Beach Walk

 

There have been lots of beach walks lately.  Wide open places for the dogs to run and such a lot to see if you look close.  The last few days I tried to take close ups of some of the Marin life clinging to the rocks. It got me wondering if the blue mussels are safe to eat?  I remember that they were one of my favorite foods as a kid in Maine and so easy to collect.  But I never eat them here in Alaska - terrified of red tide.

Patrick

Salonie Creek Canyon

 

Friday afternoon after work I took the dogs on a long XC ski.  We drove out to the rifle range and skate skied up Salonie Creek and into the canyon.  This is the same ski that I did with Stuey, Zeke and Uncle Dicky a couple of weeks ago (click here for post).  But rather than stop halfway up the creek, the dogs and I went all the way to the canyon, and then another mile up into the canyon.

On the river it was an up wind skate ski and the going was relatively slow.  Occasionally I had to stop and take off my skis for creek crossings.  There was a lot of this in the canyon. Eventually we went so far up into the canyon that we 'lost' our crust.  I started to sink in too deeply into the snow and the dogs started to punch in.  This is hard on dogs and so we turned around.

And then we flew home to the car.  It is all slightly downhill - I think we gained around 200 feet of elevation - and we had a tailwind.  I was barely working and going so fast that the dogs had a hard time keeping up.  I had to stop a few times to let them catch their breath.

A beautiful ski.  Patrick

Corn Season

 

Yesterday Stuey and I skinned to the top on Pyramid.  Of late the best skiing has generally been lower on the mountain where the powder does not get all blown away. I must admit I was a tad worried that it would be an ice and snow-drift-dodging fest on high.  But no, it was so warm that the ice had started to corn up - even where the snow surface was not directly facing the sun.

The best skiing was actually on the upper slopes that had been blown bare of the new snow.  They had all corned up and it was hero snow - spring skiing!  Down low all the new powder was a soggy slow mess.  So great skiing on high and 'Meh' down low - just the reverse of what I had expected!

Patrick

Stubborn powder

 

In the last few days we got a lot of new snow on Pyramid.  A good foot of wet stuff on Saturday.  Then on Monday we got another solid 1/2 foot.  Yesterday there was practically no wind and it was looking like it would be an epic powder day.  Only it wasn't.

Up high it was all windblown and down lower the powder was 'stubborn'. It looked like powder only it did not want to let you turn.  It seemed fairly dry too.  But I think it got 'stiff' from warming up and then re freezing, and from a little wind packing.

Still it was not all bad!  It was a beautiful day and the snow was still far, far better than the snow that on other days I have been perfectly happy with.  It's just that it was almost a true powder day on the mountain.  If only the powder had not been so stubborn.

Patrick

Ski pics that got away

 

This blog is the family photo album.  At the end of every year I print it out and put it on the shelf.  So I like to post all the decent photos.  Here are a few of the kids skiing from the past couple of weeks that never got posted.

A few of Stuey and I skiing on Pillar Mountain behind town with Uncle Dicky; a couple of skiing with Stuey in a snowstorm from just a couple of days ago, and some of skiing with Nora on Pyramid on a sunny day from a couple of weeks ago.

It's been a good year for snow and skiing, and I am very happy that Stuey and Nora have been skiing so much!

Patrick

Snow Scenics

 

It has been an excellent late Winter/Spring season here on Kodiak. The weather has been either crisp and sunny or snowy.  No 'blah' rain and clouds with temperatures in the mid 40s.  These are photos of the snow from the past couple of weeks.  There has been both good cross country and downhill skiing.  

Late March and early April really is my favorite time of year.  It is usually when Kodiak has its best skiing.  The snow pack on Pyramid usually reaches it's maximum around mid April, and there is enough light in the day to really enjoy and take advantage of the conditions.

Every year it is the same - it's my favorite time of the year and yet there is that little cloud overhead.  Summer is coming.  Earlier in the winter it is dark and the skiing is generally not as good, but at least you know that you still have months and months of winter ahead.  Now it is sunny and bright and the snow is great but you also know that the end is near.

Patrick

Maple Sugar Weather

Yesterday was a gorgeous day - sunny and calm with a frosty morning and a high of around 40.  Maple sugar making weather - cold at night and sunny and warm by day.  And best of all there was new powder on the mountains from Saturday's storm.  A day best spent outside!

So in the morning we took the dogs for a walk.  Then took ourselves for a ski, and then on our return we took the dogs for another walk to the beach.  Later after dinner it was still very much sunny and warm outside and Nora tried to convince me to take the dogs for another walk.

It is amazing how completely different of a world it is up at the pass and on the mountain.  A full on winter wonderland.  Powder snow on the trees and even at the car there is about 3 feet of snow on the ground.  This is also the first new snow in a long while that was not followed by heavy wind.  So the snow was evenly distributed everywhere.  I taught Stuey not to fight the snow but to just go straight and do long turns.  The deep snow kept our speed down so that we could effortlessly float along.

At the beach you could see the snow on the mountains, and there was even snow right down to the high tide mark.  For a bit I walked above the high tide line looking for driftwood but the sun reflecting off of the snow hurt my eyes.  Far better to walk down on the broad strand.  There were a lot of other dog walkers down on the beach and the dogs all raced around together jumping after balls into the surf and racing up and down the beach.

Patrick