Skiing at Hatcher

It has been a climbing sort of winter, but I was reminded again how good skiing can be!   Super fun day out on Marmot in Hatcher Pass.

Ryan at the base of Marmot Peak



It was so good!

 

Climbing with the Girls, and Ryan

Ryan had the day off, Kellie wanted to go climbing, I happened to talk to Raina for the first time in months, and Joni had a babysitter. I was amazed that we all managed to meet at my house and by 10 and went ice climbing. Ryan drove his mini van with us gaggle of girls. It was a day full of laughs for sure.

At base of the approach pitches

 

I wanted to lead the right pitch since I got to lead left the week before. It was nice, not as soft as it looked, but decent.

 

There are very few places that I want to go ice climbing at with more than 3 people, but this place is perfect.  Super fun day out with good friends.

Kellie enjoying the short window of sun.

Hillside Pillars

Awesome day out to the Hillside Pillars. The lack of snow made the approach straight forward and easy.

Kellie almost to the base of the pillars.

 

The left line looked more aesthetic to me, a grey little wisp of ice, but protectable. Typical early season rock chimmney top out.

 Kellie on the left Pillar

 

Its rare to see the sun ice climbing in mid November, but Kellie and I savored the 30 minute window it hit us.
 

 

Heading Down

 

Ridiculously Early Season Skiing

There was literally two inches of fresh snow on the road up to Hatcher Pass. Ryan is a ridiculously optimistic skier and wanted to carry his skis up to April Bowl, where he imagined much more snow. I decided to play along and count ski weight as better exercise.

Ryan with Independence Mine in the background

Walking the skis 

Yep we walked our skis all the way to the top of April Bowl, there was about a 2-6 inch "base" of wet snow that had frozen and was now very supportable...just not very deep.  We skied from the top dodging rocks poking through the thin crust, it definitely wasn't worthy of a second lap.  Then we took off our skis and walked back down.

At least the views didn't suck, I love looking over mountain ranges, Denali dominated the skyline.

Ryan and Me

 

A Night Away at the Snowbird Hut

I just wanted a night of solitude in a beautiful place, and the fact that the Snowbird hut has a heater makes it my favorite place! The Archangel valley road was still open and completely clear of snow. I carried my skis about 1,800 feet up to the snow line but since there is a 4,000 ft gain to the pass I got to skin up a solid 2000 ft and across the glacier to the hut.

Looking down toward the Bartolff Valley

The views did not suck.

 

Peaks in the Mint Glacier Area

Frozen runnel lines on the Snowbird glacier looked completely unappealing for skiing in the morning.

 The Snowbird Hut was awesome as usual. 

 

I used my entire container of kerosene the first night and it made leaving the next day much easier.  The skiing down was thin but supportable while it lasted.

Looking down toward Palmer

 

 I feel lucky to live in such and beautiful place and have the time off to enjoy it.

 

Skiing in the Sun at Hatcher Pass

A blue bird day in Hatcher pass with light, fresh, fluffy, sparkling powder, I don't think I could have smiled any wider.

Ryan and I skied a line down the Sunny side of Micro Dot, then went around back for a North facing run.

Our tracks coming out from skiing the back side, gold Cord lake is in the bowl above our tracks.

Skiing back to the car, phenomenal day out in the sun!

A Winter Snowbird

With a week off I wanted to leave town for a few days and it has been months since I have been up to the Snowbird hut. GeorgeAnne had the time free and her s/o Andrew did too, and Ry also has an abundance of time these days so we decided to spend a couple nights up there mid week.

It was a bit of a slog down the road and we had just passed the angry resident moose and pulled off to take a break at the Reed Lakes trailhead when my good friend Rapheal pulled up on his snowmachine. We got a little help to the bottom of the first big hill.

All of us plus Rapheal

The conditions touring up to the hut were pretty ideal...but it still is a bit of a journey and we didn't end up pulling into the hut until after dark...having a GPS with maps on it is pretty amazing in the dark. It also helped that the hut was illuminated by its occupants Leo and Kevin.

Skinning up to the first big hill...

When we got up the next morning it took a couple cups of coffee to get going... George Anne and Andrew both had gotten some nasty looking blisters and weren't really feeling it...Kevin was also moving slow. So Leo, Ryan and I headed out the door into the milk together.
Ryan at the top...

For a short, old guy, Leo kicked our asses...he broke trail through the 4-6 inches faster than I could follow without being out of breath. It was pretty awesome really.

It was overcast and the light was by no means great but the views were still pretty and the run had some variable snow in the middle but the last stretch was butter cream powder.

The snow was definitely worthy to have another go on the other obvious couloir full of pretty snow..

Ryan Skiing the second line..

A look up at our lines with amazing visibility at sunrise ... We skied the obvious far left and far right line...

Hut camping is the way to go. The snowbird hut is amazing, I could easily kill a day doing nothing but looking out the windows.

We woke up to a beautiful blue bird day, it was so unexpected and lovely. We packed up and headed back up and over the pass toward town.

Ry heading up the Snowbird glacier....

The Pass

The sun and snow on the other side was dreamy. It truly could not have been any better. I've hiked down this trail many times, but skiing is the best way to go.

Heading down...

Sun, Snow, Friends....

A great trip, one I look forward to doing again...its amazing what looks skiable when all the boulder fields are filled in with snow...Hatcher pass has more snow this winter than its had in years...

The Snow Bird Hut

Ryan came back to town from his summer field season, and we wanted to get out, but keep it civilized. The Snow Bird hut is my ideal home away from home, and Ryan hadn't been up there yet...so we went.

 

We ate a good dinner, drank wine, and enjoyed the beautiful views. Although there were 3 other dudes there hanging out, it was still super fun, and almost romantic.

Ryan above the Snow Bird Glacier

 

The next day on our way out we hiked up glacier to the 'Because its there Wall', it looked super aesthetic. Then back to town!

 

Snow Bird to Bomber to Reed Lakes

I woke up to a blue bird day and decided to check out the valley that the Bomber and Pennyroyal glaciers terminate in. I dropped straight off the back off the moraine down to the alpine lake, it was steep and probably not the easiest way down.  Beautiful Alpine Lake

I picked my way down through the cliffs and moraine trending toward the right, I passed a small unnamed valley and then headed up the wider second valley.  The walking was good through tundra and scrub brush.  I saw more bear scat than all my trips up to Hatcher Pass combined. Heading Down to the second valley on the right

I debated going out the Gold Mint trail or heading up and over Bomber pass to the Reed lakes trail all the way up the valley, but as the clouds started to build my decision was made.  I've never walked up the toe of the Bomber glacier, coming up the moraine I could picture how massive it once was, but now its little more than a ramp of ice, I didn't see any crevasses. On the Bomber

The first time I was on the Bomber glacier was 1997, and I've walked past the plane many times and decided to skip it this trip and headed up to the pass.  Looking down on Upper Reed Lake

Dropping off Bomber pass down to the Upper Reed lakes is probably one of the more unpleasant steep boulder fields I've been on, but the Reed Lakes trail is pretty awesome. D.16.3:EG:5850