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.

April 29, 2007: If I had to pick one ski route as the quintessential Southcentral Alaska crust ski - it would be Center Creek.

June 25: Tim Kelley and I went peakbagging in the Lynx Creek area of the Kenai Mountains. Center Creek gave us a good excuse to do some packrafting as well. Also be sure to look at Tim’s photos and comments.

April 15: Bill, Toby, Andy, Seth, Erika, and I headed to Turnagain Pass to see if the snow had yet transformed to a skate-worthy crust.

On Sunday Sept 25, Linda and I mountain biked the Johnson Pass trail.

July 30th & 31st was forecasted as cloudy with some rain. So it sounded like a good weekend to do a sport where you are going to get wet anyway - packrafting! I packrafted on the 20 Mile River and 6 Mile Creek. So I guess you could say I did a packraft marathon (20 + 6, except that I only floated about 18 miles total).

On Sunday April 17, Scott, Bill and I planned to explore the crust skiing in Center Creek. If only I could get us there…

After weeks of waiting, the Anchorage area crust ski season officially began today.

Thursday April 15. Tim Kelley and Tim Miller invited me to join them for a crust ski up Center Creek, near Johnson Pass. It was a chance I couldn’t pass up, so I skipped work and grabbed the boards. We skied for about 4 hours in some of the best crust skiing terrain you will find anywhere.