Whale Tail Ski

Mid-April is the week of Cathy's birthday and our wedding anniversary. During this week I'm either scoring mega-points, or in the dog house. In past years I've been sharing a micro-tent with fermenting dudes in some god-forsaken mountain range in Alaska. Those were the dog house years. Since then I've focused my uxorious nature. I've learned that micro-tents are best with my wife. Last year I scored huge points with Cathy on the Haute Route Grand Lui. This year I also scored huge points with her on Denali's Whale Tail.

On a mid-April Friday morning the forecast tipped to the good side of marginal. Annie at Talkeetna Air Taxi told us to be ready at 2pm. We loaded our rucksacks, drove two hours to Talkeetna and jumped into Paul Roderick's turbo bird. 

We stopped at Little Switzerland to pick up some pro dog skiers. The pro dogs said, "We skied everything." I saw their tracks. They did ski every big feature in Little Switzerland. Then Paul dropped us off at the Mountain House on the Ruth Glacier. 

At 7pm Cathy and I started skiing down the Gorge. The chubby seasonal snowpack let us ski unroped. Being able to ski unroped makes the Alaska Range way more cool. 

An hour down the Gorge we stopped for cocoa and a catch-up with our friends Silas and Peter. They were having a great trip, scratching up ice-encrusted corners on Mount Bradley.

Peter Doucette's photo of Cathy and I heading toward 747 Pass between Mount Bradley on the left and Mount Dickey on the right.

We camped our first night below 747 Pass. In the morning we looked up Dikey's 5,000-foot wall. Eeep!

Skinning up 747 Pass. In a few places we used the rope with stopper knots. Here Cathy has unclipped and I'm dragging the rope since the avi danger was more eminent than the cracks. 

Second camp, up on the Tail with Denali and the Backside Glacier behind. My favorite part of the trip was sharing this small tent with Cathy. Even better, she didn't like her book. She's more amuzing without a book. 

Skinning above the Tokositna Glacier. Last summer I hiked Denali's Whale Tail with Nik and Dmitry. The fun and views were world-class. Thank you Nik and Dmitry! But if you cover the Whale's Tail with snow, and don't have to hike, then the funness levels goes into the next category. 

Cathy heading toward Tokosha Gap. Tucker Chenowith cooked up the Whale's Tail ski trip four years ago. Tuck said it was the best ski trip he's ever done. Since Tucker is THE MAN, skiing the Whale's Tail went to the top of my list.

On our tour, Cathy and I had one powder run, some beautiful corn and lots of bullet-proof crust skiing. 

My trophy wife of 11 years at our fourth and last camp, just below Tokosha Gap, 4,000 feet above the Susitna Valley.

Cathy skating toward Porcupine Butte at 5am to beat the isothermal slopfest. Tokosha Gap behind. From Porcupine Butte we skied 12 miles of snowmachine highway to the Chulitna bridge. 

A slow hitch on the Parks Highway. Eventually The Prospector took us to the Talkeetna spur road. Then the Baptist minister's wife - a recent transplant from Arkansas - gave us a ride to TAT. She'd just been on a scenic flight with K2 Aviation. "We landed on the summit," she said. "On the Ruth Glacier?" I said, referring to their usual scenic landing site. "No, they landed us right on the summit of Mount McKinley." I went into the TAT office and told Annie to upgrade their scenic options. 

Skiing with Scissors

They should teach you to ski with Scissors in kindergarten. Skiing with Scissors works well for big vert. It is a highly recommended technique for adventuring into unknown basins of snow. Skiing with Scissors is a suggested method for bringing sunshine when the forecast says "rain." It's also a great method for chatting on the ascent, laughing on the decent and then going back for more. Après ski, skiing with Scissors is well known for burgers and beers. 

I skied with Ben and Ken Scissors in the Ortler Mountains in 2010. We kept in touch and they came up for a week of backcountry skiing in Southcentral Alaska with me in late March. After a warm up skills day in the Chugach Front we hit Government Peak at Hatcher Pass. In this photo they're standing on the summit of Government. Between them are tracks from our first run.

It's been a chubby season in Alaska. So chubby we couldn't read the warnings. The Center Ridge Snotel has over 10 feet of snow. 

Skiing the lower-angle ridge from Tincan toward a mini-slab on the uptrack. The winter provided a relentless maritime snow climate with the advisory going from Considerable, to Moderate, to Low in two to three day period. During a normal winter Turnagain has an arctic maritime snow climate. Also known as maritime with an identity crisis. 

These mini-avalanches from surface hoar under drifts were long-running and efficient. This was the first persistent weak layer of the season.

Ben skiing the Tincan trees. 

Ken skiing Tincan trees with Turnagain Arm and the Chugach beyond. 

On top of Manitoba at Summit Lake. Getting ready to ski...

Manitoba's east side for a loopy-tour back to the car. 

Conditions heated up during the week, even for these Grand Junction, Colorado boys. 

Our last run of the week in Magpie Creek near Crow Pass. We then rushed back to the Midnight Sun in Anchorage for brews. Thanks for a super-fun week Ken and Ben! I can't wait to ski with you again. 

Weekend Warrior

Last weekend was serious fun. Probably the most fun in the history of all weekends. Weekends are like organized events, but with no entrance fee. And the winner is the one who has the most fun. Clear skies and stable powder over last weekend made the competition huge, but I still won. 

Weekend material near Anchorage-Turnagain Pass. 

Good weekends depend on good people. Cathy, Jeff Conaway (our neighbor) and I went to Turnagain last Saturday. We found sun, an inversion for warm +10-degree F temps and off the hook skiing. 

 

Cathy on our first run from Magnum. Jeff calls this run TC. I've never had a TV so Jeff was educating me about the Magnum PI cast. 

Second run, into Goldpan, or is this Superbowl? Sorry Viking...

Jeff a body length ahead of his sluff. Ski fast or get out of the way. 

Across the way another posse of amigos was having a good time. Here's Jeremy Wood taste-testing snow quality. 

We confirmed there is no better place on the planet. 

The next day Cathy and I skied with Paddy Sullivan. He's still riding the granola sticks but that's okay. Anyone who can rip 2,000 vert non-stop on smelly teles is a noble man. It's now also okay, after this day of touring up Spokane Creek and down Bertha Creek, that Paddy swiped our Spanish tenant. Awesome skiing with you Paddy!

"Don't feel any pressure Paddy, but do you mind skiing right now? The light has 20 seconds left! Now! No pressure, but right NOW!" Thanks Paddy!

Now I'm in Mendoza, Argentina hanging in the Alpine Ascents guide apartment with this guy. Dave and I worked together in the Cascades in 2006. He enjoys Turbo Truffles and baristas. Tomorrow I leave for Aconcagua for three weeks with JP from New York. Tonight JP and I drank malbec at Francis Mallmann and agreed that Sarah Palin is...well, anyway, JP and I will have a good trip. 

Come spring I'll be back in the weekend contest. Watch out. 

Wolverine Creek

Turnagain is like a Grimms' Fairy Tale about a mystical paradise for backcountry skiers. Where the trees hang heavy with a winter coat of snow and the mountain sides are draped with fat powder. The locals frolic across this land. They laugh and smile and know there is no better place on the planet. 

That's what Turnagain has reminded me over the past few days. 

Jeff Conaway, Peter Thurston and I headed back Wolverine Creek to visit a new part of this mystical land. We skinned with our eyes up, looking at the mountains that hung in a soft haze of ice crystals, like a 100-year old painting. Wolverine Creek is one of eight main drainages on the non-motorized side of Turnagain Pass.  

At the head of the valley we skied lower angle slopes to keep the roaring sluffs at a manageable level. 

Peter lived in Girdwood back in the day. Now he lives in Salt Lake City, where the snow isn't happening. He came up for a month of Alaska's finest product.  

 

The next day I returned with my wife Cathy, Gretchen and Ben. Gretchen and Ben just returned from a semester down south expanding their brains. They were sooooo glad to be home. 

Ben's PhD had taken him to Juneau. He skied Eagle Crest ski area during breaks from the confuser. Back home he skis between glide cracks on the south side of Eddies.  

We finished the day with a 2,000-foot chute on the north slopes of Eddies. Since there was no light in the chute I took photos of the alpenglow on this thing. Yeah this thing. This thing is starting to bug me. 

Then I spent a day with Kevan Dee on a Tincan grand tour. Kevan grew up on a farm in northeast Colorado. Now he sells drill bits on the Slope, three weeks on, three weeks off. Kevan knows that AK rules!

Kevan on the summit of Tincan, ready to leave the light and drop into Todd's Run. Kevan saw the light in this Grimms' fairytale land and never wants to leave. I hope you don't Kevan. That was a blast!