A long time coming

Alright, well I've finally got some time (even if is is forced) to get caught up. I am currently stuck in Petersburg after the Alaska Airlines jet decided to skip its milk run stops on its way from Seattle to Anchorage because of horrendous winds and rain throughout Southeast AK this morning. Ironically, at the time the flight was supposed to land in Petersburg blue sky started to peak through the clouds and the winds died down. Its not that I'm complaining so much, there are a lot worse places to be stuck in. It is kind of nice to get more of a feel for these quaint little towns. The past week I've been blurring through Southeast AK (Juneau, Gustavus, Haines, Ketchikan, and now Petersburg) on a trip for work; so its nice to get to check this town out. On the downside I'm going to miss out on the party of the year, and the first ice climbing. Anyways, where was I before I abandoned my blog to the eternal catch 22 of blogging....

Last winter finished off with some more ice climbing, some ski racing, and dreams of water. When the water started flowing it started flowing fast and hard. The Lil' Su got up to the highest level its been in two years this past spring. It was really nice to get out there and run the Lil' Su as much as possible. After about a month and a half of solid boating (about three times per week on average) the water ran out. Which wasn't a bad thing, as we had a much sunnier summer than last year.

I kept more than busy the rest of the summer with all sorts of weekend trips and field work. The two highlight trips for me this summer was a road trip to Haines for the Southeast State Fair, and a backpacking trip in Hatcher's Pass over Labor Day weekend.

As summer came to a close I started packrafting, believe it or not. Roman got me out on a class V creek and I was hooked. I got out four times total this fall, and in those few short weeks the evolution of packrafting exploded. Timmy J (a fellow class V kayaker) got out there, as well, for a Bird Creek session. Timmy saw how fun it was an bought up one of Roman's packrafts. He immediatly put thighstraps in his raft and showed the world that you can roll packrafts. The next summer is going to see a major advance in packrafting. I can't wait.

After it started to become a little ridiculous to still be playing in the water, I've started to become more excited about training again. I've joined up with OIA (Only In Alaska, an active group of 20 somethings) for workouts at APU this fall and have really been enjoying rallying myself once a week doing an hour and a half of circuits. Now I'm ready to start training recreationally, and stay active. I've been trying to do something everyday. Lately I've been going on cross country ski sessions, getting over to the Rock Gym to get ready for ice season, doing yoga, doing circuit workouts with OIA, and going to the pool to kayak with Cassie.

The snow finally fell last weekend, right before I headed out to the Southeast. I'm really looking forward to getting back to Anchorage and enjoying the winter sports. As I'm writting Cassie is out ice climbing. I was hoping to get out tomorrow and go climbing with her in Hatchers, but I don't think I'll make with the current delay. I bought some new telemark boots this fall and am looking forward to using them soon. Alright, well stay tuned, as blogs should come out in a flurry as I have nothing better to do but get caught up.

Ciao