Spring is here…

Miles scopes the view from the top of Fishcreek Knob

Spring has officially sprung and I need to do a little spring cleaning of my photo archives.  As usual I’m behind in posting, but I hope you enjoy the shots all the same. Hoping to have posts on heli skiing in Juneau and in Haines soon, so stay tuned.

Tyler on his speedwing at Eaglecrest.

Caleb skins up the side of Showboat.

Fruit Bowl Kicker

Jesse throws down a double back flip.

Off the Reservation (part 2)…

The Library and Kickstep Mountain - Turnigan Pass

I spent another two weeks up in Anchorage visiting the snow in Turnigan Pass and Hatcher Pass.  The snow was a tasty variety of cold smoke powder, that we don’t see too often down here.  I got back to Juneau in time to take advantage of the most recent precip, which I have to say is every bit as good as I found up North.  The following photos are from multiple trips in Turnigan and one photo from Hatcher Pass as the viz was some of the worst I have ever encountered; I had to use my poles to make marks in the snow so that I wasn’t about to accidentally skin off a cliff!   Overall it was a great trip with plenty of good turns to be had.

Picking our way through the white room, in Hatcher Pass.

Skining up the side of Magnum in Turnigan Pass.

Skinning up the approach to Cornbiscuit, Turnigan Pass.

Lee checks out the view of Kickstep from the Sunburst Ridge, Turnigan Pass.

Off the reservation….

Top of Magnum in Turnigan Pass

I have a confession for all of you… I’ve been cheating, and its not the first time.  I’ve been riding snow in Turnigan Pass, and at Alyeska.  Shameful I know, but sometimes the temptation is too great and I have to give in to the sinful quality of snow in other parts of the world.

I know, take a deep breath and calm down. There is snow to be found elsewhere, and you’re probably guilty of the same pleasures (you know who you are). Don’t get me wrong I still love it here, but its just well, its good to see if the snow is really whiter on the other side…Alright who am I kidding, given the winter we’re having this seems to be the only place that doesn’t have good snow.  Alright no more negativity, there’s a lot of winter to go and we’ll get ours…hopefully soon. Normally I wouldn’t do this, but given our weather cycle and the fact that I’ve been busy with other photo work, I’m going to post not only photos from other AK locales, but a few non-backcountry photos. My hope is that it’ll provide a little entertainment to your day and at the very least its eating up my time putting together this post.  Normally I’d post these photos on my personal blog, CSMPhotos, but I’m thinking of changing this blog to a vehicle for all my ski/snowboard photos, as no one else seems to be posting here.  If you have stuff and want to post please do!

Turnigan Pass

Back to the well…

If there is one section of the Eaglecrest backcountry that consistently produces the goods, its hands down gotta be Fish Creek Knob.  David Lowell and I took a meandering trek from the quarry a couple weeks back.  I probably shouldn’t admit this, but everytime I’ve skinned up its never been the same route.  This time was no different, and we worked ourselves into a bit of a pickle by stumbling across an open swath in the trees that we wanted to find on our descent.  The only problem is that in our eagerness to preserve our line, we wedged ourselves into a steep and ridiculous climb.  To sum it all up it involved the hucking of gear up hill and using every available hand hold, alder branch, or small purchase to be found to claw our way through waist deep powder.  I guess there could be worse problems….suffice it to say, it was scrumptulescent, and like a couple of junkies we came back up to the mountain later that night for a midnight mission, to get just one more fix before it warmed up.

Early bird gets the pow….

Like all good ideas, this one started at the bar over a beer.  We were mulling over the possibilities for the following days skin; when someone at the table said they were planning on hitting the Eaglecrest parking lot to hit up Cropley Chute before first light.  I took a big long drink of my PBR and mulled over the idea of rolling out of the sack at 5:30 to get some turns in the dark.  With a little more liquid encouragement it was quickly decided that I’d be joining a crew of ski patrollers and a buddy in the parking lot at 6 AM.

The next morning came all too soon and as planned I rolled out of bed and into the truck to make it in time for the rendezvous.  After donning our gear and headlamps we all made our way into the pitch black woods.  Our small train of lights weaved its way through the trees picking our way through the last remnants of the night on an old skin track. We summited and quickly switched our gear over just as the sun was peaking its way over the edge of the earth.  The entrance to the left shoulder of the chute still had tufts of frozen grass at the throat surrounded by windblown snow and ice.  We lined up like kids on their way to jump off the high dive, each watching and waiting for the next’s headlamp to disappear down slope.  Couldn’t think of a better way to start the day.

Long overdue…

High East looking toward Moller

As usual I’ve fallen far behind on this and many other things.  Life has a funny way of getting in the way.  Unfortunately, it looks like we’re in for another round of wet and warm, not the combo we’ve been waiting for.  So in the mean time I hope you’re like me and catching up on all those little projects that have been nagging at you… get ‘em done boys and girls cause it’s gonna snow sooner or later and you better be ready.  Wax those sticks, reglue them skins, and remember good things come to those who wait

Backside of Douglas

First days of the ’10-’11 Season are here….

Sandy, Miles, and Kaitlyn enjoy the view of Stephens Passage and Seymour Canal.

I know that people have been getting after it for a couple weeks already, and I’m sorry to say that life has been getting in the way of “work/play” in the snow.  As a result I haven’t had time to edit photos, let alone get any blog entries posted.  I don’t have any misconceptions that people come to the site to read my prose, so I’ll do all of us a favor and keep the first post of the season to just photos. I promise to get some more detailed trip reports in later in the season. In the mean time here are a handful of shots from four sorties from last week.