Max rigged up his GoPro for his flight to Valdez last week, creating the video posted above. Where as in the past I’d made the flight timelapse videos by just increasing the playback speed, this I actually stitched together from a sequence of Jpegs, a technique I’m still experimenting with, but one that seems to work just fine. I’m still working on a way to better adjust the colors on the pictures, let me know what you think.
May 12, 2011
Prince William Sound PA-12 Flight Timelapse
Posted by dongshow under Airplanes, PA 12, video | Tags: Prince William Sound, valdez |1 Comment
May 9, 2011
Valdez Short Takeoffs and Landings Competition
Posted by dongshow under Airplanes, PA 12, video | Tags: May Day Fly In, STOL, valdez |1 Comment
Max and Nate flew across the sound to Valdez for the weekend and while there caught some of the action at the Valdez Fly-In. The video above is from the STOL competition. The gray plane near the begging that nearly topples over forwards, and the Black Super Cub with the Bi-Plane mod from Nabesna are my personal favorites. (Part 2 is Here) On this side of the range their was fantastic corn skiing to be had but I have been to lazy to go through the video so I have nothing to show from it other then some nasty sunburn that’s left my face looking like a tomato. Elsewhere be sure to check out Andreas Fransson’s two crazy days in Chamonix for some fantastic pictures of a north face of Aiguille du Plan descent. And Fuck Yea Grand Rapids has posted some pictures of the Saw Kaw card tables, in their previous home, which I’ll re post bellow.
April 8, 2011
Various Videos and Valdez Photos
Posted by dongshow under backcountry, Skiing, Turnagain, video | Tags: Cornbiscuit, Thompson Pass, valdez |1 Comment
I have a bunch of bits from the last couple of weeks. First a couple of pictures form the conditions in Valdez while I was in Abaco.
And a couple of videos; first a Wilson and Max skiing some shorter lines of Easter Bunny in Thompson Pass
And a short video of retreating with our tails between our legs on Cornbiscuit this past Wednesday. Nothing to special but worth watching to see Max’s accidental air.
Oh, and the word on the street is that Hatcher is going off right now.
April 5, 2011
Snowmachine Ghost Ride
Posted by dongshow under snowmachines, video | Tags: valdez |Leave a Comment
While I was in the tropics Wilson managed to break the chain on my snowmobile while out skiing (somewhere up near Girls) in Valdez. Lucky for Me, Max was there to take charge of the situation and the sled made it back to the car with ease. So enjoy the ghost ride video above, I’m hoping to have some skiing to talk about soon, it’s snowing! I know it’s a bit juvenile, but there is something I find fantastic about watching it just roll safely down so care free. Frankly it does better then if I was riding on it. And because I’m all ready rambling check out some of Jimmy’s video of the Eddies and Tin Can conditions while I was gone.
May 27, 2010
Sun Burnt in Valdez
Posted by dongshow under alcohol, Skiing | Tags: sleeping outside, valdez |Leave a Comment
After spending an excessive amount of time working for a couple of weeks I headed to Valdez with Graham. We towed sleds out near the valley of the tusk and camped for 4 nights. It was slow going as our sleds were heavier then planned; we brought so much food we had to eat excessivly on throughout the trip. Large meals with rum margaritas, coca tea, bacon, eggs, buffalo and peppers were standard fare for the trip. We also had intense sunshine throughout the entire trip, which I couldn’t have expected when planning on going to Valdez. We were low on sunscreen throughout the trip too, since the Hub only had a tiny bottle available for $15.99. So as a result of that and the long hours spent lounging in the sun sipping rum drinks I’m now horribly sunburnt. Oh, and I guess I should mention the skiing, it was only so so, as it’d rained just before and we were out in scorching heat. We enjoyed ourselves with the views though, and some long glacier runs. 
April 6, 2010
Wilson and Mikey just got back from 10 days in Valdez. They got lucky and had 7 days of sun along with some deep snow which allowed for some exploring with the snowmachines and some new lines. Wilson hit both of these lines, the top is from the Books, the bottom is from the valley of the Tusk.
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.
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 6, 2009
Back Skiing in Turnagain
Posted by dongshow under Skiing, Turnagain | Tags: Corn Biscuit, Odyssey, valdez |Leave a Comment
As usual with this group the Valdez trip was a bust. Clouds and wind kept us from skiing, other then a Saturday afternoon lap on Odyssey. I realized halfway through the trip that the only times I’ve been in Valdez when the sun wasn’t shinning were with Mania and Wilson, and so figured that I was pretty much screwed. Anyway, we raced back to the western Chugach for some sun shine and powder. I Spent the day skiing Corn Biscuit (pictured above) with Mania and Wilson; we found that typically Alaskan 9″ of effortless skiing powder. Skinning around in a t-shirt, and with the sun now shinning until nine it’s hard contemplating that winter was only a few months ago. Oh well, as long as the skiing stays good we’ll be happy.
February 23, 2009
Graham and I spent the weekend in Valdez. The sun shone throughout our trip. Unfortunately the clear skies were accompanied by 40 mph winds which seemed to come from every direction, as the snow was crusty on every aspect. We spent both nights in a tent, I slept comfortably but frozen boots the morning after camping is never welcome. All I’ve got is a few pictures, as the snow was horrible the skiing was nothing more then long walks with skis on. The scenery in Valdez kept it enjoyable.
August 12, 2008
Shooting Propane Tanks
Posted by dongshow under Explosive Situations, Guns | Tags: Explosive, gun range, Guns, propane, valdez |Leave a Comment
There has been a criminal lack of gun shooting on this site for quite awhile. I apologize. Last year in sunny Valdez we shot a propane tank, and have been wondering how to safely ignite the gas cloud ever since. Last April, while waiting in rainy Valdez we discovered the answer. Road Flares
P.S. Our roommate Aaron showed us a far superior video on his digital camera of a propane tank they found washed up on a beach in Prince William Sound. They chucked it into a bon fire and shot it with a shot gauge slug. The tank above was shot with puny 7.62 SKS round. The results of their ocean side antics were far more spectacular then that posted above. Aaron, if you read this we would love a copy.
July 2, 2008
Valdez 4-11-08
Posted by dongshow under Skiing | Tags: Alaska, alyeska, Chugach, medred, pass, silvertip, Skiing, Turnagain, valdez |Leave a Comment
First, I’d like to apologize for our lack of updates. We’ve been either too drunk or too busy the last couple weeks so I really haven’t put much together, so what follows will be rambling, incoherent and off topic.
Max, Matt, Espn, Wilson, Mania and I rented an RV and took off for Valdez Monday of last week. As Matt the Cook sped our land yacht in glorious sunshine along the north side of the range it was possible for a moment to forget the forecasted storms and truly believe we were in for some flying. The belief lasted past the Hub and the fireworks stand till we hit and until we descended from Thompson Pass into a rainy and overcast Valdez. The shit weather held and we never got to fly, although we did have a pretty good time.
The first thins we were told upon arrival was the story of our good friend from Utah, Karitas, fighting some backcountry guru, Matt Kinney, who also wrote a pretty good book. Apparently he’d skinned up to where Karitas was guiding that day and a full on scuffle broke out, which apparently Karitas won, taking said guru to the ground. Watch out Karitas, sometimes these things are settled rather badly.
That being said we spent most of our free time at the Valdez gun range shooting propane tanks with lit road flares duct taped to the side. The resulting explosions went a long way to lifting our spirits, although the same can’t be said for our associates living in town.
However great that story was, it has to be said that the morose Heli-guiding community of Valdez possesses the self importance of 7th graders and a detachment from the skiing public’s reality reminiscent of a soldier just back from war. Only the Guides aren’t so much haunted by the deaths of comrades and unspeakable tragedies, but rather the true horror (“you don’t even know man!”) of waking up at 5 am and being forced to ski with a 20 pound backpack. Our group’s continuous and collective eye rolling did nothing do diminish the onslaught of tales of hardship (“it’s been overcast for a week!”) and misfortune (“my boss is a disorganized stoner!”) suffered by all of those so unlucky as to be in guiding in Valdez. From what we heard, it’s amazing they are there at all.
Despite all the self pity spewed forth by the various guides (who work less then your average Teamster), most of them seem to have drunk a little to much of the special kool-aide distributed by their various bosses, and possess a strange unflinching loyalty to the cause. Our suggestion that the European clients, who’d paid thousands of dollars to reserve helicopter time they’d never use, would rather shoot guns and ride snowmobiles then watch lame slideshows of some guide’s ice climbing trip in southwestern Colorado was met by smug stares and claims that we just simply didn’t understand “the industry.” I guess gasoline and gunpowder aren’t that entertaining. I honestly met a French guy that night at the Pipeline Club (more on that later) who claimed his guides couldn’t find someone to take him fishing on a down day, something it took Angela, the awesome bartender, an entire 5 minutes to rectify.
When later discussing the general idiocy of the Valdez Heli scene Max smartly pointed out that none of the operations have any familiarity with the state at large. With most of the guides flying up from Colorado or California for the 2 month season, and never seeing anything other then the Anchorage airport and the Valdez area they simply don’t understand how things work up here. They possess one incredible product they do a fantastic job selling, but seem completely unwilling to accept that one can enjoy themselves up here without skiing, and completely fail to capitalize on the endless fun waiting just beyond their fingertips.
After school fun Valdez style, sawed offs, pigeons and cigarettes down at the range.
Anyway, I’d like to mention that despite the clear inadequacies in the operation I plan on returning to Valdez and still regard heli-skiing there as worth every penny. We even spent the time to get our avalanche and helicopter briefing out of the way with Valdez Heli-Camps who I plan on flying with later this season. We were once again treated great by everyone there, although we were asked to take down our video
and told they no longer allow firearms or fireworks in their parking lot. If anyone is looking for advice I’d say forgo the package deals sold down there and rent an RV in Anchorage, drive down and go standby. This was my second time on such a trip and it’s been a great time both when we flew (last year), and when we didn’t.
I’ll also give special to Angela at the Pipeline Club, who couldn’t have treated us better. Angela poured Wilson and I drinks so stiff they were translucent, claimed she would be our mother while in town, gave me a hat, and fed us fried halibut and chicken fingers. She let us stay past the 5 am closing time, continuously hugged Sean and Nappy saying “you’re from Hope and my middle name is Faith” and brought a smile to all of our faces, an absolute model bartender.
We got back to Anchorage late Wednesday, and my cousins Jim and Mike arrived Thursday night. We’ve managed to get some good footage since they’ve arrived as the two of them have been killing the roadside jumps in the pass. I’ve also got the two of them out on skins for the first time, had them crossing open creeks, and enjoying themselves on Silvertip the north facing stuff off Sunburst. They have been blowing our expectations out of the water, keeping up with us when going up or down, and have been generally game for anything. Yesterday we managed to get some great footage skiing surprisingly deep powder on Hillside, and the Hilltop Ski Jumps. It looks like it may stay sunny for the rest of their trips so were just getting started.
Max and Charley are taking up the invitation he received to compete in the Freeskiing World Championship at Alyeska this afternoon. Apparently, according to this article, they’ve been “duped by Corporate America” but Craig Medred is an idiot so we’ll just dismiss that entirely. Craig really doesn’t understand the concept of risk. He’s written so much inane tripe (he’s essentially crashed extremely hard many times); that he’s assured of his status as village idiot, and an additional idiotic column carries little risk to his personal reputation.
Wilson and Mania have returned to Valdez with Gary and Clue to further harass Karitas and his co-workers and hopefully get some skiing in. Word is that they were going to ski with Rendezvous yesterday but their car broke down a couple miles away with a faulty fuel pump they’ll have to fix before they do any skiing. Jason’s good friend April has her boyfriend on it though, so hopefully that works out.
It’s supposed to be clear for the next 3 days so stay tuned.
