Flying in the snow!

I just liked this shot of the glacier...

Had a good time hiking in the backyard yesterday.  Ended up doing two laps back there, and getting to fly my speedwing down twice.  It was a full on snow storm, so it was pretty interesting flying in the weather.  I wasn't sure how wet it would be toward the lower elevations, but the winds were down and the visibility was okay, so I made it happen.  

We also had a massive bonfire last night.  Yesterday was down, as is today.  So we were doing out best to burn it blue!  Hopefully we'll get some fly days in soon.  

Want an Idea...

So for all of you climbers, skiers, and adventurers out there; I am sure you get asked on a regular basis what it is you do out in the wild mountain world.  Most of our friends have no real idea what it is we do, the hazards seem unreal and the consequences unacceptable.  People in general consider most of what goes on to be crazy, adrenaline junkie type of things.  I know for me it has always been tough to describe what it is I do, and more importantly why, to those that I care about.  If you are looking for a good movie that really explains why people are called into the mountains, I highly recommend Steep.  It is a documentary that came out a few years ago about the evolution of steep skiing.  The people in the movie are fully skiing bigger lines and in more serious terrain than most of us, but the sentiment is there.  Whether you love skiing, love the mountains, or know someone who does, you should check this movie out.  

All Time in the Zone!

We have had two amazing days in the zone.  April Fools was no joke out there!  We had been down in the Chugach for over a week and everyone was doing their best to keep the spirits high.  But all the stress and worry went out the window on Wednesday morning when we finally woke to brilliant blue sky and incredible snow in the zone.  

Ice Box, Worm Glacier

Sometimes it is tough up here in AK, waiting for the sunny days to get out and fly the heli's.  It seems like it never happens enough.  But then you get a day out and you remember that it is worth any down day to ski deep, steep powder on some peak deep in the range.  When it goes off here, I really do believe there is nowhere better.

The guide meeting in the morning had us all on pins and needles, dying to get out and check out how much snow there really was in the zone.  We knew it would be deep, and we knew the winds hadn't been huge, but watching the weather is nothing compared to really getting out there and putting your hands in the snow.  We all agreed that we needed to start off slow and get a real handle on the snowpack before we started increasing the angle.  Lucky us, there was about 45 cm of super light snow on top of a classic Chugach snowpack.  Sluff was moving around, but we were able to ski some awesome runs.  

The first day out we skied in snow so deep and light that it was pretty much a face-shot on every turn.  We hit four different runs, and got eight nice long laps.  I think my favorite runs of the day were either Nailed It, or our first run down Ridiculous.  Each one of those is about 3500 ft.  and super aesthetic.

Sarah J. slaying with her heavy camera pack on!

Yesterday was just as good as the day before.  We awoke to a little cloud cover, which broke in no time at all.  The satellites were showing a bit of low pressure pushing in, and we thought it might turn into a half-day if it really came in on us.  But once again we scored, and had another killer eight run day!  

So part of heli-skiing is putting in landing zones and pickup zones.  It can be pretty important if you want to put a heli in somewhere tight to have it flat and flagged, especially if the light gets a bit bad.  So yesterday I was on top of a run called Barney Finger Dip.  It is a bit of a tight landing for the pilots, the blades are only a couple of feet from a big rock, and the pilot has to keep power up on the heli for a toe-in landing.  That means that basically the heli is still flying while we are all getting out and the skids are hanging out into space.  Pretty great if you ask me.  But, the point of the story is that we skied off the top and into the best snow we had found all day for about 4200 ft straight.  And trust me, the snow was fantastic everywhere, so the best we found was unreal.  It was so good in fact that my crew got to the bottom and we decided to "hot lap" (go back right away and do it again) it.  Pilot J takes us right back up and as we are coming into land this is what I hear in my headset, "So I take you in for a tough landing, you take me right back to it, and you didn't even build me a good LZ?"  It wasn't even until this point that I realized that I had forgotten to put it away.  Needless to say, we spent a good bit putting in a bomber landing after that.  Then skied some more of those best turns ever!  Thanks Pilot J!  

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.