Matanuska-Susitna Valley
Anchorage Front Range:
Showing posts with label Wolverine Ridge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wolverine Ridge. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Anchorage to Cordova in Pictures
Last week I went on a brief 48 hour trip up to Anchorage for an interview. The flight north to Anchorage was quite cloudy, but we did fly through an amazing break in the clouds right over Turnagain Pass. The interview was interesting... As Rob put it, they are interviewing you, but you are also interviewing them... Moral of the story: I had to see a new place to realize just how awesome the people I worked with in Denver are; and Rachel and I will be spending the summer working on a scientific vessel in the Prince William Sound. After two days spent with the great people of Anchorage I headed back to Cordova on a beautiful bluebird day.
Monday, April 22, 2013
AK Spring Arrives - 2013
In the last week the weather has finally started to recover from a prolonged period of sub-climatic temperatures. And with this warming its really started to feel like spring here. Some of us would even say its tanning weather...
Photo: Danny Spencer
Nick and Danny joined us for the week. We started out with a recon mission up Eyak.
Right before we dropped off Eyak the next storm started to roll in - and with it epicly flat light. After days of warm weather and sun, I found rather nerve-wracking conditions of breakable crust, raging sloughs and a recently exposed 20 foot cliff in my line. Danny was glad to have that experience over with:
Photo: Nick Matisse
Photo: Danny Spencer
Nick and Danny joined us for the week. We started out with a recon mission up Eyak.
Right before we dropped off Eyak the next storm started to roll in - and with it epicly flat light. After days of warm weather and sun, I found rather nerve-wracking conditions of breakable crust, raging sloughs and a recently exposed 20 foot cliff in my line. Danny was glad to have that experience over with:
Photo: Nick Matisse
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Cordova Down Days
Cordova welcomed me with an incredibly beautiful week of bluebird skies and stable snow. This was promptly followed by a week of precipitation that in Colorado would have been considered a 50 year storm. For reference, last September here brought 87 inches of rain!
Watching the last of the clear weather from our back deck:
It started with 60 cm of snow in 24 hours, followed by 6 days of rain with the freezing level alternating between sea level and almost 1000 meters. After digging out the Subaru, I realized that it works just fine as SubaPlow...
During the breaks in the weather Rachel showed me around. At sunset Rachel, Megan and I walked out to Sheridan Glacier. Apparently there is often amazing ice skating through the calving ice on the frozen terminal lake. Standing on glacier terminus, we could hear the crackling ice moving under us.
As the next front arrived, the snow turned to rain; Rob and I got out for some steep tree skiing on Wolverine Ridge:
After a beautiful walk around town on a calm gray day,
We joined the heli skiers at the ski hill:
From the top of the lift we headed into the Eyak Ridge sidecountry; looking south towards Wolverine Ridge:
This is how the heli skiing guides spend down days:
Sidecountry with a view!
On the lowest tide of the month we walked a mile out on the tide flats of Hartney Bay:
On Monday high pressure returned, Rachel skiing the Eyak Ridge sidecountry:
The eagles watched us skin back up for another lap:
On Tuesday at 4 AM I was at the ferry terminal headed to Anchorage, planning to meet up with friends and look for gainful employment. After falling asleep on the gently rocking boat, I awoke to glassy water and the incredible views of the Prince William Sound:
Its funny here, the memories of a week of bad weather are instantly erased by the incredible beauty of Alaska.
Its funny here, the memories of a week of bad weather are instantly erased by the incredible beauty of Alaska.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Wolverine Ridge Skiing - March 2013
With winds hammering much of the region last week and the warm sun creeping higher into the sky, we didn't know what kind of conditions we would find when we set out to explore Wolverine Ridge this weekend. As the parking lot is 3 minutes from our place and sunset is at 8 PM, I spent the morning unpacking and by 2 PM we were skinning with 6 hours of daylight to work with. Rachel welcomes me to the rainforest in winter:
Not sure exactly how to approach the ridge, what we wanted to ski, and taking our time to observe snow conditions, we gradually approached the ridge. Afternoon sun just starting to peer into view:
Photo: Rachel Ertz
As we neared the top we followed the route our friend Mike had set the previous day. Rachel on the staircase to heaven:
At the ridgeline we contoured to the northwest to our intended line, Wart Face. Not willing to commit to big sluffs high on the face, we worked our way down the ridgeline at first. Rachel eases up to let her sluff flow by:
The face opened as we descended, so we worked into the heart of it. Rachel surfing the smooth Alaskan cream:
With the shadows growing longer and plans to return to the zone the next day, we called it a day. But, before Sunday arrived, a 1 AM wakeup call from a friend got us out of bed for a beautiful northern lights show over the water:
Sunday, our friend Mike came along to show us around. Rachel and Mike with Wart Face in the shade on the lookers left. Peter's recent tracks on lookers right:
Remembering the fun, steep and exposed turns we'd had on Wart Face the previous day, we headed back there for our first line. Having inspected the face the day before, we were able to drop into the center of the face sooner. Mike works the middle of the line:
And finds the goods lower down:
We headed further northwest for our next line, planning to approach it from below. Shortly after taking the picture below, two skiers and a dog appeared on top and quickly dropped into the line - giving us no time to reach a safe zone. It was actually one of the more ridiculous things I've ever seen: after airing the cornice immediately behind his owner, the dog spent no less than the next 100 yards cartwheeling wildly down the line. Eventually upright, dazed, and with no idea where his human companions had gone he briefly confused Mike for his owner before dropping into a steep convexity immediately above Rachel. I love dogs, but behavior like this makes me extremely leary of skiing with them.
After a brief detour to retrieve a sliding helmet we were on top of our second line. Mike dropping in (notice the random dog tracks in the corner):
Building speed lower down:
Yep, that was smooth:
A short skin brought us to our third and final run of the day. Mike heads toward town:
Wind protected goodness:
The line maintained its pitch quite well, Rachel working it:
Great weekend with great people, hard to beat the access and sustained pitch of this area - I can't wait to explore it more!
Not sure exactly how to approach the ridge, what we wanted to ski, and taking our time to observe snow conditions, we gradually approached the ridge. Afternoon sun just starting to peer into view:
Photo: Rachel Ertz
As we neared the top we followed the route our friend Mike had set the previous day. Rachel on the staircase to heaven:
At the ridgeline we contoured to the northwest to our intended line, Wart Face. Not willing to commit to big sluffs high on the face, we worked our way down the ridgeline at first. Rachel eases up to let her sluff flow by:
The face opened as we descended, so we worked into the heart of it. Rachel surfing the smooth Alaskan cream:
With the shadows growing longer and plans to return to the zone the next day, we called it a day. But, before Sunday arrived, a 1 AM wakeup call from a friend got us out of bed for a beautiful northern lights show over the water:
Sunday, our friend Mike came along to show us around. Rachel and Mike with Wart Face in the shade on the lookers left. Peter's recent tracks on lookers right:
Remembering the fun, steep and exposed turns we'd had on Wart Face the previous day, we headed back there for our first line. Having inspected the face the day before, we were able to drop into the center of the face sooner. Mike works the middle of the line:
And finds the goods lower down:
We headed further northwest for our next line, planning to approach it from below. Shortly after taking the picture below, two skiers and a dog appeared on top and quickly dropped into the line - giving us no time to reach a safe zone. It was actually one of the more ridiculous things I've ever seen: after airing the cornice immediately behind his owner, the dog spent no less than the next 100 yards cartwheeling wildly down the line. Eventually upright, dazed, and with no idea where his human companions had gone he briefly confused Mike for his owner before dropping into a steep convexity immediately above Rachel. I love dogs, but behavior like this makes me extremely leary of skiing with them.
After a brief detour to retrieve a sliding helmet we were on top of our second line. Mike dropping in (notice the random dog tracks in the corner):
Building speed lower down:
Yep, that was smooth:
A short skin brought us to our third and final run of the day. Mike heads toward town:
Wind protected goodness:
The line maintained its pitch quite well, Rachel working it:
Great weekend with great people, hard to beat the access and sustained pitch of this area - I can't wait to explore it more!
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