Skiing

This is a tale of two Tails: the Whale’s Tail – which is the ridge between the Ruth Glacier and Tokositna Glacier and features a classic ski trip where one traverses the Tokosha Mountains (Tokosha is a Tanaina word meaning “the place where there are no trees”) with breathtaking views of glaciers beneath your feet, […]  [ Read More ]

January 2021, Tincan Creek Temps were in the single digits when we started out, moisture from our breath condensing around glasses and hats and the crunch of the snow startling in the still morning air. We skied in large puffy jackets, heads down, not talking – concentrating on flexing the fingers that took too long […]  [ Read More ]

In late April 2019, Todd Kelsey, Joe Chmielowski and I skied from the Eagle Glacier to the Nature Center (ERNC). It was a great ski trip through familiar terrain that felt foreign when covered in snow.  All together it was 50 miles of travel (38 miles on skis) with 11K of elevation gain/loss. We took […]  [ Read More ]

November 2019 Update In November 2019 DNR approved this permit. You can read the entire permit here and an ADN article about the approval here. It should come at no surprise that DNR permitted this.  DNR has a history of siding with motorized users and commercial operations in the Mat-Su area.  During the Knik River […]  [ Read More ]

EDIT 8/30/2020 – Please read this post about access to Ram Valley. Pleasant Mountain lies near the head of Ram valley and is the peak just due north of Bombardment Pass. It was first climbed in June 1960 by Norm Pischler, Louis Willard and Erma Duncan (route unknown) who named the peak claiming that the […]  [ Read More ]

These photos are from a 5-day ski mountaineering trip on the Finch and Eagle glaciers in the Western Chugach / Chugach State Park. This exact Chugach State Park trip has been done by a few other parties so logistics have been dialed in which makes for easy planning. Basically, you charter an Alpine Air helicopter drop to the Chugach State Park boundary (no landings allowed in the park) on the Finch Glacier and then work your way back via the Finch / Eagle col to MCA hut on the Eagle (Rosie’s Roost) and then out to Crow Pass via either Raven Headwall or Goat Ridge.  [ Read More ]

A spectacular peak from all directions, Rook Mountain lies North and 2000' above Raven Glacier. There is no easy route to the summit which makes it a worthy objective that you must plan for in terms of weather, conditions and route. It's a mountain I've been staring at for 10+ years waiting for the right combination of good snow conditions and solid partners and I've spent many a day walking or skiing past, looking up and waiting.  [ Read More ]

After months of none of the above the magic combination of sun, snow and stability finally settled over Southcentral Alaska. A mid January storm deposited enough snow to finally ski from the road. The storm was followed by high pressure and cold which was finally followed by a warming trend that made long days feasible […]  [ Read More ]

Ptarmigan North (not “S”) Couloir. Photo by Eric Parsons. Sunday was one of those perfect days so we played the parent switch game. Yvonne got first shift and she opted to go run up Bird Ridge in the sun. She texted me just before noon that she was on top and on her way down […]  [ Read More ]

We set out to tour the valley around Pinnacle with the hopes of skiing something interesting. Checking out conditions on the approach we noted two large natural releases that had occurred sometime midweek on the SW face of Marmot and the occasional crown in steeper terrain that appeared to be have either released during or shortly after the most recent storm cycle. Taking the obvious signs into account we then studied the tracks on pretty much every aspect and angle and noted that had minimal releasing other than occasional sluffing.  [ Read More ]