emphasized by the hint of snow illuminated under that typical Alaskan fall sunlight.  The stillness of being solo in the mountains, noise-dampening snow, untouched snow-fields, the ravens, the expansive views, it was all great.  Ski season started today.

     My party wouldn't want to wait for me to lap it to exhaustion, so I knew this ski of opportunity had to be savored.  I forgot to freshly wax my skis so they were a little slow, but I didn't have to work for it on the way down.  There was just enough snow to get a little bounce in there but not so much that a harder turn wouldn't scrape crustiness.  There was enough sun so that it wasn't flat but not so much that it was 'sunny'.  It was a plenty good run for October 5, my earliest.  I am not a year-round skier so this is a super-early preview.  I'm still getting use to the new(ish) boards I got at the end of last season.


Ascending next to the no-longer nunatak.

Pristine.  Stoke meter is up.

Views of Denali and Foraker.  

Nothing more, nothing less.

   I met my group at the pass, we descended back to the car, down into the socked-in valley.  It was mostly clear up high: one of my favorite rewards for climbing mountains in any season.  You don't know unless you go.