Top 5 Favorite Crust Skis
Friday, April 25th, 2008On 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!).
- 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!
- Center Creek I’ve done this one three times now and its always one of the best skis of the season
- Broad Pass The skiing on this one was a little bumpy, but the scenery was great and it was a really fun road trip.
- 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.
- Carmen Lake and Twentymile Glacier - An early season (February) treat from the crust ski gods.
