Palmer Creek Skiing & Hiking

Original post is from 5.24.2014. Updated below to include a great day hiking above Hope in July 2026.

Palmer Creek is one of those zones that is on everyone's hit list. Early season, mid-season sled access, summer skiing - it has it all. There are challenges though. Early season you're fighting alders. Mid-season the 20 mile sled approach shuts most people down. Late season the approach requires a bike; except for Alex  who runs faster than I bike. Then there's the fact that driving from Anchorage to Hope means your passing countless other epic zones.

But, after skiing a line lower in the valley the previous weekend I was excited to get back. We drove down to Hope the night before, planning to catch some tunes and hit the hay early. No one goes to bed early on a summer Friday night in Hope.

Despite an unplanned late evening we were soon on our bikes inhaling the heavy smoke from the Kenai fire.

 
An hour on the bikes, a short bushwhack, and one stream crossing later and we were on snow. Almost too easy. Perhaps not quite as warm as Neil was making it look, I was wearing a jacket at this point.


Some cute little old man turns lower down the valley:

Spirit Walker - 2.12.2025

With its beautiful 3,500 vertical foot west face of sustained avalanche terrain rising straight out Mills Creek, Spirit Walker has been on my list for what seems like forever. But, as it has a tendency to do, time has ticked forward without me skiing Spirit Walker or many of the other things on the list. 

Before the glorious midwinter ski window of 2025 came to an end, Dan and I drove south out of Anchorage to give the Summit classic a go. Around Twentymile I realized my beacon was not present. Discussions, brainstorming, justifying, and phone calls ensued. We were saved in Girdwood with a loaner beacon from George - thank you so much. Back on track, we were soon leaving the inversion of Canyon Creek behind and skinning up the old mining road.

We left the road behind where the west ridge of Spirit Walker met the mining grade and began to climb up the ridgeline. I'd heard horror stories about trying to navigate this ridge and imagine they are true between the top of Soul Fire and the true summit, but when we dropped into the Soul Fire face we'd encountered nothing but smooth travel on our climb.


The snow surface had an unpleasant looking texture and it was hard to believe it would ski ok, but a little bit of faith and a few bad turns brought us past the bad wind affect and into really faceted windboard that skied a bit liked corn. I enjoyed the consistent pitch of the ribs of Soul Fire and chased after Dan until we were at the bottom and right under Spirit Walker proper. The detour warmup lap was a great way to maximize the approach to the objective and spend less time in the mega terrain trap of Mills Creek. Stoked on the snow conditions we'd found and what was to come, I continued my hopeless pursuit of Dan as he raced towards the top.


We followed Zack, Claire, and Eli's old skintrack up the south ridge towards the summit. Soaked in sunlight and generally out of significant avalanche terrain, it felt like a great way to get to the peak.

Kickstep Mountain Skiing - 1.25.2015

Updated January 2016 and again February 2025 to include more great days on Kickstep.

There are days that you know that you have everything in your favor: weather, stability, beta, etc. Then, there are days where some pieces of the puzzle might not fit, you don't know how it will turn out.

Josh on the approach up CFR ridge.

Sunday was a day that started out as a question mark, but in the end, it lined up perfectly.

The warm up run.

The question mark was the weather, forecast to be cold and breezy. Cold enough that a wrong turn, avalanche, or crevasse incident could mean hypothermia. We set our sights on a smaller objective: the Library via Tincan Proper.

The Library dwarfed by Kickstep.

Zero Bowl - 11.11.2024

Early season skiing is a challenge for me: the snowpack is thin, there's limited beta, and I'm so hungry. These factors have led to close calls for me, those I care about, and our incredible community, and it makes me hesitant to head out. The reports of quality conditions and stability have been trickling in, and it was time for us to set aside our piles of chores and head for the hills. 

After a late start, we drove south past the snowy peaks of the Chugach and the Kenai mirrored in the still waters of Turnagain Arm, and chatted about ideas for the day. Usually, we go into each day with so much recent beta and many ideas, it was fun to start this one with a blank slate. By the time we were nearing the top of Turnagain Pass and pulling into the DOT lot, we had a plan: we'd go check out the sunny bowls, chutes, and ribs of Seattle Ridge.

Skinning up the icy uptrack, my stoke and excitement built as we caught dogs and friends enjoying the winter wonderland of a beautiful sunny day on our public lands. Cresting the ridge, we looked across the arm at the iconic ski lines crowning Girdwood, Peterson Creek, and Twentymile. We talked about our favorite adventures past and our dreams for the future in these magical valleys.

Kenai Skyline Traverse - 8.20.2024

Lately we've been in the habit of checking out (and checking off) ridge jaunts around our home mountains in the Western Chugach. But these lovely ridges exist farther from home, and last week, hungry to enjoy every last minute of summer, we drove south for a Kenai ridgeline.

From the Fuller Lakes Trailhead, Nyssa, Madeline, Peter, and I left the gravel of the parking lot and walked into the green tube of the well maintained trail through the jungle to the lower lake.


At the first lake we emerged from the forest into a classic view of the rolling hills of the dry side of the Kenai Peninsula. It reminded me of the terrain around Summit Lake.


We had been impressed with the trail conditions on the lower trail and figured that might bode well for the rest of the approach to the ridge. Unfortunately, we were wrong, and the trail deteriorated into a morass of bushes, roots, and deadfall - all sorts of tripping hazards and things to hide those hazards from view.

Tenderfoot Ski - 1.7.2024

The winter has been stormy so far. Actually, the last year has been stormy. No, that's not quite right either. The last year and a half has been stormy. Its been a practice in getting away from the usual haunts and getting creative.

Last weekend brought another storm, on top of another storm with sea level rain, on top of now buried surface hoar. We wanted somewhere with some contrast, a smaller load on the BSH, and a new adventure. With those factors in mind, we headed past Turnagain to Summit Lake. Japanese Trees was an option, but it seemed like that side of the pass might have seen more wind, and a little more vertical would be nice. 

We settled for Tenderfoot on the east side of Summit Lake. Pulling into the cramped excuse for a parking lot, we squeezed into the last spot between the six cars that were already there. Geared up and sliding out of the parking lot, we skinned past the old rope tow, and into the forest. Bodies wiggly from a week of  office time quickly brought us to the top of the ridge. We skied down the wind swept alpine ridge then dropped south towards Tenderfoot Creek.


The settled pow from the last storm cycle was creamy and smooth. Nyssa:


Skinning up for the second lap, we looked north towards Turnagain Arm and south towards Moose Pass where fingers of snow from the incoming storm were already creeping through the gaps in the Kenai Mountains. With the incised terrain trap of the creek, we were all hesitant to be the first ones to drop from higher on the ridge. As we approached the top, a group of boarders dropped in above us. We were stoked to clean up their leftovers.

Explorer Ski - 4.12.2022

With spines, bowls, chutes, alders, and crevasses, Explorer Peak is a snow globe of skiing in southcentral AK. The problem is that its right next to Whittier, starts at sea level, gets a lot of sun, and is a huge terrain trap. A complete day there requires conditions that rarely line up: calm coastal gap winds, a low rain line, manageable solar affect, and stable avalanche conditions across a range of elevation bands and aspects - things that rarely line up. 

When we saw pix of Bob, Sam, and Emily ripping pow from the summit of the peak we knew to head that way - thanks for the hint guys! Fresh off the plane from Kodiak fieldwork, Nyssa picked me up at the airport at 8 AM and we raced south on the Seward Highway to give the snow globe a good swirl and shake.

We parked past the salmon ponds on the shoulder of the Portage Road, clawed up the icy snowbank, followed crust skier tracks thru the woods (where don't those guy's go?), and skinned into the gully. Getting buried in an avalanche at the bottom of a ravine would always be bad, but getting stuffed into a crevasse here would be an added bummer.


There was another group ascending via a different route and we passed them as we climbed higher in the basin. They weren't close, but Alaska is a small town and we figured we'd probably know em. At the col below the summit cone we peered over the edge into the Skookum Glacier then started the booter to the top. The Skookum gorge, with Carpathian as its crown jewel, is big country that seems out of place on the Kenai Peninsula. It would fit in better in the Alaska Range or the High Chugach.

We made quick work of Bob's bomber booter from the previous day and a few minutes later were standing on the peak looking east towards Middle Glacier Peak, Byron, and Carpathian.


There are still a few peaks and many many lines around here that we haven't had a chance to ski yet - good thing life is long. We made mental notes on the hit list while we sat in the sun eating lunch and watching a solo skier make their way up Middle Glacier. I wondered who it was. Maybe Dane?

Chum Bucket Ski - 1.30.2022

Spring and summer in AK is a manic time of year. Fueled by the midnight sun I become a caffeinated wreck who finds myself craving projects at 12:30 AM - I think I'm beginning to know what meth is like. Every week my self inflicted sleep deficit grows; my blogging backlog is not far behind it. Hopefully I never catch up on this backlog as the memories of one great adventure after the next pile up, but between midnight mania, midnight fishing, and midnight real estate mini-empirism here is an effort to catch up with a look back at a sort of soft, sort of stable, and sort of sunny January day at Turnagain.

Mid-winter at Turnagain was beset with storm after storm followed by surface hoar after buried surface hoar event. It was frustrating and had me wondering why I was pretending to work as a corporate drone in this unstable and dark land.

Swimming thru the classic fog of a midwinter inversion.

By late January we finally got a break in the cycle with a brief window of calm, cold, and clear weather. Well. Sort of clear. The "problem" with these calm midwinter periods following nuclear winter events is they leave the air full of moisture, and with no wind to scoop the soup out it becomes fog. You can get above the fog, but its particularly annoying when you are also navigating a considerable avalanche day with BSH 18 inches down. So, as we swam thru the fog of the Cornbiscuit parking lot and felt our way across the bridge, we knew it would be tricky finding a safe way up Seattle Ridge to Gulch Creek and eventually TT43. Using a combination of jedi mind tricks and black magic Tom located fresh avalanches debris whose bed surface we could safely follow to the top.


As we climbed higher, breaks in the clam chowder began to appear, teasing us with windows into Lynx Creek:

Silvertip Skiing - 12.13.2015

Note: updated below the original post to include a version of the Silvertip Traverse in March 2022.
After a great window of high pressure, last week brought two and a half feet of new snow to the top of Turnagain Pass.

Waking up in the morning dusk, we followed the old mining road up the creek. 

But, the high pressure had a downside, it left a weak surface for the new storm snow to bond to. As it slowly got lighter, we were treated to a view of Twin Peaks:

By the time we reached the upper basin, there was a foot of new snow sitting on a settled base. 

Wanting to take advantage of the new snow, but to avoid the danger associated with a thick slab we headed to the southern end of Turnagain Pass.
Avoiding potential avy danger, we followed the north ridge towards the summit. On the skyline is TT43, one of my favorites.

Lynx Creek Ski - February & March 2022

In the middle of February 2022, a wet storm riding strong south winds pounded the mountains above Turnagain Arm, overloading the snowpack, and producing a dramatic avalanche cycle. We needed a snowpack that received less of a load, so headed south for the Johnson Pass trailhead. 

As we drove along the Arm we passed the terrifying remains of splintered trees, new avy paths, and concrete debris that had covered the road and railroad. My reptile brain screamed to go home and ride the Stairmaster, but we knew what we were seeing told us nothing about the stability, or lack thereof, in Lynx Creek.

Rolling into the parking lot we could see a couple big crowns in the headwaters of Lynx. As we skinned out of the parking lot and thru the two-stroke exhaust hanging in the valley I figured our odds of a shutdown on our objective of Captain's Chair were around 75%. Soon we were skipping across the flowing waters of Bench Creek; I love a good creek crossing and figured this was a good omen for the day.


As we entered the Lynx drainage we left the creek and started to gain altitude towards Captains Chair. But, not before first stopping to inspect the little cabin overseeing the valley. Tom and Erin took notes for their future cabin - especially on the importance of having a good supply of food for the local porcupine population. 


Entering the hanging valley below our objective we could see that the chute had already slid. Sweet. We weren't in for a complete shutdown.

Petes Skiing - January 2021

Early season last winter brought every southcentral Alaskan skier's dream: storm after storm rolling off the Pacific, into the Gulf of AK, then burying Turnagain in feet of snow. The north end of the pass usually gets more snow, and it was getting too much - overloading the snowpack - so we headed south to Petes.

On a January Saturday Tony, Erin, Nyssa, and I broke trail thru the rain crust of the Johnson Pass parking lot towards a refresh of 18 inches of Alaskan velvet awaiting in the alpine. We were joined by Sydney and Rob - old friends of mine from Crested Butte.

It was still stormy as we climbed out of the trees and onto the exposed ridgeline. The avy danger for the region forecast as considerable, and although we didn't think it applied to our end of the pass, it would be a day of slowly working into bigger terrain. So, we started with a low consequence run down the rolling ridge and into the trees. Without the telltale cracking, settling, or moving snow of instability we were ready to move into the alpine.

The next progression was a north facing chute scoured by the predominant storm winds that funnel through the pass. Rob and Sydney skied first into the tight entrance with precise turns that brought back fond memories of many inbounds days in Colorado. We chased them down the chute, whooping gleefully as the storm snow bounced off our faces. The chute had "only" sloughed with no slab movement - another good sign for stability. 

With the clouds clearing we knew it was time to head to the top. Anchorage is as good as it gets for backcountry skiers in the U.S., so it can be easy to get jaded about how good we have it. From the summit of Petes it was awesome to hear the awe of Rob and Syd as the spines, faces, ribs, bowls and mountains of Turnagain opened up around us. We talked about local weather and pointed out some of our favorites, then dropped back towards the road.


Rob:


Yep. Anchorage is America's last great ski city.

Tincan Skiing - 2.8.2014

Note: Updated on 4.19.2021 to include another great day at Tincan Mountain Resort.

The last month here has not been winter as we know it. The forecast has been filled with terms like "atmospheric river", "tropical infusion", and "veritable firehose". Unfortunately this cascade of precipitation fell largely as rain, not snow. Then it got warm. There's been a lot more basketball, running, skating, and hiking than my winter dreams normally consist of.

This weekend we thought we'd go up to the Snowbird Hut for a little adventure, but then Friday the forecast started to look promising for the Kenai. Saturday morning brought 40 cm of snow to Turnagain, calm, and bluebird. How could we resist?

Pulling into the usually swamped parking lot at Tin Can, there appeared to be only a hand full of groups that were not part of the usual avy classes. Awesome. Anchorage had forgotten that it's winter.

Approaching treeline:


At treeline we watched several slides release from remote triggers several hundred meters away.


More signs of instability:

Anchorage Ski Outlook - 3.31.2021

Thurs – Fri: mostly sunny, moderate temps, lovely (high confidence).

Moderate temps. Sunniest at Thompson Pass. Warm in sun with sun effect. Moderate winds for Seward, the Thompson Pass road corridor, and the Anchorage Front Range; light ridgetop winds elsewhere. Good days to get powder fever.

Weekend: warm, snowy, windy (high confidence).

Moderate/heavy snowfall for Hatcher decreasing as you go towards Turnagain; moderate snow for Thompson Pass; rain at sea level. Clearing first at Turny and last at Hatcher.

Early Next Week: moderate temps, some sun/clouds/snow (low confidence).

Monday partly sunny. Tues/Wed snow possible for the Prince William Sound mountains and drier inland with winds for the Anchorage Front Rage, Seward, and the Thompson Pass road corridor. Warm in sun with sun effect.

Read more >>  

Granddaddy Ski Tour - 12.6.2015

Note: Updated to include another great Granddaddy tour.

After a perfect Saturday, the secret was out, and we'd need to go deeper to avoid the crowds. With virtually no solar radiation, sunny south faces seemed appropriate. We decided on a tour around Pastoral Peak.

Climbing above the inversion with lovely purple tones to the west.

First light kissing Kickstep from Taylor Pass; many fun memories in this picture:

Photo: Brady Deal

Two hours after leaving the car our first line was in view. Carpathian looking nice too.

Photo: Brady Deal

Goldpan Ski - 12.13.2018

Note: Updated to include another great day at Goldpan Mountain Resort.

Alaska is the land of feast or famine. November brought days of rain, rain, rain to the Kenai Mountains. Fortunately, days of rain at the road mean feet of snow in the alpine, and in early December we finally got the weather window we'd been waiting for.

It was dark and cold as we broke trail out of the Sunburst lot, along Taylor Creek, and up Basketball. Climbing higher, we watched the sun kiss Turnagain's crown jewel:


Not entirely sure about stability and snow, we started with a long, protected spine towards Bertha Creek. Jono offered to go first; we could barely see him through the trail of cold smoke he left behind. It was going to be a good day.


Playing leapfrog down the long spine, I looked up to see a partially submerged Bucky. He'd later say this was the deepest day he's ever skied in the alpine.

Japanese Trees Ski - 12.26.2020

There is nothing sweeter in the outdoors than exploring somewhere new. Or at least that was our excuse as we drove to, past, and beyond the new snow and deep base of Turnagain for the thinner and worse snowpack of Summit. 

True to our mission, none of us had skied the Japanese Trees before and had for location information a sentence from an avalanche observation. But, as we pulled into the parking lot next to Summit Lake and peered into the bushes we could see skintrack disappearing across the road. Sweet success! Knowing Summit's track record as the place to have your car broken into, we side-eyed the unassuming yuppies in the parking lot then played Frogger across the icy road.

Tom wondering how many laps of stinging horizontal snow are tolerable.

Climbing thru the open glades did indeed feel a bit like the birch forests of Japan. Like those past trips to the Land of The Rising Sun, the new zone closer to home still brought the same enhanced sensation only new experiences can bring - a sharpening of the senses like a microscope coming into focus.

After a few laps the snow tapered off and a hint of sun appeared to the south.

We used the first laps to optimize our ascents and winding descents from alder glades through the birch trees to the road. As the clouds retreated north the snow was painted with a subtle peach glaze - nothing our consumer cameras could capture, but focused in our eyes by the experience of the new.
Photo Nyssa Landres

Sunburst Ski - 11.2014

Note: Updated on 12.9.2020 to include another great day on Sunburst.

This was not my most productive week at work. After misunderstanding the weather last Sunday, I spent the day under my car and cleaning the house, only to find out that it had been sunny at Turnagain. Determined not to repeat that, I spent the week twitching in my chair, compulsively checking the weather, or staring blankly out the window.

With the forecast for Wednesday looking better and better, Robert and I bailed on work and headed South. The beginning of the day was a comical spiral through alders as neither of us have skied Sunburst when there isn't enough snow to crush the brush.

45 minutes later we had our skins on and were through the stratus. TT43, still hidden in the clouds, is across the way.

The clouds that had dominated the weather at the start of the week began to lift as we climbed towards our first run.

Mount Alpenglow Ski - 3.15.2020

We knew Sunday would be a memorable adventure when it started with a pair of skins forgotten at the Powder Hut. Tulio is a hero, and after a brief donut delay at Tesoro were back on the road. 

After a missed couple drive-bys on the Hope Road, we pulled off at the the Third Canyon takeout and parked on what was available of the shoulder. There had been discussion about waders, rubber boots, or packrafts, but no one actually wanted to carry any of that and we packed optimism instead. 

A few minutes of downhill skinning brought us to the fortunately frozen river, and the beginning of the uphill. I had expected and even hoped for a bit of bushwhacking, so was disappointed to find little underbrush and devils club in the woods. Dang, too easy.

Following the tracks of a wayward snowshoer thru the crusty snow in the woods, progress was fast and we soon emerged out of the old growth and onto Alpenglow's long west shoulder.

Photo: Dmitry Surnin

Skookum Glacier Skiing - 3.18.2017

Updated 4.30.2020 to include another great day.
Early last week, model run after model run showed a small Wednesday night storm headed for the North Gulf Coast. The question was: would it make it inland? In town on Wednesday night there were a few thin clouds - maybe the storm hadn't made it across the Prince William Sound? Then the rumors of a refresh started trickling in from CPG and the Skookum.

By, the time we were halfway up the Skookum on Saturday our sleds were leaving trenches - the sleeper storm was real. We picked a long and fat north-facing couloir to start with. Across the way we were dreaming about a sinuous chute off the southeast face of Byron:

Photo: Alex Geilich

Dropping in, we slashed the huge cones of slough sitting in the line.

Photo: Alex Geilich

Seth: