Back in January, while we were getting a bunch of snow, I bought a used bike on eBay from some guy in Utah. It arrived a week later, all boxed up. For the next two months, I kept thinking “I need to put that bike together before the winter is over.” Meanwhile, I muddled through the rest of the ski season, which consisted of a few nasty thaws, followed by cold temperatures and no new snow. The skiing wasn’t great for the last half of the season, but spring still seemed a long way off. I kept thinking that I had another month, at least, before I’d want to use the bike.

When the first week of April arrived, and with it a few warm sunny days, I realized that I was never going to get around to building the bike myself, especially during crust season. The roads were getting dry and the snow in town was disappearing quickly. It was time to get ready for summer. So I dropped the bike off at a shop, they built it for me, and I picked it up a few days later.

Well, that night it snowed about a foot. A few days later it snowed again - eight inches. Then, this past Friday it snowed again - 20 inches at our house. That Friday storm produced the third-most snow Anchorage has ever received in one day. It is snowing again as I write this. This is now the snowiest April on record in Anchorage, and this winter, despite mediocre skiing from November to March, is now the 6th snowiest on record. Crazy.

Clearly this is because I prepared for spring by putting my bike together. Now I wish I had put my bike together when it first arrived. We really needed the snow back then, when it would have lasted two months, not two days. Oh well, now I know what to do on November 1st - buy a new bike!

On my old XCSkiRacer.com site, I used to do a lot of Top 5 lists.  Maybe it is my competitive nature, but I have a compulsive tendency to rank things. This is in spite of the fact that I often look back at my lists months or years later and cringe (what was I thinking!).

This morning our week of perfect crust skiing weather took a turn for the cloudy, rainy, and snowy. So probably no epic crust this weekend.  Instead I must feed my addiction by recalling past crust cruising glory.   This was a tough list to create, because if I was ranking my favorite outdoor experiences of all-time, every crust ski would be near the top.   So here is my best attempt to whittle the list to my five favorite crust skis of all time (so far!).

1. Around Bard Peak This ski had everything: perfect crust, sun, glaciers, powder, Prince William Sound, great company, and a trecherous decent into Whittier on rotting snow!
2. Center Creek I’ve done this one three times now and its always one of the best skis of the season
3. Broad Pass The skiing on this one was a little bumpy, but the scenery was great and it was a really fun road trip.
4. Around Avalanche Mountain - My first real Alaskan crust ski adventure, although I wouldn’t do it again.  Skiing up an avalanche chute was dumb, dropping down over Powerline Pass on skinny skis was dumber.
5. Carmen Lake and Twentymile Glacier - An early season (February) treat from the crust ski gods.

[Click the photo above to view this photo album]

In Anchorage, if you tell someone you went skiing in Bear Valley, they assume that you were up above Anchorage in the Bear Valley that leads towards McHugh Peak. But there is another, less known Bear Valley. If you’ve ever waited for the tunnel to Whittier, you’ve seen it off to the North. It doesn’t look like much - especially in summer when it is a tangled mess of brush and swamps. But in the winter, with plenty of snow, it makes for a fun place to crust ski. Nobody goes there, probably because it is across the street from Portage Lake, which is the mecca for southcentral crust skiing because of its spectacular scenery and easy access.

On Friday, fresh off our ski to Grandview, Tim, Benji and I were discussing other places that would be good crust skiing right now. The consensus was that the Portage area was the place to be for the weekend. Tim suggested Bear Valley as a good bet if I wanted to go some place new.

So on Sunday, Ian and I skied up Bear Valley. The route finding on the first part was tricky - the river was washed out so we had to navigate lots of brush. But eventually it opened up into some really sweet skiing and great views.

The entire ski took less than two hours, so after we were done, we decided to drive down the road to Placer and ski up to check out the ice cave at Skookum Glacier. I could not believe the crowd of people out in Placer on Sunday! We saw about 50 people - and we didn’t even go up towards Spencer Glacier! We had a hard time finding a parking spot. What were all these “lycra-clad NSAA skate skiers” doing out there? Didn’t they know that Hillside was groomed last night? (Full disclosure admission: I think I was the only NSAA skate skier who was actually wearing lycra out there. Guilty as charged.)

Is crust skiing joining the mainstream? It’s hard to see why it wouldn’t when we get perfect days like Sunday.

Today Tim, Benji and I headed south to Portage hoping to finally find some crust in the Placer River valley. We’d received over two feet of snow at home in the past two weeks (in April!), but the Portage area didn’t get as much. Plus the sun has been out for the past few days, so we were hopeful that we might find some crust. Our goal was to ski up past Spencer Glacier, then up and over the ridge to Grandview. I’d crust skied at Grandview before but I’d never crust skied to Grandview before. Getting there is a little tricky. The train gets there by going through a tunnel next to a river gorge. Not willing to risk our lives by using the train tunnel, we had to go up and over a ridgeline, which actually wasn’t that bad if you know where to go (which is why we go with Tim). It turned out that the crust was bomber most of the way, and the ski was spectacular. If you want proof that I actually was on this trip, check out Tim’s photos.