First Upper Buskin XC Ski of Year!

 

Yesterday I went for my first XC ski with the dogs in the Upper Buskin area.  This is one of my absolute favorite places to ski.  There are a bunch of old over-grown military roads in the area, and it is always out of the wind.  The old roads are like tunnels through the alders and towering cottonwood trees.  

There was barely enough snow to ski the trails.  But there was a thin layer of ice under the snow which acted as a base - so I actually did not hit any rocks.  It was pretty good skiing!  Of course the river was wide open and in areas where there was not an old road it was too rough to ski with such a thin layer off snow.  So I had to take my skis off to negotiate the creek crossings and rough areas.  

The dogs loved it!

Patrick

Any new snow is good snow!

 

It's been pretty icy up on Pyramid for about a week now.  Boilerplate conditions.  The kind of conditions that leave your feet numb by the bottom of the run.  And with all the clattering of skis on ice - wishing for headphones.  Worst of all has been the climb up - the climbing skins barely stick to the ice! 

But yesterday we finally got some new snow.  When Nora and I climbed up the mountain it was super windy and snowing hard.  Unfortunately on high the snow was mostly blowing off of the ice.  But down low on the mountain where there is shelter from the wind in the trees we found some nice patches of powder.

After we got home it snowed a few more inches in town - so hopefully today we'll find even better conditions on the mountain.  And even if it is all drifts with patches of exposed boilerplate, as Nora put it on the drive home, 'Any new snow is good snow!'  

Patrick

Also be sure and check the video on the bottom of post - shows what it is like to 'ski the storm'!

This picture is from a couple of days ago - now that's boilerplate!

USCG helicopter for scale

Dogs on Ice

 

Sunday evening Stuey and I took the dogs to Lee Lake for a sunset ice skate cruise.  The ice was pretty darn good for skating!  It was hilarious to skate backwards with the dogs chasing and watch them scrabble to change directions.  There were other dogs and when Bode and Brewster got tired I noticed that they would go and socialize for a bit before returning to the chase.

The sun slowly set and just before it dropped over the horizon Stuey and I took off our skates and walked back to the car.  Dogs suitably 'run' slept in the car on the ride home.

Tides out

 

Saturday afternoon after a perfectly frightful ski on Pyramid - the mountain is a sheet of boilerplate - Nora and I took the dogs for a walk on Buskin beach.  Inevitably it seems that when we go to the Buskin we arrive at high tide to find a very narrow beach.  But not this time - the tide was out and the beach huge.

There were lots of other dogs and people out and about on the beach.  Bode ran from one group of dogs and people to another.  It was doggie social hour.  The sunlight arced under the clouds and lit up the beach.  It was a dramatic walk.  

Best of all, on returning to the car Bode immediately dozed off in the backseat and did the sleep of a well-exercised dog!

Patrick

Pyramid at 3 o'clock

These days I am generally skiing on Pyramid at 3 o'clock and then walking the dogs at 5.  They are two totally different experiences - snow and mountains vs trees and the sea.  But in a weird way I do get to enjoy two sunsets.  The Pyramid sunsets start early with the sun raking along the mountains to the southwest.  Whereas, as I described in an earlier post, I generally never see the sun on my dog walks.  The dog walk sunset is all about the colors in the northern sky away from the setting sun while on the mountain the sunset is all about the actual sun and clouds in the southern sky.

Patrick

A year ago and today

 

I posted the top photo on Instagram this morning.  It is a picture from Wednesday's ski that I have taken too many times of the top of Pyramid.  I have taken the same view so many times that I debated whether I should post it or not.  But in the end I did post it.

Then about an hour later on Instagram my 'likes' informed me that I had posted the bottom photo exactly a year earlier.  I was totally chagrined - especially when I read what I wrote a year ago as a caption for the picture, 

'On high on Pyramid Mountain yesterday - I initially did not post this because it seems a little cliche, but the colors grew on me'. 

So it was cliche a year ago and it is cliche today!  But what struck me when I looked at last year's photo is just how little snow there was on the mountain a year ago. This year the top of Pyramid is doing pretty darn well in terms of snow.  Last year we got a lot of snow down low but nothing on high.  This year we seem to be getting the snow on high and not down low.  

I think I prefer this year!

Patrick

5 o'clock

A couple of weeks ago it was dark at 5 o'clock.  These days on the evening Abercrombie dog walk 5 PM is sunset. There is more time to walk and the tops of the spruce trees around the lake catch the golden light.  I generally take the dogs around the lake and we check out the beach.  Abercrombie faces north so at sunset the only places where you actually see the sun are at the park entrance and at the beach.  

Yesterday I noticed that the recent storms have been breaking over the beach berm and depositing logs in the lake.  Wow!  The waves also eroded the beach and it is much steeper down to the ocean than usual.  There are huge rafts of recently deposited bull kelp that the dogs inspected for goodies.  A raven joined us and also picked through the kelp. 

 Patrick
 

Dogwalks

Some pictures from dog walks over the last week or so.  As I said in yesterday's post - it's been pretty stormy here of late!  The huge waves rolling in off the Gulf of Alaska are quite dramatic when they crash in on our beaches and cliffs.

Bode continues to be a good dog.  He has grown quite a bit bigger since his arrival over a month ago, but it  is beginning to look like he will be on the small side.  Nothing like as big as Tank, Brewster or Sheba anyway!  He is also really good about sleeping in his kennel and wanders room to room with the pack.  

On the downside he is a puppy and often acts like it on hikes.  Every time we run into other people or dogs he wants to play and follow them.  This means that we have to pick him up every time to continue our hike.  Wet muddy dog to carry.  It's a good thing he is small!  Patrick