Moonlight Basin Ski - 1.27.2018

Saturday started with the chilling whompf of our extended column test failing and propagating 85 cm down on buried surface hoar. We were standing on a 40 degree slope on Crudbusters with 2,000 feet
of avalanche terrain above us. And, it was -10 degrees. The margin for error was too small for us to risk awakening this sleeping dragon. It was time to call an audible and head for the maritime snowpack of milepost 24.

Skinning out of the second parking lot of the day, the views weren't bad:

Photo: Rachel Heath

In our snowpit half-way up, we were happy to find two meters of dense, consolidated snow and stable test results. I love maritime snowpacks. Just below the pass between Little Odessey and the Goodwills, the snow became wind affected. So, we transitioned from uphill to downhill. I dropped first into the creamy snow:


Andrew brought up the rear, bringing along his seal of approval.
Photo: Rachel Heath

Rice Mountain Ski - 1.28.2018

Driving through Thompson Pass on Sunday morning, new natural avalanches were everywhere. If all these slides weren't enough, the slide across our intended skintrack up the Worthington Glacier definitely nixed that plan.

Brainstorming in the parking lot outside the Tsaina Lodge, Ryan from the Valdez Avy Center pulled up. He recommended checking out the trees around Tiekel Creek. Beta from the local forecaster - what good luck! At the parking lot below Rice Mountain, Taylor was already there. So were Courtney and Tobey. Seemed like the place to be. We chased Taylor up the skin track as twin sundogs floated in front of Mt Tiekel.

Photo: Rachel Heath

Parhelions (AKA sundogs) flank the sun in a 22 degree halo. The angle is a function of the refraction of atmospheric ice crystals acting like prisms to bend sunlight in the atmosphere. Larger ice crystals wobble more as they fall, producing larger sundogs.

At treeline we stopped to dig a pit. Just like the previous day, the unsettling whompf of failure and propagation on deeply buried surface hoar had the hair on the back of our necks standing straight up. With ongoing wind loading in the alpine and complex and unfamiliar terrain, we decided to stick to the trees below.

Dropping into the well spaced forest of birch and spruce filled with soft snow, the trees seemed like a good choice. Andrew was stoked about it too. Or maybe he was just stoked about sundog science?

Photo: Rachel Heath

Ready for more dreamy tree skiing, we headed back up the skinner.

Photo: Rachel Heath

Girls Mountain Ski - Feb 2015

Valdez is always a memorable experience. It was my first Alaska ski experience: RVs, avalanches, and flaming snowmobiles. This trip was equally exciting. It started with a Wednesday moonlight run along the Turnagain Arm trail. There were supposed to be headlamps, but one was left on Kilimanjaro and another was dead, which slowed the arrival at the Brown Bear.

 By 4:30 the next morning I was up, then Max and I drove north to meet Josh in Eagle River.

What are we forgetting?

I'm sure his neighbors loved waking to the sounds of 2 stroke engines and his baying hound. Along the way, both of our sleds came very close to falling off the trailer. In fact, mine did come part way off. Somehow we made it to Thompson Pass.


At the pass we found an alarming raincrust that came very close to destroying our sleds.

More Valdez Bluebird Skiing - 4.9.2012

After a great day on the Worthington Glacier, Nick and I had a long list of reasons to head back. Remembering the long, flat slog up the glacier, Nick and I decided to rent a sled for the day. Which allowed us skip the 3 mile approach from camp and get ahead of this group:


With the flat sections of the skin skipped, we quickly were back on the ridgeline as the previous day:


Looking south at a very cool medial moraine:


After a beautiful hour and a half of skinning we were on top of a 1500 vertical foot ramp:


Nick dropped first:


And before long was arcing GS turns towards our skin track:


I followed:


Looking back up:


Then, we jumped back on the sled and headed up the glacier to the base of this:


Another group had already skied it, but that was fine with me: not only did we not have to put in the bootpack up it, it was the steepest thing I've ever skied in winter in the backcountry. To gain the ridge we booted straight up the face, every step of which I was worried I was going to fall backwards off of it. Nick on the ridge:


The above picture is one of the most exciting memories of the whole trip for me. Looking at a topo map of Thompson Pass the other night, I realized that the small, insignificant glacier in the top center of the photo is the Bench Glacier! The Bench, along with the Kennicott Glacier, are the two glaciers that my master's thesis are based on! The Bench Glacier again:


As I waited for Nick below the last pitch, drenched in sweat wearing an unzipped shirt, I realized just how hot it was out. Immediately concerned about ice fall from the large hanging blocks at the summit, Nick and I decided to ski from just below the summit. Nick skied the upper pitch first, then pulled off to take some incredible pictures, allowing me to ski the entire face at once:

Nick:


We wanted to head to a mini golf zone lower on the glacier, but the sun wasn't reaching it yet. We decided to wait for the light and do some sled laps first. I haven't skied pow switch in years, but I figured I'd give it a go on the third run of the day:


Nick on our fourth run:


With the sun low in the western sky we headed back to our old skin track for some mini golf. Nick gets ready to drop:


Dropping!


Success!


I followed, dropping from a little higher on the ridge:

...and onto a fun rib:


...followed by some carvable pow:


After 5 runs it was 6 PM, we still had 3 hours of light and the last thing that I wanted to do was stop skiing; but with the RV due back in Anchorage the next morning, we still had packing and 6 hours of driving ahead of us. So, we headed back to the parking lot.

The drive back was beautiful, with amazing alpenglow over the Wrangells, Mount Drum:


Looking back on our days in Valdez...its incredible there! We were a little late in the year: the first 1500 vertical feet above Thompson Pass was all very sun affected, and aspects on the south half of the compass had a sun crust at all elevations. The access to the goods is all a bit long this time of year, but having a sled here would make this a non-issue. You definitely don't need a helicopter to have a good time here, but it would be awesome!!!

More to come!

Valdez Bluebird Skiing - 4.8.2012

With gray skies and blowing snow for the previous 3 days, waking up Sunday to see bluebird skies was absolutely breathtaking. Spending the previous day in the clouds, I had no idea what the terrain around us looked like: in every direction were huge, beautiful mountains. Around us, you could feel the energy in the parking lot: the buzz of snowmobiles, the hum of helicopters, and the lingering smell of two stroke exhaust.

Our friend Carp graciously gave us a quick sled-tow a mile down the road to the base of the Worthington Glacier where we started skinning:

After 1500 vertical feet we diverged from the glacier and headed towards the valley wall to the south. Looking back at tracks down the glacier:


As we reached the north facing valley wall we stopped to dig a snowpit on the aspect that we planned to spend the day skiing. After that, a set of switchbacks brought us to a saddle on the ridge and even better views, looking back at the parking lot:


Then we followed the ridgeline west:


There's so much incredible terrain around Thompson Pass. Unfortunately, with the sun high in the sky and the warm spring weather, only north facing terrain is still holding good snow. But I can dream, right?


More dreamy lines:


Before long we were at the end of our ridge:


Across the way a group was heading straight up a very scary looking face, something I would never dream of doing in Colorado:


Looking around, we realized that we had not ended up where we intended to, but were instead on a false summit. We were blocked from continuing along the ridge by a large cliff. After a short discussion we decided to drop into the relatively short northwest-facing bowl below us and decide where to go from there. Nick dropped first and immediately disappeared from view:


As I stood on a snow-covered rock outcropping waiting for him to reappear, I heard a loud whompf. Although I didn't think I was standing on a cornice, my immediate concern was that I actually was, and that it had just collapsed. Then I saw Nick come shooting out into the bowl below in the middle of an avalanche. Somehow he managed to ski over flowing four foot tall waves and dishwasher sized chunks of snow, escaping out the front of it:






We did not anticipate this slide happening, I am not glad it did, nor am I proud of our decision making leading up to it. Although this slide was not large enough to bury Nick, it could definitely have hurt him, which would have had extremely severe consequences. All feedback about this is much appreciated. I considered not posting about this avalanche because I in no way want to promote the concept that avalanches are not deadly. But, I feel like it is a valuable learning opportunity. Some mistakes we made and things I learned:

• Aspect: We dug our pit on a north facing slope and found very stable snow. This relatively small change in aspect was very significant.
• Wind loading: The slide occurred on a slope that had very clear signs of windloading at the top.
• Weak points: The slide started on a rock buried immediately under the surface of the snow. We should have avoided skiing near small surface rocks that were probably indicators of other hidden rocks.
• Rushing/Summit fever: All I wanted to do on this beautiful bluebird day was ski, we could have taken our time to retrace our steps and skied an aspect we knew was stable.
• Heuristic traps: Just because we saw another group nearby center-punching a huge face together was no indication that we should let our own guard down. 
• Skiing through avalanche debris: The flowing snow Nick was skiing through was not smooth or soft. It was waves of large blocks of snow that were throwing Nick every way as he fought to stay on his feet.
• I'm sure I missed some points and would love feedback about our decision. 

After this Nick and I were freaked out and agreed to head for mellower, shorter, north facing terrain for the rest of the day. Nick skis back down towards the Worthington Glacier:

Nick lower down:

After reaching the glacier, we headed back to our skin track from earlier in the day, where we had dug our snow pit, had observed stable snow, and knew there were some short mini golf lines.

Nick heads back up:


We started by dropping a short pitch back to our skin track:


Nick brought up the rear:


Finding great snow and stability that matched our stable snow pit results we headed back up for a second lap. I dropped first:


Hmmm...that was fun!


followed by Nick:


After 5000 vertical feet of skinning we were ready to call it a day. With one last look back up the glacier at the beautiful light and long shadows we headed downglacier back toward the parking lot. More to come!