Backcountry Skiing..Your Winter Window Into The Chugach.
Solo with a bit of a boot at the top. Good skiing and stability (thanks testers!), more so in the shade. Good to see so many skinners dominate one of best runs around. Still plenty beyond. Switzerland skinners visiting Schoolbus. A chunk of cornice off Moonlight Pass broke into Odessey Bowl. Skinner on far right, middle stepping into sunrise.
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Excellent ski and stability abound in the Valdez Chugach. Some sloughing likely on southerly exposures. Beware on cornices Set of parallel track and a set of tele-turbo’s. Free the heel, free the mind. Solo day.
Read morePerfect day to tour to the top of Catchers Mitt. As you can see from the 360 video we have the most snow on the planet in and around Thompson Pass AK. Skiing was good despite some bite at the surface from a melt freeze layer over powder. Very Good up high on shaded north aspects. Stability was good […]
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Skiing remains good across most aspects and elevation with a little snow last night to freshen things up a bit. Continued mild weather through the week with occasional squalls on south aspects and good sun spots in between. Watch for solar rollers on southerly aspects as the sun warm at times more so after 1pm. I am always accepting nominations […]
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Coastal clouds persisted most the day, but enough fresh snow fell last night to create vast untracked once again. Early bird this am in flat light so location matters little. Paul Nylund(Valdez) back in the elements today.
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With a change in wind direction, Moonlight Basin to the base of South Odessey Gulley kept me in calm conditions with occasional flurries and flat-light descent. Pitted the base of South Odessey Gulley and low and behold, found that thick ice layer that I’d pretty much forgotten about. Still stout in regards to deeper instabilities, so concern remains CONSIDERABLE […]
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Gusty winds continue to drift powder with avalanches occurring in Thompson Pass creating CONSIDERABLE hazard on mainly northerly aspects above 2000′ from the HairPin north. Soft cornices and wind lips sensitive. Visual red flags abound. Test slopes early on approaches. Vast soft wind slabs from cross-loading are strengthening, but new ones will remain active and settle slowly once the winds […]
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