Corn!

Spring is here: Campus is littered with goggle tans, the bikes have come out of the garage, and the resorts are closing. It's time for the "second season", that lovely time of year when skiing in shirtsleeves and wearing sunblock are mandatory. Kerstin, Kassy and I went out to Beehive yesterday for our traditional Sunday Sabbath in the Church of The White Dome and did some beacon drills (find your buddy, not an Easter egg) and skied some lovely, silky, velvety corn.

Skiing is like a drug that you try to get your friends addicted to. Here's Kassy, I think we might have her hooked.
Kerstin decided to try the telemark thing today, I think there's potential here. But for goodness sake, shorten those poles!
Unfortunately, telemarking is difficult. Half the binding, twice the work. Just ask Kerstin.
Here I am, enjoying the heck out of spring in Montana and avoiding sketchy pockets of snow like the one that broke on the opposite slope.
Oh, it's fun.
This was just a fun trip into the mountains for a little beacon practice and some sun. There were no objectives, just nice skiing. We'll keep milking the snow until its gone.

Alaska!

I used to live in Valdez, but unfortunately during my time there I was not a backcountry skier and almost completely missed out on the epic Chugach mountains. Imagine my excitement upon returning with a pair of telemark skis and skins. We spent two days at Alyseska, but I didn't take any pictures because, well, I don't feel like bragging about skiing a at resort.

The snow was classically Alaskan, by which I mean variable. Sun crust, a little corn, some stiff windblown powder, and bulletproof sastrugi. The weather was fantastic, which is somewhat rare in Alaska, so we were lucky on that front even though it didn't snow while we were there. The avalanche danger was also fairly reasonable, another nice bonus. A big wind event happened right before we arrived, explaining the conditions. Here are some pictures:


Alaska is a wild place where almost all of the skiing happens above treeline. The snow can be either the best or the worst in the world, and the weather is, in a word, unpredictable. The views are not to be missed, and when it's great, it's outstanding. There's a reason that Valdez is the home of no fewer than four heli-skiing outfits and is featured in just about every ski movie since the mid-nineties. At the same time, epic days require epic patience and the ability to wait for the right conditions. If you have time and the opportunity, don't miss Alaska. And don't be fooled into thinking that the only way to ski it is from a helicopter.