My first time Milking it

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

My first time Milking it

     So the novelty of early-season skiing is wearing off.  With no new snow, Jewel getting old and being tracked-out, Snowbird too far for a day-trip and my motivation to try and ski dwindling, the idea of Milk glacier was proposed.  Milk is another well-known but less frequented early-season ski destination.  I had never been but had been eyeing it from the top of Jewel glacier as well as researching it from others' blogs such as Mr. Finleys' and AK Jacks' for the route/access.  The weather looked promising and my goal for this season is to do more new stuff.  With Hardcore Harvey on-board it was a go.
     I feel so productive this time of year, leaving before sunrise and all (0920).  The views driving up the arm are unique to AK and a sweet sunrise bodes well for a good day to ski.  The Crow Pass trailhead was lonely; a potentially good sign.  Skinning is far superior to hiking and with thin but sufficient snow cover, we skinned all the way to the Barnes-Jewel pass where the rockiness was too intense and we booted it down to the toe of the glacier.
     The Milk glacier scenery is far more dramatic than Jewel glacier, with many large crevasses, decent vertical relief of nearby mountains, excellent sun-exposure/lighting, and views overlooking the Raven glacier and surrounding peaks.  It still amazes me how close such world-class terrain/skiing is so close to home that this is a day-trip.  I was quite impressed and savored the perfect fall ski-day.  As mentioned, there hadn't been snow in some time but there was still very good powder to be had up there.
     We ate lunch, took in the views, lapped the goods a few times and headed out without seeing another soul all day.  The descent was less than pleasant given the thin covering of snow: it's tempting to ski because it covers most rocks, but death to the ski bases from the talus beneath and hiking on that stuff in ski boots is awkward.  We did sustain some damage on the way out, opting for ease and speed over ski base preservation.

Yup.

We reached the pass and the sun crested over the mountains minutes later.  Primo.

View of the Milk glacier from the top of Jewel glacier.

Not bad for lunch-time views.

Can't get this one right-side-up.

October Turns

     A clear day in the forecast and we rallied for an attempt at Jewel glacier just off Crow Pass: a well-known and fairly reliable spot for early-season turns.  With our hot sandwiches for the day and a Dewski from the Carrs' Huffman, we were on our way.  This time of year is great for a number of reasons:
-there is still enough daylight to seem normal
-since I haven't skied in months, the relatively limited conditions are amazing
-re-uniting with people I haven't seen in months
-ski movies are coming out
-temperatures are cooling off
-I can start talking about skiing with my wife

Looking at this pic, you might think we had no idea what we were doing.

     We hiked up in perfect weather.  Although there was less snow on the glacier than I was hoping for, there was enough for it to be totally worth it.  We hiked up the Crow Pass trail in conditions as seen in the pics.  We couldn't skin until the glacier proper.  There was a pair of two ahead of us who attempted to ascend the glacier below the crevasses to the North-Northeast.  We chose an alternative route below a less-crevassed area and later noticed they had decided to turn around and hike all the way back out, without making a single turn.  (What!?) So sad, but we would make turns for them on the un-tracked glacier.

The Crow Pass cabin is down by that lake.  Jewel Glacier is tucked back up a few benches above.

Some super cool rime-y patterns.

     After a brief lunch we skinned up and took a look at the Milk glacier below(tempting for future efforts), ripped skins and began to do what we came for.  The snow had a crusty, wind-buffed surface that could be skied through with relative ease on the powder beneath it.  We did several laps, enjoying the calm and clear skies as well as the success of the early-season outing.  This locale should be sufficient until more substantial snow flies.

Swapping hiking boots for ski boots.  Trade-up what?  That dog ate my sandwich.

Yesssssss

First ski of the season

So I was trying to hold out until a solid amount of snow had fallen but now that it is November it has been long enough:  for the first ski of the year, though much later than last year, we decided to head up to Jewel glacier in Girdwood.  None of us had skied it before but had all had enough info on it to give it a shot. 

The typical morning start of rallying before dawn with the dogs was a good reminder of what's to come.  We headed out from Crow Pass TH.  About 2-3 inches were on the ground, barely enough to carefully skin from there.  We were expecting clear skies but it was overcast with comfortable temps.  We conveniently left our maps at home so were going by memory.  Fortunately we were able to make it to the base of the glacier, but not after crossing a talus field and turning our skis into genuine rock skis (we found the good skin track on the way back down).

              




Snow conditions were great: approximately 8 inches of freshness with fewer tracks that we expected given the lack of snowfall so far.  We skinned up to check it out.  By then a fog had moved in and visibility was poor and lighting was flat.   After lunch at the top we waited for a gap in the fog and cautiously did our first run as the location was new to us and the moment of clarity didn't last long. 
We elected to do another lap which was better than the first. 

We threw the skis on the packs for the walk out: too many rocks and too thin of snow to ski it out.  I think this outing can hold me over until a better snowpack develops.