Pyramid with Andy, Shea and Nora

On Sunday Nora really wanted to ski Pyramid but I knew the road would be a sheet of ice.  We had actually driven up to the pass on Saturday and decided not to ski.  On Saturday the road did get better above the switchbacks.

So on Sunday we met up with Andy and Shea at the golf course and almost chickened out.  Neither of us had studs on our tires, and the road had gotten worse - it was literally a sheet of glare ice.  But I told them it got better above the switchbacks and in a moment of crazy group think we decided to give it a go all together.  Hey if someone went off the road the other car could help out . ... Right?

And so we white knuckled it up to the pass.  My car started to slip numerous times and I barely made it up the switchbacks.  I got to the parking lot and had had the 'fight or flight' response like I had taken on a polar bear.  But we were there and it was time to ski.  And for some reason we had the mountain to ourselves!

The light was really weird with the sun shining through a gauzy haze.  It was beautiful.  And the snow was way better than expected.  We even found a pocket of knee deep blown in powder in the jibber bowl.  I took so many pictures I will have to do 2 blog posts.  A 2 blog post ski!  Pictures of Nora skiing in the post to come.

We skied the North Bowl off of the top of the north face.  But up high the skiing was not all that great.  We found powder on crust lower down.  Nora had a blast skiing with the guys.
Patrick

Pillar Mountain

Saturday afternoon I skied Pillar Mountain.  I was hoping to find some sun warmed corn snow on the steep south facing slopes above town.  And find it I did.  I also realized that some of those slopes are super scary steep!  I did not know the mountain well enough to take advantage of the good snow conditions.  It is not often we have enough snow to ski the frontside of Pillar.

It was a beautiful afternoon and there was a weird golden haze - almost like during the summer when we got the forest fire smoke drifting in from the mainland.  It made for some spectacular visuals.  I noticed a lot of deer hanging out in the trees near the top and realized that they are doing better now that they can walk on top of the snow crust.  Earlier when the snow was soft they could not move.
Patrick

Afternoon Crust Cruise

Yesterday after work I went for a Buskin blast on skate skis.  Thursday night it froze hard so I knew the crust would hold me up.  It was also a glorious day in the 30s with practically no wind.  Perfect day to go skate skiing on a go anywhere crust.

So I parked at the outlet to Buskin Lake and skate skied around the edge of the lake and up the river into the canyon.  Most of the lake is covered with grey ice, but there is a 10 meter wide band of crusty snow along the edge that is perfect for skate skiing.

In the upper river the recent warm conditions created overflow on top of the snow and ice and in places it was like skiing on frozen avalanche debris - not good.  So when I reached an impassible water crossing just before the canyon I left the riverbed for the trip back to the car.  Off of the riverbed it was a little icy and bumpy for good crust cruising so I returned to the riverbed below the frozen overflow.

Then it was time to blast on home - down the river and across the lake.  I did take a bunch of scenery pictures at the lake.  I took pictures of the same scene both as single horizontally framed and stitched pans of 3 vertically framed pictures.    I could not decide which I like better - and so I include both below.  The single frame shows the mountain looking bigger and the detail is easier to see.  While the panoramic shows the whole scene in a more expansive way.
Patrick

Overflow debris and scour marks

This is as far as I got up the river - looking down river towards the lake

White World

Here on Kodiak it's been warmer lately, but it is still a white world.  We have a couple feet of snow in my yard, and when I went cross country skiing on the upper Buskin River I stuck my pole down through more than 3 feet of snow!

On the mountain the warmer weather has meant more fog, mist and snow.  While it has been sleeting and raining in town it has mostly been snow on the mountain.  But the last 2 times I went downhill skiing I could barely see.  I was ramming into frozen snow drifts and doing unexpected jumps.  I found myself snow plowing just to be safe.  It is kinda cool how anything with any color at all just leaps out of the white void.
Patrick

Bright colors in a white world!

Storm Skiing

On Sunday a big storm rolled in and it was supposed to start raining in the early afternoon.  I read the forecast and made a plan to go skiing as early as possible before the snow turned to rain.  But when I woke up it already looked pretty ugly in the predawn gloaming.  Nora and I were both a little 'undecided' on the ski plans.

Then my friend Ryan texted and said he was interested in joining us if we still planned on skiing Pillar Mountain (our plan from the night before).  Nora and I both thought, 'Heck if Ryan wants to ski then we better go!'  And go we did and it was beautiful and ugly at the same time.

As Ryan put it, 'it's storm skiing - it's when everybody leaves the mountain and you get all the best skiing to yourself'.  Indeed it was storm skiing!  It was blowing a gale, but we mostly stayed in the lee of the trees and out of the worst of the wind.  We did have to cross some unprotected gaps and the wind was brutal (see top photo), and you could always hear the wind howling.

We went up in the lee of the trees that mark the 'ex boyfriend' mountain bike trail.  And the snow was deep and soft powder.  Not wind effected!  Actually better skiing than we had had the day before in the sunshine on Pyramid.  It was so good we did 2 runs.

I commented that 'when I climb the mountain in a storm I like to pretend that I am climbing Mount Everest'.  Ryan replied that 'not enough of the people who climb those mountains practice skiing in bad conditions'.  So I guess after Sunday's experience that Nora and I are better prepared to climb Mount Everest.  And best of all we beat the rain!

Patrick

Literally getting blown over by the wind in an exposed spot by the gravel pit

Variable Conditions

It's Monday morning and raining outside.  My driveway is an ice rink with running water on top.  It's hard to believe that just yesterday it was snowing hard and the entire snowpack was dry. Nora and I went skiing twice over the weekend with Ryan.  On Saturday we caught the last of the cold sunshine on Pyramid while yesterday we skied powder in a storm (post to come).

On Saturday we were hoping for deep powder, but I sort of expected scoured windpack because it has been so windy and the snow so dry.  What we found was a bit of both - what's known as 'variable conditions'.  Deep powder in places and then suddenly a wind crust - that's what I am hitting in the bottom photo.

But it certainly was beautiful.  All the drifts and sculpted snow waves were gorgeous.  And the blowing plumes of snow added to the sense of adventure.  It was also very cold.  It was an adventure in the sunshine with big snow covered peaks all around.
Patrick

Shoveling out the Driveway

Time to start shoveling

I have a fairly long driveway and it was a daunting task that faced me after we 30 inches of new snow Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday I just bulled the car through the drifts.  The snow was deeper than the grill and the car acted like a snowplow.  Snow flew up and over the car as I drove to the road.   I drove back and forth a few times and left it at that as it continued to snow.

But come Thursday afternoon when it finally stopped snowing I realized that I had to do something.  The Hyundai was buried.  If I did nothing the next warm spell would turn everything to ice and the Hyundai would be stuck until spring.  And so I started to shovel, and shovel and shovel.  I also realized that I needed to shovel out the ridge between the tire ruts so that cars did not high center when it all turned to ice.  So I did that and thenI saw that the path needed to be a bit wider.  I'd do a little and think I was done - and then I would do a little more.  And finally it was all done!

Or so I thought.  On Friday I decided to go to work early and found that the snow plows had been hard at work too.  I was blocked in with a snowplow berm.  So I did another 30 minutes or so of shoveling and off to work I went.

My driveway is ready for the next storm, and right now it is snowing again.  But it is supposed turn to rain.  I'm praying for snow - fingers crossed.
Patrick

All shoveled and ready for the next storm

A surprise on the way to work