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. 

Valdez Skiing 2011

Last May, Todd Smith and I rallied the Western Chugach for a relentless five days. Keen for more, Todd brought along his friend Steve Copson and Steve's friend and Kurt Parker for a Valdez ski week. We chose late April when the snow is more stable and the heli/snowmachine frenzy has subdued. We had an awesome trip with a perfectly-meshed group, amazing north face powder, some corn and favorable weather. Thanks guys!

Summiting Cracked Ice on our first tour. Kurt is a splitboarding powerhouse with faster transitions than us skiers. He redefined splitboarding for me.

Summit! Now 4,500 feet of fun to the highway!

Untracked on Cracked Ice. 

In Valdez we stayed with Anna Wilson at her Ptarmigan Bed & Breakfast. If you like to eat and stay in a comfortable house then there is no comparison in Valdez. The alternative is expensive hotels and grody restaurants. Call Anna at 907-835-2202 (best option) or email her at annsptarm@cvinternet.com. 

Hauling packs to camp at the top of the Worthington Glacier for two nights and three days of skiing.

Glacier camp in THE ZONE!!!!!

A high energy weak layer kept us off the sav-gnar but we sufficed on farming endless slopes of pow.

Kurt showing us what 25 years of snowboarding can do. 

Steve skiing below an icefall into the Hoodoo Glacier from our glacier camp.  Last year, Dan, Nik and I tried this same run, but an earthquake that morning had triggered the icefall and obliterated the run.

No earthquake this time. 

Todd starting another 2,000-foot powder lap into the Hoodoo Glacier. 

Pit stop at the derelict Tsina Lodge--where many Valdez heli legends began--on the way back to Anchorage.

Ortler Ski Mountaineering

In April 2010 Dad and I skied in the Ortler Mountains in the Tyrol region of northern Italy. Despite zero visibility, Dad was hooked. He recruited six friends for an eight-day trip. Dylan Taylor was keen to co-guide with me.

On our late March 2012 trip we had perfect weather, stable and powdery snow and great company. Thank you so much for an incredible trip everyone!

The 2011 Ortler crew from the left: Jim Boland runs Hog Heaven Sausage in Moscow, Idaho; Dave Stock stays busy being retired in El Chalten, Patagonia and Albion, Washington; Don Seiss does AIDS vaccine research in Portland, Oregon; Joe in yellow, Dylan Taylor guides in the Alps, Alaska and Antarctica; Melissa Pearson is a vinter at her winery Coulter's Creek along the Clearwater River in Idaho; Diane and Scotty Cornelius are retired analytical geochemists from Pullman, Washington; and Mike Pearson is married to Melissa and makes wine. 

After a day of skiing Sulden resort and reviewing avalanche companion rescue we toured to the Marteller Hut. Duvets, showers, beer on tap... 

Skinning toward Mount Cevedale on day four.

Dad likes icefall skiing! From Mount Cevedale we skied the Vedretta de la Mare glacier to cappuccinos at the Pizzini Hut before continuing onto the Branca Hut.  

Apres ski at the Branca Hut.

Ravenous for another huge meal at the Branca Hut: Melissa, Mike, Scotty, Diane, Jim, Don, Dave, Dylan and Joe.

 

We spent a full day touring around on the Forni Glacier from the Branca Hut. First we skinned up to the Bivouac Meneghello. Dylan found some bulging potted meats for lunch.

Diane skiing yummy untracked. Although over 100 people are touring in the area, they all ski the same line from mountain tops. If you don't want moguls from mountain tops then you'll find great skiing.  

Don skiing steep untracked on the Forni Glacier. 

Yeah Melissa!
  

On day six we moved to the Pizzini Hut and spent the next day skiing the Castelli Glacier. Here Jim is pole whacking for GNAR points.  

You think your Dynafits are old? 

Dad leading over Suldenspitz to our final run to the resort. Last year Dad and I traversed this mountain but all we saw was our GPS, map and altimeter.

Specs on an untracked face for the last run to the resort. Dylan and Erica (joined our group on the last day) are in the shadow below the rock wall as Jim skis the steep, sunlit face. 

See more photos and stories from our trip on Dylan's Blog. 

I stayed for a second Ortler trip with Elisabeth Depuis. In 2009 Elisabeth and I skied for eight days in the Talkeetna and Kenai Mountains, culminating with a Bomber Traverse day tour. This year, knowing that Elisabeth doesn't get tired, I was prepared for lots of touring. 

After a day of touring around Sulden we headed to the Marteller Hut. Based at the Marteller Hut for two nights we spent a long day exploring nearby glaciers, finishing through a corridor in the cliffs above the Zufallhutte.

On day four we moved to the Branca Hut via the Mare Glacier and Palon de la Mare (3,703m). Elisabeth and I like the same type of skiing: long adventurous days away from the crowds.

Temperatures were high, reaching 39 degrees C in nearby Milan. We'd start touring at 6am, right after breakfast and return at noon, before the afternoon avalanches started rolling.

Our ski day from the Branca Hut included Monte Vioz (3,645m) and an exciting icefall descent.

For our ski day at the Pizzini Hut we toured over Cime Del Forni and up the Miniera icefall.

On our last day we climbed Monte Cevedale (3,769m) before dropping down to Sulden. From the summit we looked back and saw a local guide counter balance belaying five clients across an icy patch.

Thanks for another awesome trip Elisabeth! I look forward to adventuring with you again! Elisabeth is now off for a Northern Selkirks traverse and a skiing on Spitzbergen. Lucky!

L'Aventurier Alpin

I spent much of April 2010 on an Alaska roady with a Quebecois TV show called L'Aventurier Alpin. On previous L'Aventurier Alpin trips Simon St-Arnaud - a heavy in the Quebec ski media - has covered trips to the Chamonix to Zermatt Haute Route, Argentina, and ski touring in Norway and Sweden. On this trip we skied at Turnagain Pass, Thompson Pass near Valdez, Hatcher Pass and Little Switzerland in the Alaska Range. Joining Simon was a well-travelled cameraman named Michel Valiquett; Olivier Brongniart and Jerome Grec who are friends from Switzerland; and Mathieu Leblanc who runs La Sandwicherie Café in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. This crew loves to ski and is comfortable in front of, or behind, the camera. I was hired for backcountry guiding and logistics. The end result was five one-hour shows run in Quebec. 

We spent our first couple days at Turnagain Pass in the Kenai Mountains. Despite stormy weather we found great skiing before heading to Valdez. 

We parked and slept anywhere. Here on the Richardson highway below Mount Wrangell on our way to ski Valdez.

Olivier gave his skis the all-American sofa, beer and pizza treatment.

 The geology around Valdez is tipped on end making couloirs stacked like a bookstore.

Heliski Valdez.

Mathieu dropping into the Cleave Creek Glacier with Michel filming in the shadows from halfway down.  

Jerome Grec making the grim realization that heli skiing isn't always cutting edge and we should be....

 

...earning our turns in Valdez! A happier Jerome on a Crud Busters sunset tour. 

Next stop: Hatcher Pass. Simon interviewing the legendary Hap at the Hatcher Pass Lodge.

Little Switzerland was our grand finale. Paul Roderick, owner of Talkeetna Air Taxi, cools down his DeHavilland Turbo Otter on the Pika Glacier in the Alaska Range. Waist-deep snow is stacked on the wheel skis. 

Chef Mathieu adding honey to another gormet meal.

3,000 feet of untracked steepness below. Too bad it ended in deep crevasses.

Little Switzerland!

Little Switzerland is the ultimate Alaska Range playground: skiing, ice cragging, rock cragging, long rock routes, mountaineering and all just a short distance from base camp.