Alpine Crust Cruising

Powder snow does not last long in the spring.  Warm sunny afternoons and cold nights have turned Monday's powder into a crust.  So yesterday instead of downhill skiing I decided to try riding on top of the crust in my skate skis.

And the crust cruising was great at the lower elevations.  But the higher I went into up the mountains the less of a solid crust I found.  And on shaded, north-facing slopes I even discovered pockets of powder.  So in places I had some tough going on my skinny skate skis.  I did find that if I went super fast I sometimes could stay on top of the crust.  Sometimes I also hit soft spot and catastrophically stopped.  It was an exciting descent.

Today I think I will skate ski at lower elevations!

Patrick

Harbinger of Spring

Today I noticed the first blooming crocuses at my house.  I know they have been blooming elsewhere in town but these were the first I noticed at my house.  I also checked under the spruce boughs in the garlic bed and found a few sprouts.  In a sunny spot along the fence I also found the first dandelion!  So spring is definitely on the way.

Meanwhile it has been freezing pretty hard every night, and there is deep snow at the pass.  Up on the mountain we have still not achieved the maximum snow pack.  Max snowpack generally occurs sometime in late April.  Patrick

Crust Cruising at 20 Mile and Portage

Here are some more pictures from my XC ski, crust cruising adventure last Sunday Morning at Turnagain Arm.  It was a pretty amazing morning.  Bright sunshine, no wind, incredible views, and fast ski conditions. Next spring I hope to go back and explore with Nora and Stuey.  I KNOW they would like the glacier.

Powder in the Sunshine

And there was no crust!  Today the sun came out and the skiing on Pyramid was fantastic!  One to two feet of new, heavy powder.  By tomorrow it ought to be crusty and tracked, but today it was unparalleled.  I did as many runs as I could, as quickly as I could, and then rushed off to pick up the kids from St Mary's.

To finish I skied out via the south bowl and 'Three Tree' run.  I did it at high speed with big arcing GS turns and just one stop for pictures.  It was a total rush.

Back in the car on my way home I looked back up the mountain and admired my ski tracks there all alone on the mountain.  Patrick

First run

Second run spooning the First!

South Bowl

I ripped the 3 tree run in one long swoooosh with no stops

Snow and Ice

Portage Glacier Ice

At Portage Lake I got to see what happens if lots and lots of snow accumulates and does not melt.  It turns into a glacier.  All blue and sharp.  Pretty impressive.  Then yesterday I got to see lots and lots of new snow on Pyramid.  Deep and soft.  Unfortunately I know it will be mostly all gone by late June.  It will melt and turn into water to feed our rivers and creeks and provide habitat for salmon.

Today it is sunny and it got pretty cold last night.  I am worried there will be a crust on top of the new snow - but if there is not a crust I will have a powder day in the sunshine. I can't wait to get off work and get up there!  Patrick

Pyramid Snow

We got 1 to 2 feet of new snow yesterday!

Conference Over

Portage Glacier - WAY smaller than when I last saw it about 15 years ago

The Alaska Anthropological Association Conference is over and I am now back on Kodiak.  There is a storm raging outside and my plane barely made it in last night.  Phew - but I am glad to be back!  No more hotel rooms, small talk with strangers, or dirty Anchorage sidewalks.  I'm Home!

That said, I did have a good time in Anchorage hanging out with other anthropologists and XC skiing in the afternoons.  At the conference everyone speaks my 'language' and I get to hang out with colleagues I've known for 30 years.  I always learn something new and people listen to what I have to say.  It is a good time.

Also once the conference was over, rather than jumping directly onto a plane home, I spent a half day exploring Turnagain Arm outside Anchorage.  I skate skied across a lake and checked out Portage Glacier - something I last did about 15 years ago.  That turned out to be pretty quick (only a 15 -20 minute skate ski to the glacier).  So on my way back to the airport I parked beside the road and skate skied up a huge valley along the 20 Mile River.  It was cool to see all the trees killed by the subsidence of the land in the 1964 earthquake.  Just like the dead trees that line the shore on Afognak!

So good to be home.  Patrick

Presenting Molly, Amy and I's Poster

Post Conference Balzoni Party at Van's Dive Bar

Presenting my paper - I look so serious!

Post Conference crust cruising at 20 Mile River

A post conference visit across the lake to Portage Glacier

Portage Ice and Sun

Morning Terror

In a couple of hours I am giving a presentation here at the Alaska Anthropological Association.  I have been practicing the opening of the talk here in my hotel room.  Just like with the ski race a couple of weeks ago (click here) I am super nervous.  I also know that all will be well and that no matter how well I do I will be happy this afternoon.  It's just that I hate the wait!

My presentation is all about the archaeological survey of Afognak that I completed this fall.  I found some pretty cool stuff so it will be fun to tell my colleagues about it.  Patrick

March

It's getting to be late March.  The ice in the local lakes is beginning to break up and I noticed that my  crocuses are getting ready to bloom.  Each day the sun rises a little more towards the North, and pretty soon the morning sunrise will be out of the ocean and rather than over Spruce Cape.  The XC skiing at the golf course is pretty much kaput.

But there is still great skiing at the pass.  The last few days I have been skate skiing on the crust right from the parking lot.  March and April always has the best crust cruising.  Just as late April and May is usually when the downhill skiing is at its best.  Patrick

The edge sof Lake Gertrude are now thawed and I fear the ice is rotten

Cottonwoods at the pass

Panoramic of the cottonwoods at the pass - this is 3 pictures stitched together

One of my favorite places to skate ski on the spring crust

Downhill Skiing with the Cousins

Some final spring break ski trip pictures.  These are the ones of the kids downhill skiing.  To my chagrin this is Nora's favorite type of skiing.  She just loves going fast, and claims that XC skiing just is not fast enough.  This was the 3rd straight year we went to Alyeska and I am proud to say that both Nora and Stuey have become avid downhill skiers.  Mission Accomplished!

Also looking at these pictures I remembered that like me Nora hates goggles and sunglasses.  Stuey always wants the goggles whereas Nora and I will battle spitting snow in the eyes rather than wear the things.  Patrick

One Mississippi, Two Mississippi . ... .Click

Today I tried to take 'selfies' while cross country skiing at the pass.  It was just so gorgeous and I thought the landscape needed someone in it.  So I tried to put me in it!

This proved to be a very difficult process.  I did not have a tripod so I had to perch the camera on my hat and coat.  Then there was the self timer - a couple of times I thought I pushed it and raced around only to find the camera never took a picture.  Or sometimes when I pushed the shutter button the camera would shift and end up pointing at the sky or ground.

But the hardest part was getting to the right place at the right time.  I had to count one Mississippi, two Mississippi and then be where I wanted to be at 12 when the shutter clicked.  Of course then my tongue would be sticking out etc.  By using the exposure bracket setting thing, I did figure out how to make the camera take 3 pictures each time (albeit at slightly different exposures).  And this helped a lot.  Then when I really figured it out and got what I thought was the best picture the sun went behind a cloud.  Oh well.

I am actually amazed I got a few pictures that I liked!

Patrick