June 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!
Crust 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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Portage Glacier, April 10, 2011. Thanks to Bruce Talbot for the photo
For years I’ve wanted to crust ski up Summit Creek, which is just west of Summit Lake in the Kenai Mountains. My hope was that once I got up there, I could make some cool loops with Resurrection Pass and Devil’s Pass. Two years ago, Tim, Tim, Benji and I tried going up Summit Creek, but it wasn’t good so we bailed to Turnagain Pass instead.
Today I wanted to try again, even though I suspected that snow conditions would be about the same as last time. I went alone, mainly because I was afraid that I’d get denied again. But I just had to know if it was any good. I resolved that I would go anyway and just hike as high as I needed to get to snow.
Well, no hiking necessary. It was amazing.
When I got there, I made a last-minute decision to head up towards Gilpatrick Mountain, which is one valley south of Summit Creek. It looked like it would be better skiing. Summit Creek still looked poor, but I figured if I was able to complete a loop I could hit Summit Creek on the way down. It would be easier to handle poor snow and alders on the descent. Plus, Gilpatrick Mountain looked like it would be VERY avalanche-prone once the snow got wet and heavy. I wanted to hit it early when it was solid. Summit Creek definitely has avalanche dangers as well, but the areas are more obvious and many of them had slid recently.
I started skiing at 7 AM. The first hour and a half to the first pass was relentlessly uphill, but the crust was excellent and after that it was great cruising. I went over Gilpatrick Mountain, down to Devil’s Pass, through Resurrection Pass, over to East Creek, up East Creek to the pass by Summit Creek and then down Summit Creek back to the car. It was a 25 mile loop and took just over 4 hours.
I took lots of pictures, but I was alone and not really in the mood to stop, so all the pictures are crust and mountains. The pictures don’t really do it justice. The crust was perfect the whole way, the mountains were beautiful, and it was a really interesting loop.
One of the best skis (crust or otherwise) I’ve ever had. The only thing it was missing (compared to some other great crust skis) was spectacular glacier views. But no complaints, the rest was awesome.
Map and photos:
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Family trip to Portage Glacier this weekend.
Perfect.
Is there some place I can live where it is March year-round? March here in south central Alaska was damn-near perfect this year. The first half of the month was cool and snowy, then the second half was warm and sunny. And with the long days stretching daylight until after 8 PM – it’s simply an unbeatable combination. Despite the warmer than average temperatures for the past three weeks, the snowpack is holding up well, and even increasing in some mountainous areas.
But it is now April, and all thoughts turn to crust. We’ve had a couple of good windows of crust skiing, but its been limited to the “warm-up” areas like Portage Lake and Skookum Glacier. These areas are right at sea-level so they melt out first. I like to hit them early as a warm up for bigger crust skis to come.
On Saturday, an old friend and co-worker, Yin, was in town. We went south to Skookum early in the morning. The crust was punchy near the glacier, but very good in the base of the valley.
I’m not sure if I’ll have much time for crust skiing this year, so I’m glad that I got in at least one good day.
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I spent the Labor Day weekend camping with family and friends at Caines Head State Recreation Area, on Resurrection Bay south of Seward. On Sunday, we did a really cool hike up the Alpine Trail. Despite rave reviews in guidebooks and online trail guides, this hike is still relatively unknown. I think it ranks among the best trail hikes in Alaska.
The trail from Caines Head to above treeline is three miles (plus an additional 4.5 miles if you are starting from Seward instead of Caines Head or Derby Cove). Once you get above treeline, there are tons of cool glacial ridges and gullies to explore, a few small tarns, and spectacular views of Resurrection Bay and Callisto Peak.
At one of the tarns, the kids and moms stopped to wade in the water and scramble on the rocks, while Ian and I explored the southern flanks of Callisto Peak. Lots of amazing features to see up here. Gorges, glaciers, cliffs… and that’s before even raising your head to gawk at the views of Resurrection Bay. Ian and I hiked up to the southern ridge of Callisto, where we were treated to a spectacular view of Bear Glacier and the gigantic icebergs floating in its glacial lake. For me, it was the “view of the summer” and one of the best glacier views I’ve ever seen. Unfortuantely, in our haste to drop our kid packs and start exploring, Ian and I both left our cameras behind. Damn! So I can’t share that view with you. The best I can do is show you a couple of pictures of what the view looks like in winter (thanks to Matt Faust). These pics are taken from the top of Callisto rather than the ridge, but you get the idea. Its even more dramatic in the summer with greenery and blue water to offset the white ice.
I highly recommend checking out this hike if you are in the Seward area. The views are as good as Lost Lake or Exit Glacier/Harding Icefield, but with a lot less people. And if you do go, please send me a picture of the Bear Glacier view! I want that shot in my photo album. Maybe I’ll just have to go back. Sigh.
Aaaahhhhh.
That noise you hear is me letting out a loud, contented sigh. Finally, after five long months, I made it back into the mountains of Alaska. My main goal as I was rehabbing my Achilles tendon was to heal well enough and quickly enough to do some peak-bagging before summer was over. If I could just bag a peak or two, summer would not be a total loss. By early August, I was feeling ready and the weather was looking good. So Tim Kelley and I got together for a hike.
Tim suggested Bard Peak, which he had done before. If you’ve ever gone to the Portage Glacier Visitors Center and looked across Portage Lake, you’ve seen Bard Peak. Here’s a picture of it in winter time. Bard Peak is the pointy one on the left.
Bard Peak is fairly close to home and seen by hundreds of people every day, but rarely climbed. It would provide enough vertical gain, bushwhacking, and rock scrambling to give my legs a good test without too many unknown-territory variables.
We accessed the peak by paddling across Portage Lake. The paddling made for great bookends to a spectacular hike. Check my photos below, and of course also check Tim’s trip photos.
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It feels good to be back at home with sore muscles and a few scrapes on my arms and legs, enjoying the afterglow of a long-awaited peak-bagging outing.
Linda did the Ride for Life this past weekend. Its a two-day ride from Anchorage to Seward with a campout at Summit Lake in the middle. 80 miles the first day, 40 the second. Its a ride, not a race, and the organizers treat the riders right, with huge spreads at the aid stations and a big barbecue on Saturday night. It’s a pretty fun deal. For many of the participants, its the longest bike ride they’ve ever done.
The kiddo and I cheered Mommy on (via car) along the way, and met her at Summit Lake after day 1, where we had the tent and her dry clothes waiting. We camped out and enjoyed the band, barbecue, and evening program. On Sunday morning, Linda got up and finished off the ride into Seward.
The weather was kind of miserable – a steady headwind and frequent rain. I had grand ideas for my own adventures each day after Linda finished her biking. I had a hike near Summit Lake and a mountain bike ride in Seward all planned out. But Mother Nature unleashed her nastiest in the afternoons, so I bagged both days. My weekend was an O-fer.
Fortunately, Linda picked up my slack. She raised money for cancer prevention and rode 120 miles. We all had a lot of fun, even in the wind and rain. We talked about how it would be fun to do this ride as a family. Too bad there is no way we’d risk pulling a Chariot on the Seward Highway.
Photo: George Stransky
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