Montana Skiing: February 2014

Alaska... In January? With most of the month of January free Nick, Jack, Stewart, and I figured it was a good chance to pack into the Subaru Forester and head north. On New Years Eve I left Pennsylvania and landed in Anchorage to the crew who had spend the last three days driving nonstop from Missoula. Thanks guys. The rough itinerary included Kenai Peninsula, Hatcher Pass, Valdez, Haines, Yukon, and the drive back respectively.

The first week was easy living with stays at a cabin on the Kenai Peninsula, a hut on the Snowbird Glacier, and stops at friends houses in between. Kenai was a little below average on snow upon arrival but we left to a strong system of storms that dumped feet of snow on Turnagain Pass causing touchy avi conditions. After struggling in alder for a few days we were eager to arrive to a deeper base and more predictable avalanche danger at Hatcher Pass. We skied some 2500' powder laps above the parking lot day one before heading to the Snowbird Glacier for three. The Snowbird Glacier is home to American Alpine Club's most prized hut. 5000' of climbing and crossing of the glacier brought us to the cabin. I quickly realized that everything is bigger in Alaska, 5000' fall lines are in your line of sight and glacier crossings can feel endless. Storms blew in and out during our three day stay and the images of skiing the mellow terrain around the glacial nunatak will be remembered forever.

Southern Alaska does see sunlight during the solstice. For about 5 hours a day the sun is setting in the south, dusk lingers on until about 4:00pm and the sun peeks back up around 10:00am. I came to enjoy 18hr of darkness, the all day moon... in a way it is relaxing. No need to set alarms. Plenty of time to gaze at the stars, cook tasty meals, dry gear, drink beer, sleep, and eat cookies. Twelve hours of sleep is easy to get use to. The access to skiing is so close to the car, we had no issues skiing 6,000'vertical hitting the trail at noon.

Crescent Lake, Kenai Peninsula

Snowbird Glacier

The hut sleeps 12 and is perched upon a ridge just above Snowbird Glacier with 360 degree views of surreal mountain scenery

Valdez

We arrived in Valdez on the tail end of a system that had dropped two feet of new snow in the last week. Lucky we were to have clear views of the amazing peaks rising 5000' from the ocean surrounding the Port of Valdez. Locals in this quiet fishing and oil town were pleased to see some visitors during the shoulder season, and treated us to warm hospitality. Skiing to the ocean has been a goal of mine for years, nowhere better to achieve this than a town with 350" at sea level on average. The mountains come steep and tall here with much snow. 40 miles east of town at roughly 2,800' is Thompson Pass, long powder runs line the road for miles on either side here. Valdez truly is a backcountry skiers paradise, and I hope to spend a winter in this amazing place. There is something special about waking up to salt water mist, sounds of seagulls and barges, eating fresh salmon, and going skiing.

From downtown Valdez

US Coast Guard

First light on town from across port

Wake up and its cold, dark, wet.... look up to towering mountains... squeez into the Subrau for another day in the mountains. Would not want to live any other way.

A typical campsite

Some Thompson Pass terrain

One of our coldest nights in the tent -10... time to whip up some bacon in the morning

Haines and Yukon

Although not as much easy access terrain as Valdez, Haines is a beautiful area and the town has some more character. We drove into a wet storm, the first photo is taken just east of Haines on the edge of the storm. After a night at the local Laundromat, we were treated to a home to spend a few nights in on the shores of the Chilkoot Inlet. Drying our gear by the wood burner and watching the waves crash through the window was great. In the Yukon we enjoyed some adventurous driving conditions including digging the car out of the middle of the highway as well as making our own parking spots when we spotted a ski mountain from the window.

A 60 hour drive awaited us after Haines. The drive was a highlight, a unique adventure especially in winter. A true feeling of isolation on a road is hard to come by in the south, here gas stations are few and far between, some antique, no hotels, no food, no people, just mountains. For 3,000 miles we did not see dry road, road conditions include packed powder, ice, slush and frost heaves. It was standard for six hour stretches to pass bye without seeing another vehicle, only stopping for buffalo, moose, and elk.

What a great experience it was to be able to sample south east Alaska in deep winter. I hope to return in the near future for more ski trips and hopefully some years will be spent living in this magnificent place. On the 20th we returned to Montana and I headed straight to my home range of the Bitterroots. Alaska is stunning, big, extreme, and unknown to me and I still cant help to feel privileged to call Montana home. Hopefully these pictures can highlight our trip and give you an idea of what it was like up there in the darkness of January.