Another great ridgeline in Chugach State Park, excellent views of the front range.
Click here for a full screen version.
Thanks to Ian and Josh for waiting for me. Not my best day.
Archive for the ‘Alaska’ Category
On the ridge between Wolverine and Elliot
Sunday, July 31st, 2011Penguin Ridge Hike
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011The alarm clock crowed rudely at 4:00 AM. On a Saturday. I fought back by hitting the snooze bar a couple of times.
The Penguin Ridge hike has been on my to-do list for a long time. Tim Kelley first recommended it to me years ago. Like many other local Chugach hikes, I always figured that some weekend, when I had a little extra time, I’ll knock it off my list. But, funny thing, when you have two little rugrats there is never “extra time.” I decided to start at an ungodly hour, so that I could be back on Dad duty by lunch. I left the Bird Creek parking lot just after 5:30 AM.
I knew from previous reports that this ridge offered a lot more vertical and a lot more scrambling than what you can see from the road. But even so, I was surprised how much scrambling there was. I thought that once I got a mile or two past Penguin Peak, I’d be tundra-running the rest of the way. Nope. I should have known better – after all this is the Chugach. The ridge is narrow, rocky and loose enough that you need to go slow, watch your footing, and occasionally scramble, all the way from Penguin Peak until you are directly above the Girdwood turn-off on the highway.
I briefly thought about descending here, as Roman suggests. But I couldn’t resist the urge to see what was around the next corner, then the next… I’m glad I kept going, because the terrain got easier and I could move faster, as the ridge headed northeast, paralleling the road into Girdwood. The terrain is a lot more nuanced here, a wide ridge with lots of tundra-covered rises, depressions and a beautiful lake. Great for running. The scenery is better too, as you are looking away from the highway and into the heart of the Chugach.
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360 degrees from the top of Penguin Peak
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I knew that finding the California Creek trail for the descent was going to be difficult because it is very over-grown. I never did find it. After wandering above brush-line for almost an hour, I finally gave up and picked the drainage that had the shortest distance between open tundra at the top and evergreen canopy at the bottom. Once in the drainage, I found the easiest thing to do was walk in the creek. The California Creek valley is notorious for bears, so I was yelling constantly to overcome the noise of the creek. So, yes, I was doing the same thing these kids did just a few hours later up in the Talkeetnas. [ Shudder ] Just when my feet were going numb from the water, I arrived in the spruce and hemlock forest, which was open for fairly easy walking. I quickly hit “Abe’s Trail” which took me to the California Creek trailhead. It turned out to be a very mild descent by bushwhack standards, and possibly better than the overgrown trail would have been.
I jogged into town and met the family, who had been playing at the Girdwood playground. Unfortunately for them, Dad was a little less than energetic that afternoon.
View Map & Stats on Endomondo
15 miles, 8 hours (includes one mile/one hour of wandering to find Ca. Creek trail)
Notes:
I was glad I went west to east, so that I hit the rocky stuff early when I was still fresh. I was hiking into a decent headwind the whole way, but it wasn’t a big deal. It is nice to end in Girdwood and grab some food. A classic Chugach hike, spoiled slightly by the sight and sound of Seward Highway traffic along the way.
Biking Resurrection Pass with Dad
Thursday, June 30th, 2011June was grandparents month in our house. Both sets came for a couple of weeks each.
One sunny Saturday my dad and I biked Resurrection Pass, 38 miles from Hope to Cooper Landing. I’ve been over that pass a number of times, but this was the first time it hasn’t been covered in snow. What a great singletrack ride!
I wonder what the 70-and-up age group record is for the 20 mile climb from Hope up to the pass? I bet my dad crushed it!
Adventure Apps
Wednesday, June 1st, 2011On Sunday I needed to be in Girdwood for dinner, but I had just enough time for a short hike on the way there. I decided to go up Rainbow, which is one of my favorites along Turnagain Arm.
The hike was great, with oodles of unexpected sunshine. I didn’t bring a camera, but when I got to the top, I whipped out my phone and took this picture (click and drag the picture to spin 360 degrees):
Click here for a full screen version.
It took me a long time to succumb to getting a smartphone, but I really enjoy how easy it makes documenting my trips. No longer do I need a camera, cell phone and GPS in my pack (though I still carry a better camera on occasion). It took me about 30 seconds to snap this picture, and it uploaded to the web as I began my decent. The quality is not a good as some of the panoramas I’ve stitched together in Photoshop, but for quick little trips like this it works great.
While we’re on the subject, I’ll share my absolute favorite smartphone app: Endomondo.
This embedded map of my Rainbow hike is very cramped, click here for a full screen version.
Maybe its a hold-over from my years of keeping a training log, or maybe its my fascination with maps, but I love to document my routes. Endomondo makes it easy to map your routes and see all the vital statitics of your workout. It’s as easy as using a stopwatch. There are many, many apps that do this, but Endomondo is my favorite. (In truth, they won me over when I saw that they had both “Roller skiing” and “Orienteering” as workout types.) So now I can keep a record of all my workouts with minimal effort.
One additional cool feature is Live Tracking via the web when you are within cell phone range. So if I get “lost” and my 45 minute run somehow turns into 2 hours (when I am supposed to be watching the kids and cooking dinner), my wife can see exactly where I am (and thus be mad instead of worried). Well, sometimes its a cool feature. Of course, there are privacy settings so you can control who sees your maps.
Oh, and if you try Endomondo, make sure you add me as a “friend.” It is surprisingly motivating to see other peoples workouts. I added this Rainbow hike as a public route, which means you can try to beat my time and become Route Champion! Wahoo!
Crust Season 2011
Friday, May 20th, 2011Crust skiing is hard to predict. That is part of the attraction, and it adds to the thrill when you nail a perfect crust day.
2011 was a relatively low snow year in southcentral Alaska, and it seemed that the general consensus was that the lack of snow would result in a poor crust season. But snow is only one factor that goes into baking good crust. Clear, sunny weather is just as important, and April this year had a lot of clear, sunny weather. As a result, there was a lot of good crust to be found this spring. It just goes to show that we should never try to predict crust conditions more than 12 hours in advance.
But the predictions were right about one thing – my crust season wasn’t very good. The sunny weather just didn’t seem to mesh with my schedule. This is why I am continuing my campaign to make every sunny day in April a state holiday.
But I did get out a few times to the usual spots: Portage, Center Creek, Glen Alps. And last weekend, Tim’s photos tempted Bill, Chris and I into a great day at Dogsled Pass.
Here is a “quick hits” photo gallery of my crust season 2011:
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Crust seekers: The next generation
Monday, April 11th, 2011
Portage Glacier, April 10, 2011. Thanks to Bruce Talbot for the photo
The 2011 White Mountains 100 – possibly the best race ever
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011Last year’s inaugural White Mountains 100 ultra race was lauded as being one of the best organized, most scenic, most fun races that most of the participants had ever done. In fact, the only two complaints I heard from racers I talked to were that it was very cold and there wasn’t a lot of snow (which created obvious problems for skiers but also overflow problems for bikers and runners). Well, race directors Ed Plumb and Ann Farris are so good at their jobs that, for 2011 they even took care of those issues. Somehow they managed to bump the temperature about 30 degrees and add a few feet of snow.
In every way possible, this year’s WM100 was perfect. The organizers had everything running smoothly. The volunteers were fun and enthusiastic. The racers were friendly and high-spirited. The weather was mild and sunny. The trail was well groomed. And the White Mountains lived up to their reputation for expansive vistas and jagged limestone crags. I mean, really, what better way to spend a warm, sunny weekend than out in spectacular, remote country with a group of fun, adventurous folks. It’s almost a shame that it is a race because I wish I could have spent more time getting to know each person I met and each place I saw. During the race I was suffering physically and I just wanted to be finished as soon as possible. But when it was all over, I wished I had been able to enjoy it longer. It is truly a one-of-a-kind race experience.
I’ll probably end up writing another post about my race, but for now a few thoughts on the race in general.
As I said, the trail conditions were perfect. That trail was probably as close as one can get to an even playing field between skiers and bikers. At least 80% of the course was really good for both. It was a little soft in places for biking, but in most of those same places it was narrow for skiing, so it evened out. So hats off to the bikers who took the first four spots. Those top three guys had a nice battle for the win, with the top woman close on their heels. Very impressive.
Also close on their heels, was Rob Whitney on skis. I cannot say enough about Rob’s performance. I am still in awe. I skied the first fifteen miles with Rob and I thought he was going way too hard. I thought there was no way he could continue to average 10 mph for this whole race. Well, he didn’t. His average speed dropped all the way down to 9.1 mph over the next 85 miles. Incredible. He may not have won overall, but I have no doubt that Rob had the performance of the day. Given the perfect conditions and the way he attacked that course, I will not be surprised if his record time stands for many years.
The other performance that sticks out in my mind is Kate Arduser, the first woman skier. Kate is a very accomplished ski racer, but she now lives in Cordova and didn’t ski much this winter. She showed no signs of rust, scorching the course in 13.5 hours.
Thanks to all the organizers, volunteers, race fans, support crews, and fellow racers for a fantastic weekend. It’s been three days since I finished, and I am still on a post-race high.
Pre-race thoughts on the White Mountains 100
Friday, March 25th, 2011Suddenly, the White Mountains 100 is upon us. It starts Sunday morning.
For my previous previous ultra ski races, I spent a lot of time preparing. This one, not so much. When you’ve got a three year old and an infant, things like the WM100 slide way down on the priority list. But now that it is go-time, I feel the need to release a lot of the thoughts about this race that have been swimming in my head for the past few months.
Back story
For a race that has only been run once, and that I’ve never done, I feel like I have a long history with it. About a year and a half ago, I got a mass email from Ed Plumb, who I knew from skiing to McGrath with/near him. He was putting out feelers to see if there was interest in having an ultra race in the White Mountains north of Fairbanks. Apparently the response was an definitive “yes” because within a few months the race was scheduled for late March. I desperately wanted to do it, but we had a baby due two weeks later, so it was a no-go for me. But my friend Bill signed up. And so did a ton of other people. Without yet even saying the word “Go!” Ed and Ann had already created the most interesting ultramarathon race around.
When race weekend rolled around, our baby was clearly not coming for a while yet. So I seriously considered flying to Fairbanks to stand at the start line, skis in hand, just in case one of the 50 racers didn’t show up. Glad I didn’t, because all 50 people started. Like I said, this race quickly became kind of a big deal.
I was determined to race this year, but I was away on vacation when registration opened. There were only 5 spots available for new racers, and despite getting up in the middle of the night to register, I ended up #10 on the wait list. I was really bummed, but Ed worked his magic over the next couple of months and was able to increase the field size from 50 to 65 racers. I was in!
So this is a long-winded way of saying that I am really excited to finally be in this race.
Training
My training for the WM100 was focused on one goal: beat myself up, little by little. I only had about 5 hours a week to train. I figured my cardiovascular base was probably still there (more or less). But since I haven’t been doing a lot of skiing, I was worried about my body holding up to the abuse. Skiing 45 minutes a day was not going to prepare my feet, hands, knees, and back for skiing 100 miles. So I figured the best way to prepare was to subject myself to long (4+ hour) skis once every week or two. And that is it. That is all I had time for. So, by my count, I’ve put in exactly eight quality training sessions for this race. Not ideal, but I feel strangely content with my preparation.
Goals
With that in mind, here are my goals for the WM100:
- Finish without getting injured
- Have fun exploring a new area
- Go as fast as I can while still accomplishing #1 & #2
I know it sounds lame…don’t get hurt, have fun, yada, yada. But I really think that is all I can expect from myself. However…here’s a little secret, just between you and me. There is a little voice in my head that won’t go away. It keeps telling me that, training be damned, I can still compete. I try to ignore that voice as much as possible. After all, I don’t want to be “that guy,” the over-the-hill, washed-up racer who is pathologically competitive and is a menace to himself and others out on the course. I may be over-the-hill and washed-up, but I don’t want to be a menace. All I am saying is that the little voice is still there, so if things are going well, I’m going to enjoy the ride while it lasts.
Gear
I am scrambling to decide on gear. As I began packing last night, I realized how many decisions I still have to make. Which skis? Which backpack? Reports from the trail have been varied, so that hasn’t helped. My strategy is to take a gigantic duffel bag of gear to Fairbanks with me, and decide at the last minute.
The Favorites
This article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is a good preview of the race. So if you are planning to follow along (do so here), here are a few things I will add:
- If the trail is in decent shape (and I think it is), a biker will win. In the past few years, I have sadly had to come to terms with the fact that today’s snowbikes are so fast that, unless the bikers have to push, there is no way a skier can compete in these types of races. Last year the fastest skier (Mike Kramer) was almost four hours slower than the fastest biker (Jeff Oatley). And those guys are both roughly equivalent endurance studs.
- The News-Miner article glossed over Rachel Steer and didn’t even mention Kate Arduser, either of whom could easily be the top skier overall, never mind fastest woman. I am desperately concerned about getting girled.
So that is about it. Hopefully, I’ll have a full report for you when it is over.
Arctic To Indian* (with a shorter shuttle)
Monday, March 14th, 2011(* – well, not quite Indian…)
One of my main concerns for the upcoming White Mountains 100 is my Achilles tendon. It has been two years since I tore it, and I haven’t had a single problem with it in well over a year, but recently I’ve started to worry about it anyway.
See, when I was training for the Iditarod Invitational, all of my long workouts were skate skiing. I figured that if I needed to shuffle along, classic style, at times during the race, I could do that just fine. But I didn’t anticipate having to shuffle for hundreds of miles. My feet, ankles, knees, and – yes -Achilles, were not ready for that. Eventually the Achilles gave out.
So now, leading up to the White Mountains 100, once again all of my long skis have been skating. But what if the snow is squeaky cold? What if there is a foot of new snow the night before the race? What if the trail is simply too narrow to skate? My leg aches when I think about it. So, it was time to squeeze in one more long training workout – classic style.
On a related note, I’ve had an idea for a while now to do the Arctic Valley to Indian ski, a very popular backcountry route behind Anchorage, but as a loop starting at Hillside – without the car shuttle. You could use city trails to get to Muldoon, then up the 5-mile trail to Arctic Valley, across the regular Arctic to Indian trail, and then instead of dropping down to Indian, go up and over Ship Pass, down to Glen Alps and back to Hillside.
This loop would certainly fit my criteria of a long classic ski with lots of climbing. But Saturday’s conditions weren’t good for the Muldoon to Moose Run section, and I was short on time – I only had a six hour window, so I skipped the city section and got dropped off at the bottom of the 5 mile trail, where Arctic Valley road starts to climb. The full loop will have to wait for another day.
The 5-mile trail was decent skiing. The first kilometer was a hard-packed mess of wavy bumps caused by sledders, but after that I was skiing up a trail that had been packed only by a couple of snowboarders. It turns out snowboarders make a pretty good trail for skiers when they don’t have to turn or push much. The Arctic to Indian trail was in excellent shape, very enjoyable skiing on classic race skis and extra blue wax. Breaking trail up to Ship lake wasn’t bad because most of the snow was hard and wind-blown (sastrugi). Hiking up to Ship Pass was a little sketchier than I would have liked. The recent sun and wind made the snow rock-hard and glazed in spots on that steep slope. Definitely wished I had either an ice axe and/or crampons. The run down to Glen Alps was also a lot of sastrugi. No carving turns, just holding on while the skis chatter away. Then a straight shot down to Hillside and a walk to my house to finish off the day.
Here is a link to a map and statistics. 29 miles, somewhere between 4000 and 5000 feet of climbing, total time 6:00:31
It was a fabulous day. Great snow, great sun, and I did it in exactly 6 hours so I wasn’t late getting back to the wife and kids. In my rush to get home, I didn’t take any pictures. I stopped for a total of about 30 minutes to fix a broken pole (watch out for narrow cracks in the ice on Ship Creek!) and chat with friends skiing Arctic to Indian.
Here’s a picture from the last time I was up on Ship Pass. It looked pretty much the same on Saturday. 
View The Su
Monday, February 21st, 2011It’s become sort of an annual tradition for me to spectate the Susitna 100. Go to the start, head out on the trail a few minutes before the racers, then cheer them on as they pass by. I usually get in a nice long ski as well. I don’t really have any interest in racing the Su 100 again. There are a number of things about the race that I don’t really care for. But the racers – I respect and admire all of them, so its fun to get out on the trail and cheer them on.
This year, Rob and I went together. Our original plan was to ski out to Luce’s Lodge. We’d get to spend the day in the middle of the pack, seeing a lot of the bikers and skiers. We’d stop there for a burger, then turnaround and ski back to the start in the evening, seeing the runners and the rest of the bikers and skiers along the way, and maybe even get passed by the leaders near the finish. That would have been an ambitious day (75 miles), for a couple of spectators. Because of a litany of excuses ranging from head colds to cats, we decided to turnaround just after we hit the Yentna River. So it was only a 60 mile ski.
The race was really interesting, as always. After pre-race rumors of “a foot of new snow”, there were only a few inches at the start. It had been packed well enough that the bikers were able to ride without any problems. But the cold, dry snow didn’t glide very well for the skiers. By Flathorn Lake, there wasn’t any new snow, making the trail even faster for the bikes, but at least by then the sun had warmed the snow enough that the skiing was pretty fast too. The lead bikers rocked it the whole way. Three guys finished around 11 hours. That’s fast. Given the conditions, I would have expected relatively fast skier times as well, but we only saw about have the course, so who knows what it was like the rest of the way. I do know that Chet had some problems with his sled early on, so that was likely a factor for him. But no skiers under 20 hours – I can’t remember the last time that happened.
For us, it was a fantastic day of fun in the sun. Here’s a link to our route on a map. Once again, Rob was the trip photographer.
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I had an idea that since we’d be seeing so much of the race, it would be fun to create a little documentary video. So early on, I tried to get video clips of everyone. But I didn’t realize that my memory card was pretty much already full of photos and videos of my kids. So I ran out of card space before we were even got to Flathorn. Bummer! So instead of a cool race documentary, all you get is a little video dump of all the footage I did take in the first couple of hours.
