After a couple weeks of clouds, rain and snow, we finally had a clear, cold, sunny weekend. On Saturday Hillary and I went heli skiing with Sam Roche through the local heli ski guides, Alaska Powder Descents (Kevin Krein). While the snow was not blower powder we still had a great day up on the icefield skiing some of the local peaks (McGinnis, Wrather, behind Stroller White). The views were incredible!
The run we just skied is in the background, far right. Waiting for a pickup.
Looking out across the Mendenhall Glacier with Wrather Peak (right) and the Towers (Left) in the background
Sunday ...
We hiked up to Spaulding Meadows to do some backcountry skate skiing. The best thing about a good rain on the snow then a deep freeze, followed by thick frost hoar is that the skate skiing turns incredible up there. It is about an hour walk up a snowmobile trail to the meadows, and they extend for miles with views of the glacier, mtns and the ocean. It was a perfect sunny, windless day to spend up there. The snow surface was perfect for skate skiing anywhere you wanted.
A picture from backcountry skiing last weekend. The snow wasn't bad, but there were some underlying instabilities that caused us to take it easy and ski some mellow lines.
Inside a snow shelter I dug out for a lunch break while skiing Fish Creek Knob up by Eaglecrest
Stripping down up in Spaulding Meadows Sunday midday
Really enjoyed the "pecker cam" on the video. Looks like one hell of a day!
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