manitoba delivers

     So no change on snow conditions up here, however, I did manage to put a favorable tally for skiing on the board.  Hatcher is still too thin for my comfort level.  Alyeska is too pricey.  People ski in the Front Range?  Turnagain is still hike-to and with the recent loading of wet-and-heavy with wind, I didn't feel like climbing up to a mysterious snow pack just yet.  Solo means low-angle and Manitoba delivered as much as it could today.

     I could skin on ice from the car: acceptable.  Evidence that new snow did indeed fall was seen a few minutes beyond the hut and the sound of skinning on ice was dampened.  From the traditional cut-up points I felt better as I knew I could ski back down to the ATV trail without too much discomfort, and maybe even to the hut

     The conditions improved as I ascended: from a fresh 1" at the base of the meadows to 4" by the treeline and plenty to make me smile above the treeline.  Not to mention the sun was shining: no rain, no wet snow, just a good genuine winter day.  It's always weird coming down from good sun and snow and skiing up high, back down into clouds and dim light, wet roads and bare ground.  Today, up high was the place to be.

MANitoba. MANitoba.

     So back on Friday we headed out to Manitoba by request of one from our party.  We were looking to just get out and do a mellow-angle tour, anticipating untracked pow given the weather and end-of-the-week status.  Though it is a drive from Anchorage, as long as I can rubber-neck at the beautiful scenery that is Alaska I don't mind it one bit.  Every smooth mountain side looks like the perfect line to ski.  This gets the stoke up for the day on the drive in and keeps me dreaming of days to come on the drive home.

     I had skied manitoba once last season, parking at the gravel-pit, but tried the parking lot closer to mile 148.  In hindsight I think the gravel pit was a more direct route, but we were pleased to be out none-the-less.  We hopped on the nice trail that crosses some nice bridges and goes by some nice huts.  We followed the well-cleared switch-backing trail a bit too far along the creek and then just cut a trail up to a ridge to the summit before the trail descended to cross the ravine.  Weather was cloudy, calm, with flat light and mild-to-no wind, comfortable temps.  There had been no one before us since the last snow so contrast/perspective was difficult to obtain above tree-line leaving us on the verge of vertigo.

     Once at the top we ate some food, took some pics, one of the dogs decided to pee on my backpack when the whole mountain was available for 2 hours prior.  Fortunately, for a brief period long enough to ski our selected line, the sun broke (as seen in the pics) providing perfect light for our run.  Turnagain delivers fresh, soft, perfect pow time and time again. And then the sun went away, flat light returned, as soon as we were done.  We loved that run so we decided to lap it again, and would have done a third had we no commitments back in Anchorage.  Just like the first, the sun popped out just enough for our run.  We all wanted to do a third and would have a fourth but there will be other days.  We skied the luge-like trail back to the car and found the uptrack we should have taken.  Note to self for next time.