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:

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:

I used to hate this time of year.  An Autumn of cool, rainy weather would always raise the hope of a early ski season.  But inevitably a high-pressure system would move in, the sky would clear, and the temperature would drop.  And it would stay like that.  Everything is cold and frozen, but no snow.  Very frustrating for someone who lives to ski.  

Recently, though, my interests have diversified, and I’m less of a ski-at-all-costs kind of guy.   I’ve embraced biking and running on the frozen trails.  I got studded tires for my mountain bike and it opened up a lot of new options.    I even found myself hoping that we wouldn’t get snow after the lakes began to freeze up, so that we could enjoy some ice skating.  I went skating at Potter Marsh both days last weekend and it was fantastic.  

I love the maze of ice created by the cattail vegetation.  You can skate for hours and never get bored.  And when the skiing jones kick in, I can always drive up to Hatcher Pass for beautiful skiing, which I did on Sunday morning.   (There is skiing nearby at Glen Alps, but it wasn’t very good the last time I went, and with all the other recreation options, I haven’t been back yet.)

As I was ice skating yesterday, I was thinking about all the ice skating trips I would like to do.  Nancy Lakes, Swan Lakes, Jim Creek.  Don’t get me wrong, as soon as it snows, I will be on my skis and loving it.  But yesterday, I was in no rush.  I could go for another week or two of snow-free lakes and trails.  

So, naturally, it snowed today.  Just enough to hamper the ice skating but not enough to ski.  Oh well, plenty of other options during our beautiful Eskimo Summer.

A couple of years ago, Scott and I tried to ski up Willow Mountain looking for crust. That time we didn’t make it, but this time Tim and I used classic skis and had better luck. Tim’s video of this ski:

We’ve skied at Hatcher Pass lots of times – all on day-trips. But on Thanksgiving weekend, Linda & I decided to make a weekend of it and stay at the Hatcher Pass lodge. Three days of skiing!

On Saturday, April 9, Scott and I went searching for crust. I did a recon mission south of Anchorage yesterday and found no crust, so this time we headed north to Willow and the Hatcher Pass road.

Mark it down…on September 25, I went skiing!

On August 27, Linda and I went for a run/hike to the Reed Lakes in the Talkeetna Mtns near Hatcher Pass.

Hammer Adventure Race held on July 10, 2004

On Saturday April 10, Scott, Martin and I headed to Hatcher Pass in search of some crust skiing. The crust was a bit spotty, but the snowmobile trail was in great shape for skiing.