I went down to Seward early this week to help Gary instal a new traveler on Maniac and do some work to get ready for the upcoming sailing season.  The new traveler (pictures above) was actually quite easy to install and should help us avoid the extended periods of sloppy sails that plagued our races last season.  For an example check out the video at this link.   After the ease of installing the traveler I guess we were due for some drama, which manifested itself as a leaky mechanical seal (pictured bellow) that let about 25 gallons of water into the cabin before being caught and fixed.  All in all a brief trip to Seward that served to build excitement for getting out on the water in a couple of weeks.

Since my knee is preventing me from doing much beyond sleeping and drinking I’m going to freshen this place up with more video from Jimmy’s trip a few weeks back.  It’s really warm up here, hopefully that means some sailing here soon.

Via Jimmy, who is back in town on vacation, some Hatcher Pass skiing from the last couple of days.

As regular readers have realized,  my bijanxed knee is keeping me from enjoying the snow (which I’m told has been fantastic) so the posting around here has slowed.  But in an effort to cure boredom, and keep this place from becoming stale, I have been searching for material to write about.  Graham suggested another neighborhood profile, but my current neighborhood lacks the quirks of the old one, so I’ll have to hold out on that for a bit.  I’ve considered documenting vanity plates, but I never seem to have my camera handy and tales of 1BADPT and MY24CR aren’t nearly as cool as pictures.  But yesterday in an attempt to avoid reading about skiing, I began some ratebeer reminiscing.  After stumbling upon old stories of smuggling a Founders keg into Canada, and reading certain memorable ratings  I realized I’d forgotten the fact that my local brewers provide me with all the material I ever need.

Despite being in this sites title, and a low level of drunkenness pervading most the activities I mention around here, it’s been a few years since I’ve written anything about beer.  That said,  I’m currently trying to limit my booze intake, as alcohol consumption seems to stiffen my knee. And after taking some time to re-read my friends vintage ratings, I don’t think my ratings of the current Anchorage offerings  can live up to the lofty standards we set back in ’02. I still feel more beer ratings should read like this:

“All hopped up like Carlton Banks in the Fresh Prince episode where Will has speed in his locker during a high school dance. A golden-orange color, a little on the lighter side. Not my favorite style, but it’s decent”

Or this gem:

“Roasty smell with coffee aroma, a deep brown like a high school freshman’s first dime bag it. A very light head. The fire department was too late, it is oh so burnt and i like it. “

The other problem I have with pivoting to beer talk is that I’m also particularly ashamedthat I have yet to write anything about  Zach’s new brewery in Portland, despite seeing it being mentioned in numerous articles over the past couple of weeks.  But last night, with memories of  the New Basement and that Brettanomyces obsessed trip to Montreal fresh in my mind a spotted a bottle of Anchorage Galaxy White IPA inside a BrownJug cooler and the words, “bottled with Brett” caught my eye.  With my a craving for something sour I figured I’d test my taste buds and see what I could do with my first beer rating in 4 or 5 years.  Results bellow.

3.7 Aroma: 8 Apperanace:4 Flavor 5 Body: 5 Overal 15

Very floral hop aroma with some dry yeast and wood smells that have me thinking of a midwestern bar on a crisp fall day.  Pours with a large head that dissipates to a frothy 1/4″ of white cream.  Straw yellow and cloudy.  Not much of the sourness I was expecting, opens up with some bready malt, and rounded hops, and finishes with a sharp dose Brett bitterness.  Wonderfully balanced body and lively feel.  Very interested in trying their other beers now.

With the absolutely amazing conditions this winter the front range above Anchorage is opening to snow-machines, and I’ve been tortured all week looking at pictures and videos of friends skiing some amazing conditions (for the front range) after work.  The video above is from Max and Charlie’s trip up the S Couloir off Ptarmigan.

After skiing Superbowl on day one of their vacation, and with clouds down south but sunshine over the Talkeetnas, I drove my cousins up to crowded Hatcher Pass yesterday.  We parked at Independence Mine, they each took a couple laps on both sides of the road, while I sat in the parking lot sipping stouts while giving out some basic directions.  It took some time to sort out the sun crust and get past some skin issues, which combined with a typically late start meant they were skiing till 8:30, but still managing to find good light and fresh snow on every run.  From down in the parking lot, the extended light made it felt like the first day of spring. Video of Mike’s last line bellow, more to follow soon.

My knee surgery last Wednesday went well.  While I was focusing on reducing swelling, Wilson and Max went to Valdez with a motor home, an airstream trailer, and a load of sleds.  They lucked out with two sunny days, but Wilson added to this winters casualty list by taking a tumble on Bro Bowl.  Luckily Wilson walked away from the scary crash with nothing more then some back pain.  If your interested in investigating further you can watch Dan Vandermuelen ski the line  successfully, at the 5 minute mark of the video at this link.  I’ll have some more of their footage up here soon just to keep things looking fresh around here.   Adios.

I’m having surgery to repair my knee Wednesday, but Max, Wilson and Charlie went up Eddies on Saturday and Max returned with some footage.  Enjoy.

I dislocated my patella, posting will be at a significantly reduced rate.

It was supposed to snow yesterday, but it remained sunny and calm granting us an additional day to enjoy the near perfect snow.  Andy and I were considering going up Kickstep, but the site of some friends at the Eddies lot convinced us to join them for a sure thing.

My season of camera mis-operation continues, and I forgot to tighten it properly so it slams down there and the end missing out on the glorious apron.  No matter, with stability and powder I have nothing to complain about, especially considering last season.  This month has been fantastic.  The cold has been completely overshadowed by the perfect skiing.  I wish every day could be like yesterday.

It seemed like every skier I know was at the Tin Can lot this morning.  Proper and the Library got destroyed, Charlie (pictured above), Graham and Neil (track pictures here) snowboarded some incredible lines further back.  Luke had mittens on his feet at one point trying to avoid frostbite (it was -5 ish), and a large group of friends with a dog hacked through a giant cornice to ski some nice lines (picture bellow)  just road side of the lines Graham and Neil took.  I even got to see a speed wing descent of Tin Can proper.  So despite not skiing anything worth mentioning (I’ve lost all skills) an all around incredible day on skis that will stick in the memory for a while.

I went to bed thinking I was meeting at Carrs this morning at 8 on the way up Peterson Creek, but woke up to numerous texts saying plans had changed, we were meeting at 7 and going for Wolverine. The early rush caused me to run out the door in a t-shirt, and after seeing the thermometer hit -29 driving past placer I was a little worried I would end up frozen stiff in some creek.  It turned out I was fine in the cold (I kept my down on to till the summit), but it caused both Jeff and I to have numerous skin failures and we both ended up using skin straps to keep things together pretty much from the parking lot.  Neil led a quick skin up the sharks fin and up the west face/ridge to the summit.  From there Jeff lead the way across the gnarlier sections of the ridge, and after traversing the entire thing, we skied the same line I’d skied on my previous trip.  We skied 4 or 5 minutes before the clouds moved began blocking the sun.  Great times, I’m still feeling exhausted from my 3 weeks in Michigan, so the skiing itself wasn’t anything pretty (Neil went first and crushed it).  I also failed operating cameras today so I have nothing but pictures.  Looks like it’s going to snow for the next couple days, hopefully this next cycle is as good as the last.

I took the picture above my first winter up here, while skiing Peterson Creek with Graham.  Those spines, dropping from the flat ridge-line were immediately memorable, even from a couple miles away.  When looking north from either the highway or ridges in Turnagain Pass it always caught my eye in the distance, standing just above the other ridgelines on the east side of 20 mile.   It had long been at the top of my list of things to ski in the region, and seemed to be a topic of regular discussion amongst Graham and Wilson.

Eventually, we learned the area had been given the ridiculous name Spine Cell by CPG and the pro heli-skiing crowd (I love how they mention stumbling upon the area when its clearly visible from the road) and the occasional footage of skiing in the spines further increased my desire to explore the area.  The problem was it was quite a long ways away, and south facing, making it only accessible in early winter when days are short and good light was at a premium.  The 20 mile valley is only open to snowmobiles sparingly, and my only previous trip up the 20 mile valley involved lots of open water and a blown motor.  I hadn’t even made an attempt to ski the lines in 5 years, and they were increasingly feeling inaccessible as time went by.

Yesterday, Graham, Wilson, Andy and I were getting an early start hoping to ski something in the Girdwood Valley, but amidst some discussion in the dark outside Tesoro the idea of skiing Spine Cell came up and despite our lack of snowmobiles it seemed like a decent idea. Everyone else agreed, and soon we were skiing along the snowmobile trail back into the valley.

The valley was long and without surprises or nasty creek crossings, but the slow progress made it harder and harder to believe we’d make it before dark. Nevertheless after years of waiting it felt necessary to push on and at least give it a try. After being forced to turn around in a ravine, we emerged from the trees in a valley with a little glacier and the beautiful lines we’d been after finally visible above us to our left. Andy took off at that point cutting trail at a speed that made it impossible for anyone else to relieve him. Wilson and I were lagging in the back trying to make jokes out of our water being frozen while enjoying the nice track he’d set.

It wasn’t till we switched to booting up the final part of the chute to gain the ridge that I became convinced we were actually going to ski the thing.  Graham led the final pitches and punched through the cornice to gain the upper ridge.  I was completely exhausted, and extremely cold, and really just wanted to get down to the bottom without any incidents.  We dropped in, just as the sun was finally setting behind the mountains in the distance.  The snow was fantastic, lightly sloughing and very soft and easy.  I was too tired to really enjoy it however and dogged my way to the bottom.  Graham had the shady incident of the day though, realizing his bindings weren’t adjusted on his first turn via some insta-tele and having to stop and hold his heels down with ski straps on top of a spine.  From there the ski back to the 20 mile valley was dark but easily managed and we were on to the log flat slog home.  It was cold, and dark, a couple hours of focusing on some lights in the distance, but we made it back to the cars a little after 9.  The only casualties were Wilson’s toes, which got frostbitten but won’t need to be amputated or anything.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently, I’ve been in Michigan exploring West Grand Rapids bars for the last 3 weeks.  But Wilson recently moved up to Alaska since Utah doesn’t have any snow, and the conditions are seem best described as incredible so there should be plenty to come soon.  We finally got out today , despite the cold temps, and it was incredible.  A binding failure kept us from going exactly where we’d planned, but the day was incredible none the less.

I’m still to cold to really go on much longer, but the video bellow should make clear that Davis Creek is skiing really really well, hopefully we’ll be able to report on the rest of the range soon.

Also, near the bottom I skied into some alder cliff mess, clicked out of my skis (immediately after reminding myself that was a horrible idea), found an easy exit and then got into all sorts of problems trying to retrieve one of my skis, including a couple short tumbles over some rocks and rotten snow.   There were a few moments where I thought I’d be joining Charlie in the lost ski   I’m laughing about it now, but at the time it was rather annoying.   Despite the stupidity down low, everything up high was so good as to make it easily overlooked.  This season has already delivered above and beyond all of last year.

Elsewhere, Beau is back to posting almost daily mouth watering shots from the Beartooths, and Skier Boyz have a rundown of some of the road chaos from yesterday, which I may or may not get to posting about later this week.

Charlie took these three pictures Saturday while I was watching football in my bedroom, and despite feeling quite pleased with the decision at the time, it’s hard to look at these and not feel a slight tinge of regret. So I’m posting these for three reasons, first to highlight how amazing the current conditions are, second to prove that you always regret not going skiing, and third to convince the rare Anchorage reader to buy a print from Charlie at his first friday at the Upstairs Studio.  I might post some of my stuff from the weekend later, but it’s nothing compared to these shots.  Later

Filed under: backcountry, Skiing, Turnagain, Uncategorized Tagged: Goldpan, Superbowl ]]> http://dongshow-productions.com/2011/11/28/pictures-a-friend-took-while-i-was-watching-football/feed/ 2 dongshow tin can eddies and wolverine ridges with 20 mile in the background superbowl slash goldpan http://dongshow-productions.com/2011/11/26/more-november-powder-skiing/ http://dongshow-productions.com/2011/11/26/more-november-powder-skiing/#comments Sat, 26 Nov 2011 04:46:15 +0000 dongshow http://dongshow-productions.com/?p=2031 ]]>

It’s been cold with continuous snowfall since Wednesday evening.  Today, we got a brief glimpse of the sun when the sucker hole pictured above opened up.  Andy and I were even considering racing down to the car and driving to Summit Lake for some turns in the sunshine.  Luckily, as soon as we realized what a bad idea that was, the hole in the clouds closed in on itself and it began snowing again.  The last two days have been some slow powder laps.  Incredible conditions for thanksgiving weekend, I can’t wait for the weather to break so we can get on something with some pitch.

Last week the wind blew and it got extremely cold and I was convinced all the snow had gone to shit.  I didn’t even go out on saturday, opting to pass on a day of -17 F. temps, wind, and crust skiing.  But sunday, neither Max nor I could resist and we wound up going up Cornbiscuit.  Strangely it was cloudy and overcast everywhere but Turnagain Pass, and we actually had decent visibility, although very little direct sunshine.  And the snow, was actually fantastic, the week long cold snap had dried it out and made it surprisingly fast, I was shocked how quick I got going before having a chance to throw a turn, and the wind seemed to have minimal effect on the northern lines in Davis Creek.  So great times, and I’m thrilled to report that its currently dumping in Anchorage, and has been snowing hard down south since early yesterday.  So whoohoo, more snow and more skiing to come.  Video form the weekend bellow.

Max on Eddies from Friday, a decent sample of the conditions in the trees.

Thanks to veterans day, and a series of storms blowing through, I’ve spent the last 3 days doing nothing other then ski powder and watch football.  My progarm has been as follows.  Leave home each morning before the sun is up, spend all day swimming in the snow, a nervous drive home (today the car in front of us lost a wheel, etc.) in the dark followed by lounging at home, eating some pizza, and disinterestedly watching football.  Friday I went up Eddies with Max and Mikey, and returned there again on Saturday with Andy.  Friday was pretty deep, and it continued to snow through that night and all day Saturday, so both days were deep and wet with lots of faceshots.

Today, Andy and I were headed back to Turnagain and the sun was coming out, we really couldn’t believe our luck, but once we got out of the car at Sunburst we instantly noticed the wind, which battered us all day.  It was also worth a laugh that after cruising past and overflowing Tin Can lot, Keille and friends were the only people parked at sunburst, and the next 3 cars all contained friends of ours whose first words were to remark on the crowd at tin can.  It made for a kind of a class reunion fare as everyone caught up after the long off season.

So we headed up Magnum and braved the winds, which were of the super nasty sustained type, with gusts to 40 or so as well. As predicted they torched the snow in places.  Luckily, Davis Creek is small and somewhat sheltered, so after a turn or two we found some extremely nice powder.  I’ve only got a handful of pictures from today, with the heavy snow friday and saturday and the intense wind and cold today weren’t very conducive to picture taking.  I also set off a non consequence windslab lower down by slashing on the crest of wind loaded gully.  Picture bellow.  Oh, and I have to mention Jamie Pierre, RIP.  He’s made an appearance in each of our full length films, and talked shit to all of us back in the Utah days.  Very sad news.

Fall is an awful season, I’m so glad its over.   As with every year, each fall season that I don’t leave the country my accomplishments consist of driving my self crazy over tedium, and boredom.  The skiing has been pretty good the last couple of weeks though, and I’ve been feeling better, but today was absolutely fantastic, I feel like I got put back on my medicine.  I went up to Goldpan with Andy this morning, and enjoyed a nice ridge walk along Magnum with the Viking before dropping in to Superbowl.  Some other folks had beat us up there, but no one had skied the line I was planning on taking, so it was all good.  A little wind affected up top, but absolute pow down bellow.  I didn’t ski so well, as I’m not really in shape yet and embarassingly my legs were gassed halfway down.  From there, Andy and I headed up Cornbiscuit and skied the corner-pocket chute before bushwhacking our way back to the road.  Our run down Superbowl has had me in a permagrin since I got to the bottom.  After last years horrible season it felt so so nice to finally ski something steep and interesting. Video bellow.