S Couloir

Last week Bryan proposed the idea of heading out to the S Couloir on Ptarmigan Peak. It seemed like the stability and weather was going to be good, and that there was going to be enough snow. I hadn't ever felt like I could ski the S Couloir because it was a big steep don't fall line. But this winter I have been getting out and skiing a lot and I've been feeling really confident on my skis. Despite that I still borrowed a friend's whippet (a ski pole with an ice axe on the top for self arresting) so that if I fell I wouldn't go sliding over the cliffs at the bottom.

So last Saturday Bryan, Ian, Danielle and I meet up at the Glenn Alps trail head and skied up Powerline Pass to the North face of Ptarmigan Peak. After driving across Anchorage to one of the most popular trail heads and skiing for 75 minutes to the base of the S Couloir we were blown away to find out that we were the first ones to go out there to ski since the last snow fall; the couloir was completely untracked. As it turned out the powder was perfectly consistant from the top to the bottom. It was some of the best skiing I've had this season, and definitely the best run I've ever done.

To top everything off Bryan, Ian and I went back to their place, carried the couch out onto the deck and lounged on the deck drinking Coronas and eating halibut fajitas. It was the perfect spring day.

SPRING!!

Spring is in full swing. The days are long, the sun is warm, and the skiing is good. Last Thursday Adrian and I had to get out of dusty, grungy spring Anchorage and make some turns in the mountains. Rather than going out to Peak 3 like half of Anchorage, we decided to head North of town to the South Fork of Eagle River. The lighting was amazing and the powder was good. Rather than being completely tracked out and turning to moguls, the snow was well farmed and there was still plenty of good skiing to be had. That evening reminded me of all the good times I had learning to tele ski with all my old friends and team mates from UAA. That bowl brings back good memories. Here's a little video I made of our ski day last Thursday. Be sure to watch it in 1080p.



The skiing and lighting was so good Adrain and I had to head back out there on Friday with Bryan. I brought my SLR the second time around because the lighting and moon was so amazing. Those first two evenings out were the start an amazing 5 days of skiing. More is on the way!

Help a friend in need

A friend and ex-coach of mine, Ira Edwards, had a horrible accident this last fall. While out cutting trees for trail maintenance a tree fell on him and broke his back and shoulders. Ira went out of state for medical help and is slowly gaining some strength back in his shoulders and legs, but he still doesn't have motor function below his knees. Recently he has returned to Alaska and has been looking into adaptive sport equipment. Ira is an incredibly active guy and is a passionate cross country skier, tele skier, kite skier, and biker. As it turns out adaptive sport equipment is incredibly expensive, high end gear cost more than $10,000. After selling his classic skis and bikes he has enough for a nordic sit ski, but alpine sit skis and hand cycles are way out of reach (coming in anywhere from $6-9k). Ira has a pay-pal account at, ira_j_e@hotmail.com, and any donation you can afford would greatly help Ira get back out there and enjoy the things he loves.

Thanks for the help!

Spring Time

I got out today for an amazing sunny ski. With 6 to 8 inches of new snow it was really nice to get out and play in the sunshine. It was so warm some of us were skinning up shirtless. Hopefully it will be a similar day tomorrow!

Pastoral - The Rest of the Story

Here are the rest of the photos from our day out at Pastoral. It was a pretty good day. We got to ski some good corn snow down Santa Claus Chute on the side of Pastoral. The weather has been tempting to snow. It had better make up its mind; it either needs to be sunny or dump so that we can get some softer snow.

Preview

Last weekend I went out to Pastoral for a tour. Here are a few shots from Saturday that I've done up already, that I'm pretty excited about. There are more to come.

Yukla

I hadn't really done any alpine climbing before this last week. I've done some ice climbing and hiked up a few mountains, but nothing like last week.

With the clear days and lack of powder, Adrian, Bryan and I decided to go climb Mount Yukla during their spring break instead of doing a ski traverse. Mount Yukla (61 11' 26.23"N, 149 6' 45.58"W) is a 7,535 foot peak in the Chugach Mountains sharing the Eagle River valley with Polar Bear and Eagle Peaks. After racing the Tour of Anchorage the three of us packed up and drove 40 minutes north of town to the Eagle River Nature Center and started hiking. It took us 8 hours to hike into the toe of the glacier below the northwest face of Yukla. It was easy going until the last quarter mile where we encountered waist deep snow. It probably took us a solid two hours to make the last half mile to camp. Our base camp was an awesome bivy under a large boulder. The space under the boulder has been flattened out after years of climbers heading up to Yukla to attempt different routes.

The next day we rested up after racing the tour and busting trail into the peak and checked out the route. The route we were planning on climbing, "Positive Side of Negative", was a little too thin. It is probably doable, but we didn't feel like we could get the three of us up in in a timely manner. The pictures and reports we had heard of was that the Positive Side of Negative was a pretty fat 1,000 foot ice ice route with the hardest pitches being WI 4. That wasn't the case last week. It looked like 1,000 feet of thin ice and mixed climbing. Doable, but a little stressful. The next couloir up the glacier looked a lot better. It was 1,000 feet of snow climbing.

The next day we rose early to pulsating northern lights from the summit of Yukla. We reached the base of the climb right as the sun rose over the horizon and started to head up. The climbing wasn't very hard. It was steep snow with some firm and some sugary spots. The toughest part was finding a decent place for anchors an pro. At best Bryan could get in one piece every rope length and a just manage to get can anchor in some sketchy looking joint set. We topped out and headed up to the peak with clear skies, no wind, and warm sunshine. From the top we could see almost all of the major peaks in the Chugach, the Kenai Mountains, the Aleutian and Alaska Ranges including Augustine, Denali and Foraker. As we descended, the light turned golden and shone right up the glacer completing an amazing day.

The next day we slept in and hiked back out the the Nature Center and headed straight to Pizza Man to cap off the trip with a schooner of beer.

More pictures are available here.