Backcountry Skiing..Your Winter Window Into The Chugach.
Opened up Moonlight Basin this morning as an alternative to the VOG and wind on the north side and was not disappointed. Once easily though the brush down low and up the drainage things opened up nicely and was quickly joined by new Valdezean Olivia Foster who I met on yesterday’s tour. We continued while other skinners soon swarmed in […]
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Excellent skiing conditions dominate Thompson Pass after another round of heavy snow yesterday. Skinned in from Worthington Glacier towards Catchers Mitt for something different. Deep, trail breaking but worth the effort. Some imperfections in the form of soft wind slabs mixed with dry snow made for nice turns. Avalanche – Worth discussing as I did not encounter any whomping […]
Read moreWeekend long snow event left up to 16″ of settling new snows above 2500′ in Thompson Pass. Skinned up on to Little Odessey today. Lots of good skiing in protected areas but encountered some 8″ soft wind slabs along the route crest where SE winds to 20mph were encountered Nice powder shot above Harveys Ditch. While visibility was limited, I […]
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With snow falling in copious amounts measured in feet, sugar-coating of the Valdez Mountains will continue above 3000′ through mid-week in Thompson Pass while rain and “glaciation” persist at lower elevations and Valdez. Once again a ridge of high pressure along the backside of Southeast Alaska is putting us in the way of vigorous southeast flow for the rest of […]
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Skied into Catchers Mitt, but once off and away from the existing skin track, continued to feel and hear large whomping sounds. The existing skin track has already triggered whomps along that path thus giving some sense of stability at least to The Notch. You might not notice the remote-trigger hazards unless you strike out on your own, but it […]
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Beautiful day in Loveland Basin once I worked my way around some considerable whomping on the ridge line approach. Deep snow on the glacier and excellent powder conditions abound for touring and turns. Stability concerns were reinforced with widespread whomping on most aspects and elevations above 3000′. Once on the DOT Glacier I was able to approach the two naturals […]
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With the recent incident in the Alaska Range involving a friend of mine who survived, I could not help, after reading his first hand account this morning in the Alaska Dispatch, to make some observations that relate to our current conditions in Thompson Pass. As backcountry skiers, we are taught from day one that the most obvious sign of instability is […]
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