Eaglecrest

 

We got back from our Juneau ski vacation just over a week ago and this is my final post about the trip.  This post is about the whole reason we went to Juneau - the skiing.  The skiing in Juneau was amazing.  Every day but the day we arrived and the day we left we skied at the local ski area Eaglecrest.  The ski area is tucked in behind the mountain on Douglas Island across from Juneau, and it is a remarkably big mountain.

For some reason I had heard that it was a small, 'local' hill, and that if you wanted serious skiing you had to use the ski lift to access the backcountry.  I was expecting a small local hill - something like Hilltop at Anchorage, and we brought along our backcountry ski gear in case we got bored and wanted some serious skiing.  So on arrival I was shocked to find a big mountain that absolutely blows away the Alyeska ski resort that I had thought the best in Alaska.  

The day we arrived it had snowed a foot, and they do have abnormally good ski conditions there this year.  Needless to say, but we never needed to use our backcountry gear, and we never got bored.  There were trees to ski and basically the terrain was such that you could do the same run multiple times without ever doing it the same way.  

The first day we helped ski off all the new powder on the main mountain.  Then on the second day they opened a lift that had not been open on the first day and we got another day of skiing off untracked powder.  And then on the third day it snowed again.

We were in snow heaven - at the end of this post is a 36 second silent movie that shows the ski conditions pretty well.  

Patrick

Downtown Juneau

We joked that the lights for the whale go on only when the cruise ships are in town (this might be true)

Downtown Juneau is a great little town - all nestled at the base of some very tall mountains with the ocean right there.  And it is also a town where you can just walk around and soak it in.  Unfortunately, I did not get very many pictures of the downtown area or of our activities - it was inevitably almost dark by the time we got back from skiing!  

Every morning we walked and had breakfast at a place called the Rookery.  And the name makes sense for a Juneau business because there are ravens everywhere.  This area was the heart of downtown.  It is a little sad that the cruise ships have taken over the waterfront area.  Since it was winter and there are no cruise ships the waterfront was all shuttered up and sort of seemed off limits (we did not check).  Still I get the feeling that winter is the best time to visit Juneau because I gather the cruise ships and tourists take over the town in the Summer.

One day we did get back a little early from skiing just to visit the Alaska State Museum.  I was super impressed, and got immersed in there exhibit on WWII in Alaska.  Nora really liked a contemporary photo exhibit from Adak - an old military base out in the Aleutians. It was abandoned in the 1990s and the photos show how it is all breaking down and basically turning into an archaeological site - or more accurately a ghost town.

Patrick

Alutiiq display at the State Museum

My Rookery breakfast - eggs Benedict!

Photos from the bridge over the channel to Douglas Island

Mendenhall

 

Our flight to Juneau was a couple of hours late and by the time we arrived in the early afternoon it was almost dark. Juneau is pretty far to the east in the Alaska Time Zone and at this time of the year it is dark by 4 PM.  But at least the sun is up by 8 AM.  We were too late for Eaglecrest and wanted to get in a ski.  Jerod suggested we go cross country skiing at a place with groomed ski trails at a campground by Mendenhall Lake.  

So immediately after leaving the airport we stopped at Fred Meyers for some REALLY bad sushi (our worst meal in Juneau - and not a place suggested by Jerod), and then off we went to the Mendenhall Valley.  On this first trip it was pretty much already dark by the time we started to ski, and we did not see much beyond the towering spruce trees covered in snow.  And it was really cold.

But the Mendenhall Valley became a sort of touchstone.  We went back to the same campground 2 more times.  Once to ski and once for the sunrise while on the way to the DMV.  

We had to go to the Juneau DMV because Nora lost her driver's permit and needed a new one re issued.  The Kodiak DMV is dysfunctional and we had made an appointment at the Juneau DMV before we even left Kodiak.  Of course when we made the appointment we had assumed 9:30 AM would be in the pitch black before sunrise and not get in the way of our skiing.  But by 9:30 AM on our visit the sun was long up and Nora was itching to hit the slopes!

On our last visit to the XC ski area we went early in the day on a day it was snowing.  We knew it was supposed to clear off and wanted to get to Eaglecrest a bit later.  The XC skiing was a good choice.  We could see the lake and the glacier off in the distance on the other side.  We had wanted to ski to the glacier but were a tad worried about getting lost in a white out on the lake if it started to snow really hard.  So we just enjoyed the groomed trails and the towering spruce trees bent down in new snow.

Patrick

Juneau Vacation

 

Eaglecrest sunset

The day after Christmas Nora and I along with cousin Leo went on a ski vacation to Juneau.  Stuey had to stay on Kodiak for basketball and the Joe Floyd Basketball Tournament so Leo took his place.  I first came to Alaska in 1985 and have lived here for over a 1/4 century but until this trip I had never visited Southeast Alaska. 

Juneau surpassed all expectations.  It was a winter wonderland and the Eaglecrest Ski area was much bigger and with better skiing than expected.   Somehow I had thought that Eaglecrest was going to be a small little thing like the Hilltop Ski area in Anchorage.  I was shocked to discover a ski area that absolutely blows away the Alyeska ski area and is one of the best ski areas I have EVER visited anywhere.  And the city of Juneau is beautiful, and fun to explore on foot.  In a weird way the place actually reminded me of Aspen Colorado, but better because it is on the ocean.

Jared from the elk hunt lives there and helped us out with logistics.  He had us over for dinner and admitted that we were a tad lucky with the weather and snow.  But I suspect that even if it had been raining in town the skiing on Eaglecrest would have still been good and Juneau itself would still be tucked in against the towering mountains adjacent to the Gastineau Channel.  It's a spectacular place!

In the next few posts I'll go into more detail on our visit. so stay tuned.

Patrick

Lake Mendenhall

Dawn near Lake Mendenhall - this is where we went XC skiing

View from near the Juneau DMV (we visited to get Nora a replacement drivers permit)

Goodbye 2021

 

Skate skiing with Stuey and the dogs just before Christmas

Some last few photos from 2021 that never got posted, although I still have lots of Juneau pictures to post later. I also will be posting what I consider my best pictures of 2021.  But for now I'll say goodbye to 2021 with these photos from near the end of the year.  2021 was actually a pretty good year.  The kids and I travelled to Maine and Arizona, and I did a lot of remote camping while on archaeological surveys.  

As regards these photos, the ones of Stuey and the dogs on ice are from just before Christmas.  It had already warmed up, but not enough to destroy the skate skiing on Lake Catherine.  On 2 consecutive days Stuey and I skied 20 kilometers going around and around the lake.

The ones of Nora on the beach are from a Christmas Day hike on Near Island.  Rather than stick to the trail, Nora and I opted to walk around the small sometimes island on the beach.  I'd never done that before.  While on the Trident Basin side of the island a buck ran out of the trees and jumped into the water and swam across the channel.  Then on the way home we saw house burning down.  It was very sad.

Here's to 2022!

Christmas Day hike with Nora

November wind and cold

Riding the rail in the Seattle airport on the way to Arizona

Snow Shock

 

Eaglecrest skiing with Nora and Leo

After Christmas Nora and I went on a ski vacation to Juneau with cousin Leo.  Stuey stayed home for basketball and the Joe Floyd Christmas Basketball Tournement and Leo took his place.  We had an amazing time and I will post on that vacation and on Juneau in detail in the next few days.  This post is about what we found when we got home - it's about our 'Snow Shock'. 

In the winter when I leave Kodiak on vacation it inevitably snows and is cold while I am away.  I'm always a little bummed out to miss out on the 'winter wonderland' side of things.  However, on this trip just before we left, Kodiak was socked with a super warm spell, and on the day we left it actually got up to 65 degrees (this broke the old record high by like 20 degrees - it rarely gets this warm on Kodiak even in summer!) So we weren't going to miss anything!

And we arrived in Juneau to temperatures in the teens and 3 feet of powder at sea level - a true winter wonderland!  We went cross country skiing thru spruce trees bowed down by snow.  At Eaglecrest, the local ski area, we skied the trees in deep powder.  It even snowed a 1/2 foot or so while we were there and Juneau was supposed to get another foot the day after we left.

So after four days of winter wonderland we returned to Kodiak to find . .. no snow and blah.  We stepped out of the plane to rain.  Total snow shock.  Nora opined that she actually would have preferred missing out on Kodiak 'winter wonderland' if it meant that we would return to a place with snow.  And I have to admit she's right.  So next winter vacation I hope it snows while I am away.

Yesterday we climbed up Pyramid to see just how bad the melt had been.  It was bad.  We had had good snow before we left, but really not a lot of snow.  It had just stayed cold, and so what little snow we had had stuck around.  But with no base, when it did get warm that snow disappeared quickly.  

Still there is hope - overnight the temperatures plummeted back down into the teens after over a week of temperatures above freezing.  And it is supposed to snow off and on all next week.  Fingers crossed!

Patrick

Pyramid yesterday

Hey where did all our snow go?

Pyramid fireworks