Antarctica Cruise 2009

There is an amazing trip happening this fall down to Antarctica.  It is a cruise leaving from Ushuaia, Argentina through Drake Passage to the Antarctic Peninsula.  The trip will include tons of wildlife adventures as well as trekking on the continent and skiing.  There will be a bit of a skiing bend to the trip, with amazing ascents and first descents to be had.  I had the chance to talk with Doug Stoup, the expedition leader, and the trip sounds unreal.  It is being organized through Ice Axe Expeditions and Points North Heli-Adventures.  So the guides are all great people I have been working with up here in AK.  The pics and stories from last season trip are fantastic and I am fired up for this trip.  Get in touch with me if heading to the southernmost continent and hanging with penguins and sea-lions while skiing some first descents sounds like fun...  

PS- thanks to Kip Garre for the photos

Chugach Skiing, Does it get better?

We had some unreal skiing last week.  This week started out just the same.  Our group headed over to the Cordova Glacier and skied in the Bulls-Eye and C.F.C areas.  It started out as a pretty slow day, and after a late launch we ended up skiing till the end of the day in great new snow conditions.  It was one of those days that leaves you

 scratching your head.  It looked like maybe we might get out for one run in the morning, but it turned out better than we hoped.  That is the Alaska weather for you! 

We were down today and yesterday.  It is currently snowing in Cordova.  Lucky for us, we still have the backyard to go play in.  A group of us hiked up yesterday and then again today.  The skiing was great all the way back down, even through our own little "James Bond Trail" at the bottom.  Today was pretty windy at the ridgetop, with visibility going about 150 feet or so.  There was no question as to why we weren't flying helicoptors...

Heli-skiing, Ice-climbing, and Touring

So the season so far has been marred by a bit of wind up here in Cordova.  When I say a bit, I really mean a lot.  It has stopped us from flying more than a little in the early bits of the heli season.  Unfortunately it has also led to some questionable snow quality as well.  Luckily it has been snowing and we were able to get out a bit on Saturday.  I went out with a few other guides to do some scouting and check out the conditions.  Things were skiing much better than over the last week and we were finally able to get on some steeper slopes.  Skied Guilt Trip, Better than Sex and Ridiculous and were able to find some great turns on each of them.  We also got our storm boards up to keep an eye on the snow totals. 

 

Putting together the PNH Activity Center

There are some other exciting things happening up here at PNH.  We have been getting after some of the ice around Cordova.  There are several flows that have formed up around town and the cannery.  It has been great to get out after some of them with the guides, as well as taking clients out to get a taste of ice climbing when the heli can't fly.  Another great new program we are working on is Heli Assisted Ski Touring.  We can get a bump out on a heli into the zone and then tour from there.  This is a great option on grey days, when we can't really fly all day, but maybe we can us a hole to at least get out and ski.  Kip, CJ, John and I made a foray into the field to check out some potential touring areas and were super stoked on what we found.  There are also a handful of us up here who are into speed flying, so we have gotten a few flights off of Eyak and the Backyard behind town.  All in all, the activity around here has been great, and everyone is fired up for the season.  

In the States

So I am back in the States.  Washington to be exact.  Had a great trip in France, better than I even thought it could be.  I have more pictures and video to put up from that trip, so stay tuned.  I am heading up to Alaska tomorrow for the heli-season in Cordova.  Super fired-up to get up there, sounds like things are going great this season.  I will let you all know how things are up there as soon as possible.