This week has been a waste. I’ve been stuck working everyday as an upcoming trip to Bolivia has kept me extremely busy, which means nothing of interest to post around these parts. Wilson and Usau haven’t returned from Valdez either, so I’ve got nothing to post on their antics either. So you’ll have to make do with this little piece of Seattle Creek comedy that’s been posted elsewhere. The fun begins a bit after the 2 minute mark.
snowmachines
Archived Posts from this Category
April 3, 2010
I’ve Got Nothing
Posted by dongshow under mitigated disasters, snowmachines, Turnagain, video | Tags: seattle creek |[2] Comments
March 12, 2010
Mikey, Wilson and Max hit up Lost Lake today while I was sitting in the office. Wilson launched a cornice and snapped his steering column but Max was somehow able to drive the sled back to the car without any steering. The weather is as hard to predict as ever, but the snow is excellent, I really don’t have any idea how the next couple of days will pan out.
March 8, 2010
Whittier Sight Seeing
Posted by dongshow under snowmachines, video | Tags: Whittier |Leave a Comment
My first thoughts after waking up today with the sun blasting through my window was that it seemed like a complete trap. I was suspicious that 3 weeks of an extended stormy cycle finishing with 3 feet of light snow and then still sunshine was too good to be true, and wasn’t interested in testing that theory. Hoping to avoid the temptation of giant faces with perfect snow today I was thrilled to go along with the rest of my household to Whittier with the snow machines. Each day with four sleds on the two place trailer is a thrill, especially after the latest fiasco on the way to Valdez. The snow in Whittier was crust above sugar down low with sastrugi up high, so although we brought the skis along we didn’t do any skiing. I loved the snow machining as it was just firm enough that I didn’t have to worry about getting stuck but it was still soft enough to cruise all over, and as usual it was completely gorgeous. Anyway, I’ve got to go to bed as Wilson and Usau are fighting down stairs after plans to ride snow machines to the strip club broke down. Enjoy the random video from the weekend…
March 7, 2010
With the storm raging this morning Mikey (who woke up passed out on the couch) motivated the household for driving to Cooper Landing and going snow machining in Snug Harbor, which was a new location for everyone except himself. With all four of our sleds on the two place trailer Mikey made quick work of the drive. We didn’t make it too far up the trail as it quickly became to deep (double over head face shots), but luckily there were some nice short tree lines in the vicinity that we were able to lap for a bit. Exploring new terrain on the snow-machine and skiing pillows is fine by me for storm days.
March 1, 2010
Until the Wheels Come Off, and then still further
Posted by dongshow under mitigated disasters, Skiing, snowmachines | Tags: valdez |1 Comment
Jimmy, Josh and I set out for Valdez with a pair of snow machines Thursday. It was dumping snow in Anchorage when we left, and with the highway being unploughed most of the way it was rather slow going. Then just as we were pulling in to Kenny Lake, our destination for the night, a wheel fell off the snow machine trailer. At the time my initial impression was that it was lucky timing, we were within 100 yards of our destination and had the wheel sheared off at any other time on the drive dealing with it would have been extremely uncomfortable. It was easy to imagine the trailer, sleds or car careening off the road had it happened elsewhere. As it was we simply pushed the trailer off the road, snow machined to the cabin, and began drinking whiskey with the plan of fixing the wheel in the morning and pushing on for Valdez.
The next morning after having better assessed the scene, we realized the loose wheel had machined the rim apart along the drive, but that we were relatively lucky as we’d only need new bolts in order to get mobile. Jimmy and I went to the local “country store” in search of some bolts which unfortunately was late opening and then didn’t have the exact parts we were looking for. We returned with some new bolts and made an effort to put the trailer back together before realizing it was futile and that we were best off pushing on to Valdez without the trailer, doing some ski touring, and returning with the proper parts.
The trip played out like a reintroduction to all the Valdez stereotypes. Friday was a breif sample of the longer length of runs that are possible when it’s sunny. Saturday we got lost above giant cliffs after being tricked by a sucker hole, and recovered to ski a fun chute before finding excellent long powder runs on some alder slopes. Sunday we were forced to make do with high winds, blowing snow, and zero visibility, which kept us from skiing, but because we’d retrieved the trailer Saturday we were able to pass the day with my snow machine and Josh’s kite. Graham was granted access too an old cabin short hike from the road (pictured both above and at this link) so each night we hung out around the stove, stuffed ourselves on moose or sausage, and drunk a bunch of whiskey. A fantastic fun weekend in Valdez, I can’t wait to go back.
February 17, 2010
Soggy Skiing
Posted by dongshow under backcountry, snowmachines, Turnagain | Tags: tin can |1 Comment
Graham and I headed out today to see how the snow was setting up and waste some time in the trees. It was pretty depressing driving down through heavy rain, and when we arrived to find it sleeting it took us each a couple beers to get up enough motivation to head out and ski. The wet heavy snow has paved over most everything out there, it was impressive to see how much more coverage there was since Saturday. We got minimal skiing in, played around on some pillows, and Graham climbed a tree. I’ll count it as another good day, despite getting soaked.
January 10, 2010
I’m back in Alaska, having learned that sometimes airline incompetence can work in my favor. Some light flurries in Minnesota caught Delta with their pants down resulting in lengthy delays and a missed connection, which worked out great, as I got to spend a 22 hours in Utah catching up with friends, and flew first class the rest of the way. Everyone seemed to be doing great (except Wilson who needs an intervention) despite being a few years older and wiser. There was lots of talk about both the recently relaxed liquor laws (Politics and I even visited the new state liquor store, pictured above and here) and the LDS church fighting back by hoarding downtown real estate in order to limit the number of bars.
The major news from my brief visit was the addition of snowmobiles, dirt bikes and motor cycles to the old routine. Mania, bought the sled pictured above an hour before driving me to the airport and Nate now blames a declining golf game on his dirt bike. Politics, Mania, and Tom are all riding motorcycles. So, the brief unplanned appearance in Utah went well, now I just need a little skiing to complete the cycle.
December 16, 2009
Max and Mikey went out to Max’s cabin at Chelatna last weekend to inspect the purported 8 feet of snow. Since I don’t have any ski pictures from sunday, and have been in the office ever since, this will have to suffice. It’s snowing here again (and absolutely dumping in Valdez), so good things to come. Enjoy
In other non Alaskan news, Solitude is attempting to expand into Silver Fork; the predictable comedy has ensued. And in Finland, a far more legitimate urban resort expansion is having problems and needs help. In some Alaskan news, everyone seems to be enjoying the colors, there are some pictures of people skiing Super bowl the other day that made me jealous, and if I’ve been really enjoying this Blue Ice Aviation site since I found it last week. A bientôt…
November 25, 2009
I was out with Hunter on sunday, but I don’t have any pictures so you’ll have to enjoy one of Max on the sled from last year. I like that he’s still got his skis strapped to the sled in this. Anyway the good news is that it’s begun snowing again, so we should have some powder to report on soon. I’ll be wasting time as usual.
- This article had me laughing for 10 minutes thinking of some ski patroler at cannonsburg talking like this. For anyone who hasn’t spent much time skiing in Michigan this is a great example of the mentality.
- Another great article on bootlegging in the villages. I love anything with material like this. “Berry initially pushed loosening Selawik’s alcohol laws because, out of work, he was bored and had a vision of spending the winter drinking Crown Royal and working on his house, he said.” You might remember Berry for getting drunk on hand sanitizer.
- My little brother’s film festival has the rules posted. I guess the winner will be taking home a new camera, so hurry up and get your stuff submitted or come to the event in Michigan.
- I guess you have to laugh when naked knife wielding men are shot by Alaskan police in the winter.
April 20, 2009
Visitors From Utah
Posted by dongshow under alcohol, backcountry, Hatcher Pass, mitigated disasters, Skiing, snowmachines, Turnagain | Tags: valdez, woodworth glacier |[5] Comments
As regular readers will know, I’ve let most of the past couple weeks pass without comment around these parts as I’ve been occupied by Wilson’s and Mania’s most recent visit. This is now Mania’s second and Wilson’s fifth spring visiting Alaska hoping to ski, and I’d dare to say they got better skiing on this trip then in any of their previous visits. Where as the weather made last year’s trip seemed like some nightmarish restaurant where we were stuck waiting for a meal that never came, this trip was like bingeing at an incredible buffet. Each day taking a trip in Wilson’s rental car to fill our plates with runs in Turnagain, Valdez, Girdwood and Hatcher Pass, barely leaving enough time to digest between courses.
That’s not to say we didn’t have our share of the usual issues. I crashed my snowmachine into a tree in Hope, Mania forgot non-critical pieces of his equipment 60 percent of the time and Tim got hit with a 300 dollar speeding ticket in Eureka. We kicked of avalanches in Hope, cut slabs on Tin Can, and got clouded out in Valdez. Except this time, despite the usual helping of adversity, we went out into the field for all but 4 days, and always came home with proud lines under each arm.
Our most plentiful take came on a wednsday afternoon in Valdez, strangely in the middle of a cycle of excellent skiing in Turnagain Pass. After a couple of decent days we stepped up to a line on the north side of Eddie’s Wilson and I had eyed a year earlier on his visit, and I’d been hoping to ski ever since. We got a bit of a late start as Seany B, who’d long wanted to ski the line as well, was applying for a job and couldn’t leave till noon. Despite the late start, we didn’t see a soul on the voyage, the sun was out, the snow was velvet, all four of us skied it in a single pitch, and we avoided all the ravines out the way out. That night we celebrated excessively and planned on sleeping in, but the next morning Wilson and Mania woke me up, asking if I thought they should go to Valdez. Our good friend Karitas had called while I was sleeping, and offered them the chance to go Heli Skiing with him at H20. Wilson mulled over the possibilities on the toilet before deciding to go for it, Mania was enthusiastic and I reluctantly went along thinking I would be needed as some kind of chaperone or could go for a solo ski tour in Valdez while the two of them were flying. Wilson had already been ticketed so we didn’t make it wasn’t until 1:30 that we met Karitas and the helicopter in Valdez. I thought I’d be dropping Mania and Wilson off before looking for a place to skin, but Karitas quickly made it clear that I was needed, they had a private helicopter and only himself, Wilson and Mania were going, when there was room for 5. I took my skins out of my bag, and put a harness on. We were in the air by 3, and by 3:30 Karitas was delivering the goods (pictured above and bellow).
We started off on Wally’s World for our first run (a second descent), then moved on to Upper 49ers (top video) looking to refresh our palates on some lighter fare, before trying Once Ridden Twice Shy. From there we had to wait a bit, we passed the time by playing jokes on Dean, calling on the radio to ask if we could borrow the helicopter for some late evening laps on Crudbusters. Once we got picked up we moved on to a mellower line on Callahan’s before getting a first descent on what would become known as Island Time. Everything went smooth, and without problems, until our final run, when Mania managed to get his pants stuck on the basket of the helicopter and get hung upside down. Luckily he lived and the helicopter flew away safely. We were back at the car around 9, everyone sporting massive smiles and content from an all time epic day.
Since then we’ve been all over the map. We spent a weekend skiing from Seany B’s cabin in Hope, skied a couple of days in Turnagain, went sledding, and hit up some great north facing lines in Hatcher Pass. The skiing has been good, Mania went back tired, and Wilson is claiming he’ll be moving here for next winter. We shall see, we shall see, but first I’ve got to finish off this winter before I worry about the next one.
April 1, 2009
Sunny Spring Skiing
Posted by dongshow under alcohol, Skiing, snowmachines, Turnagain | Tags: Placer, Skookum, Sunburst, tin can |[3] Comments
After a massive dump, followed by a light ash fall we received 20 inches of light powder which has made for some excellent skiing the last two days. I skied Tin Can after the storm broke in random holes of brilliant sunshine and snow that surprised us with how deep and light it was. Jason (pictured above) arrived monday night and has tallied two good days enjoying the new snow on both Skookum and Sunburst. Skookum was empty, as usual, while Sunburst had plenty of people out enjoying the light. It’s strange to be skinning in a t-shirt when I think of this winter, when we’d be forced to drink our beers on the way up as they’d begin to freeze. Kim joined us for the Skookum trip, showing some impressive scandinavian snowmachine skills. Tim has been killing it, giving us all the solid photos around these parts lately. The weather is contributing as well, which is nice, as it was looking grim before I left for the Islands. I should have some video soon, I don’t know what’s taking me so long to get it all together. Until then…
March 30, 2009
20 Mile Wrecks
Posted by dongshow under alcohol, Skiing, snowmachines | Tags: 20 Mile, Winner Creek |[2] Comments
Wooooo! I really loved vacationing in the British Virgin Islands, but from here on my couch after 3 days of blowing snow, minimal visibility, and a couple of cold weather adventures, I have to say it’s nice for winter to be back. Strangely there is just something about the absurdity of long hours in the cold, and moving slowly, while shielding my face from a bitter wind, that brings a massive smile to my face. So it’s been nice to find Alaska in a snowy cycle since returning from the islands. In fact, since I arrived last monday thick fat flakes have been falling all they way down to sea level just about every day. We’ve received something like 9 feet in the last 2 weeks. As expected, with our snow pack looking like a buffet of weak layers, stability is lacking.
Friday Graham and went to investigate the pass, but were turned around by a slide burying the road just past Girdwood. We improvised and skinned up CPG’s cat skiing terrain in Winner Creek. The approach was quick, as skinning along a groomed trail is a breeze. We drank a couple beers along the way, and although we saw groups of cat skiers (we made 2 runs and drank 3 beers in the same time they made 2 runs) we found some nice untracked shots, with fresh but super dense snow covering everything. One of those days where despite numerous variables everything works out, and you find yourself driving home surprised to have a huge smile on your face, but realize that after a day of stellar turns everything is as it should be.
Speaking of variables, I guess I should never have complained back during normal times, as now that were dealing with a temperamental volcano, capable of ruining the snowpack in an afternoon, which has erupted 19 times over the last 6 days, the previous winter’s weather seems straight forward and easy to predict. Before Saturday most of the prime skiing had avoided ash fall, but it’s reeked havoc with the flight schedule in and out of here. I almost never arrived, both Mania and Wilson are stuck in SLC having now missed the first week of their trips, and Mikey’s friend Tim spent 48 hours stranded in Seattle before he decided to fly to Fairbanks with a couple people he met in the terminal, wither they borrowed a rental car (they aren’t renting due to the ash) to drive to Anchorage. His trip has gotten off to a bang too, arriving only hours after Mikey made our lives extremely interesting Saturday afternoon.
With the new snow the 20 Mile valley has opened to snowmachine use for the first time this season, and Saturday, after a typically late start Max, Mikey and I set off for a little exploring, hoping the valley would provide some safe tree skiing. Neither of us had ever been back in that valley before, and being about a week past the solstice the river was littered with sections of open water, so as expected we had a couple problems. At first the usual stuff, getting lost in alders, my tendency to get stuck, and my starter cord snapping, but we’d brought plenty of beer, so we had a great time. Then things got interesting, Mikey had a little run in with a creek (as pictured above). I think, and you must realize I am a snowmachine novice, that he would have made it across had the river had been open water, but it was pretty firm ice, initially, so when he hopped off the bank he went into a 180 slide, then as the ice suddenly broke he hit the bank, rolled over and got his sled stuck, upside down in the river. It was actually pretty simple pulling the sled out of the water, all it took was the three of us to drag it up onto the ice. Once Mikey gave the sled a pull start we began to discover the extent of our problems. Mikey’s engine was seized hard, something about being plunged into an icy river had killed his motor.
We decided to abandon Mikey’s sled, figuring if the weather cooperated we could retrieve it the following day, if not he could claim it as stolen and collect on his insurance. So we headed back to Anchorage down a sled, and with ash beginning to fall everything looke pretty gloomy. However, that night, motivated by an amazing Formula One race, and Tim’s shocking arrival, we hatched a plan to load Mikey’s snowmachine onto a trailer and pull it with Graham’s sled (700 Mountain Max) hoping it’d have enough to power to pull the stricken sled across the many stretches of open water. After a few more drinks we decided Mikey (who would be pulling the sled) should wear chest waiters in case the weight of two sleds crashed him through the ice. With Tim (who is a snowmachining guide in Colorado) we set off Sunday after noon, and after our customary stops at Tesoro for beer and corn dogs, we were on the trail shortly after two.
Although we’d received an additional 6″, the previous day’s ash fall was apparent as we got deeper into the valley. Big grey patches could bee seen on the surface, but it didn’t seem to have much effect on the sleds. The water crossings were about the same, and although we go lost, it wasn’t long before we’d found our way and arrived to find Mikey’s snowmachine just where we’d left it, on the side of the small river he’d crashed through. Mikey’s snowmachine is incredibly light, and it was actually quite easy to load onto the sled. After tying some insane knots (see top picture) Mikey blasted off down the trail, before Max, Tim or I had even finished our beers. He was across two water sections before we caught him. But I shouldn’t be surprised, as his sled towing skills were impressive, he skipped across water without hesitation, and never lost the tow sled through the bumps. The neoprene chest waiters he’d wore were redundant. After briefly considering his sled to be a lost cause, it was pretty amazing to see it stacked on the trailer. Finally, too top off a very quality day, we arrived home to find Max’s girlfriend finishing cooking dinner. After a night of enchiladas you can feel free to imagine us happy. I should have some more skiing to report on soon. I have no idea what a hefty layer of ash will do to our snowpack, but am sure we’ll find out real soon.
It’s been awhile, so I might as well add a few items of local interest, hopefully this will keep you occupied until I get some video up.
- There is a pretty amazing time lapse video of Redoubt Erupting. The site where it’s posted has some incredible photos as well
- Sadly an avalanche killed a snowmachiner in Placer Saturday.
- I found this interview with Alta’s Turn Farmer hysterical. My friend used to share a locker with Dave and the random equipment we’d see always brought a smile.
