Skiing

Skiing in Alaska!! The very names Chugach, Valdez, Girdwood and Alyeska are renowned for big mountain skiing and adventure.

Glaciers are not made from sunshine. The epic annual snowfall that gives birth to Alaska’s seemingly endless glaciers provides skiers with a dream. Steep powder. Long powder runs. Untracked powder.

My buddy Steve and I drove to Alaska in May of ’94, we took jobs in Girdwood.I expected bears, miners and such.

Saw those things but was amazed at the snow and skiing that first winter. I traded alpine skis for telemark skis and glacier gear. The nearby mountains at Turnagain Pass and Mt. Alyeska provided a lesson in AK skiing and avalanche reality.

Trips to the big mountains in ski gear, road access backcountry on an AK scale, and the North Face opening at Alyeska have been my university of alaskan skiing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This winter, I have returned to Girdwood and my 3rd year on Alyeska’s Pro-Patrol. Hands on avalanche mitigation has redefined my sense of snow structure and weather effect. Always an adventure at ski patrol and sometimes a memorable powder run in the pre-dawn!