Tailgate Alaska (Thompson Pass)

Two weekends ago I got sent to Thompson Pass, outside of Valdez, AK, for work. This is about 140 miles from home as the crow flies, but over 300 miles as the car drives, which takes a looooooong time in an RV towing a trailer with a couple of snowmachines. The red star on the map below shows where Thompson Pass is. Thompson Pass is one of the snowiest places in Alaska, if not the world, having recorded almost 1,000" of snow in a single season at the elevation of the pass itself (~2,800') and 62" of snow in a single day, while the surrounding peaks at elevations of 5,000-8,000' receive even greater snowfalls. I was sent there to inspect the site of Tailgate Alaska, which was issued a land use permit by the State of Alaska, and to check in with several other permit holders while I was in the area. I actually got lucky to draw this duty, since the DNR employee who actually issued these permits is currently pregnant and couldn't make the trip herself. Tailgate Alaska is basically the spectator/lodging/commercial component of the World Extreme Ski Championships and the King of the Hill snowboard competition. Even though the competitions themselves were on hiatus during our visit due to low visibility, it was still pretty cool to be there. I got to go on one snowboard tour which was fun despite the low visibility and sun-baked snow, and I also got to play around a bit on a snowmachine (getting myself some "brap! brap!" in the local jargon). Anyway, here are some pictures from the trip:

Thompson Pass, near Valdez, AK, is in the High Chugach, where most of the surrounding peaks are at least 6,000 feet high (and up to 13,000 feet), as opposed to the western part of the range where peaks are generally <6,000 feet and no more than 8,000.

Main street of Tailgate Alaska was a sloppy muddy mess after about noon each day. But thats what rubber boots are for, right?

At Tailgate, there were a number of places like this where you could get yourself a cup of coffee or a snack.

Therre were also places like this, that looked a bit more permanent.

Here I am, staying out of the mud and heading down to inspect the permit at the beer garden.

Beer garden closed. NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Taking a break from some of our inspection-related travel.

Snowmachine helmets weigh like 50 pounds. My neck is still tired.

Here is me getting ready to go for a quick tour in the afternoon and looking stupid.

At the top of the tour, the light was flat and it was impossible to see any texture to the terrain. Here I am hoping for the best before starting my descent into a ravine that promised better visibility and a chance for soft snow.

Backcountry Snowboarding - 12/23/2010

On Thursday Beth and I went out backcountry snowboarding with our friends Bryn and Louis. We were ready for some cold weather, but when we drove through a valley and the temperature suddenly dropped to -14 I was thinking of calling it quits. Fortunately, the temperature rose just as quickly as we climbed up the other side of the valley, and did so before I had the chance to give voice to my cowardice.

It was still right around zero when we left the cars, and I was more worried about Bella and Dash getting cold than I was about myself, mostly because Bella has been a sissy about having cold feet recently. But they were both fine all day until the very end, when I think they were so tired that keeping warm was more of a struggle. But thats getting ahead of myself. In the morning, it was easy to stay warm, since as soon as we left the car we started skinning our way straight uphill. In fact, we'd already stopped to take off some layers before we found ourselves bathed in sunshine, and it was probably for the best that the sun wasn't really adding any heat to the mix. This time of year its so great to get out in the sun, though, so we might as well have been on a beach somewhere.

With clear skies and bright sun, the highlight of the day was probably the amazing scenery. The snowboarding was a lot of fun, of course, but the surrounding mountains were just beautiful, and I kept stopping to snap more and more photos of the same peaks and ridges all day. Of course, all day is a pretty short time frame, so with the sun setting as we started back to the cars at the end of the day there was time for one last shot and then the camera had to get put away.

But I guess I shouldn't sell the snowboarding short. After reaching the top of our ridge around noon, we took a quick lunch break before making some turns down the back side of the ridge. Despite almost 3 weeks without snow there wasn't another ski or snowboard track in sight, although moose had made a mess of the powder at the very bottom of the run. We skinned back up to the top of the ridge and took our second run down the front side, where there were a good deal of tracks but the snow was probably still as good as anything in bounds after noon on a powder day. Of all things we ran into Beth's and Bryn's boss' boss at the top of the second run. Someone in his group was impressed with the fact that we'd made a run down the back side, but I think both of the ladies were a bit disappointed to have work catch up to them in the backcountry.

On a final note, it felt really good to get out and make some turns for the first time in a year and only the second time in 2 years. I had a ton of fun with the fact that I can go out and charge pretty hard right off the bat. I also loved the fact that my split board handled the chopped up snow on the last run like a champion. It brought back the feeling of riding my first Never Summer through that sort of snow for the first time - just great control and super steady underfoot.

Anyway, I can't wait to get back out again, even though I do hope its a bit warmer the next time. And a bit of fresh snow wouldn't hurt, either. Now here's the photos:

came really close to suggesting we turn around at 10:06, but seven

minutes later it wasn't so bad.

setting out from the car before the sun rises

above the surrounding peaks

the crew breaks into the sun for the first time of the day

happy to have some sunshine on our way up

Beth drops in at the top of run #1

heading back to the top for run #2

snow-covered mountains

beautiful scenery, all day

the sun was starting to set as we got back to the top

before our second run.

and a closing shot of Bella looking dignified...

It begins...

New Snowboard!!!!

Hates the old bindings. I went down to Alyeska this morning and hit the slopes for the first time on my brand new snowboard. We took one run together, and at the top of the second run I noticed that my old bindings had snapped. So I made my way carefully down to the base and went into ski shop #1 to buy new bindings.

But they didn't have any large bindings in stock. Now, my feet are big for my size, but my size ain't that big, so its not like i need some king size bindings. Anyway, I left, kind of miffed, and headed over to the other ski shop in Girdwood. Guess What?!? They had bindings - for only a little over $300! I asked the guy if they had any of their other bindings in stock and when he said no I politely declared "FUCK!" and stormed out of the store.

Long story short, I got a full refund on my lift ticket and got bombed in the base lodge. It was pretty fun.

Alyeska Weekend

Beth and I went down to Girdwood on Friday afternoon, where we met up with about 10 of her friends from work to stuff ourselves silly and drink too much. Almost incidentally, we also went snowboarding and cross-skiing. If one measures the success of a ski weekend by the heftiness of ones breakfast burrito, as I do (and God help you if you don't even eat a breakfast burrito on a ski weekend), then this one must have come in at about 23 ounces. Big success!

The mountain was in good condition, with the kind of weather that I have sorely missed for the past couple of months, and the scenery was beautiful. Don't believe me? Well here are some pictures to prove it:

first a couple of panoramics from Saturday

and then a couple from XC skiing on Sunday