Moose O-Clock

Just doing a little studying and happened to look up and find a family of moose checking out the trees in my yard. The male was quite a jerk.

ED

Dawn Patrol at 9:18...Count me in!

Cody woke me up early this morning just before 8:00, so I decided to take the opportunity to head up to Hatcher and watch the sunrise, tentatively scheduled for 9:18. It’s pretty cool that you can watch the sunrise without having to get up at an ungodly hour. It may be dark here for a bit longer, but the sunrises are beautiful and the alpenglow of pinks on the mountain with yellows in the sky make for a very memorable and enjoyable experience. The sunsets are equally gorgeous, and from my bedroom window I can watch the sun cast an amber and red glow across the whole southwestern sky, illuminating everything from the Chugach, across the Inlet and over towards Willow. It’s quite amazing.

This video is a mish mash of clips I’ve taken over the past week. I was a little disappointed this morning because the Knik arm had a lot of cloud cover, therefore making for a less than perfect sunrise. The colors were still cool, and it was very clear at Hatcher, so the morning was not a waste, in fact I don’t know how a morning ski in clear beautiful conditions would ever be a waste. The moving shots were taken while I was skiing down the groomed road from the mine. I ate it pretty bad, but after I finished filming. Of course, I would only fall when I'm NOT doing something difficult, go figure. At least you guys didn't see me fall, although that would have been pretty funny to watch. Anyways, when I transfer my footage to the computer it really ruins the colors. Everything on the film is so bright until I bring it over to the CPU, oh well.

They’ve begun to groom the off road ski trails and they are pretty fun. I might give alpine skiing a go. I know it’s bad for your knees, but I’m healthy and I just need to keep them strong. If I can stop and turn on my huge cross country skis then I should be able to at least learn pretty quickly on the downhill skis.

You can say I told you so when I call complaining of knee pain.

Sleep PLEASE!

Hello Everyone. You may be wondering why I am up at 2 in the morning writing a mass email. Well, I was lying in my bed, pleasantly sleep until about 20 minutes ago when the farmer's 2 dogs began to go crazy. They just would not shut up, barking non stop for what seemed like hours. I figured they had spotted a moose somewhere in the woods, but surely they would have stopped barking by now.

I finally got up and went to look out my window, and not more than 30 ft. from my house were two moose. A cow and her calf. They were waiting there, not sure what to do about the dogs, and then made their way right underneath my window. Of course, at this point Cody began to howl like crazy, but I managed to calm him down. I spotted this pair a few weeks back, so I will assume they have taken up residence on the farm for an undisclosed amount of time.

Underneath my window are two crabapple trees and the moose were browsing what was left of the frozen and dead fruits. I opened my window and not 10 ft from me were these two massive animals, chomping away on their early morning snack. I attempted to get some video footage but I just couldn't get enough light. The moose stood out so well against the brand new snow that has fallen tonight and I am more than a little bummed that I could not get a picture for everyone to see. I'm going to try to get some sleep now, but I just thought I'd share my evening, or I guess morning.
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King of the mountain mountain mountain...

This video was shot from the ridge running up to Hatcher Peak. It was ridiculously crowded today, but the weather was beautiful and the snowpack was in great shape. What made the crowd bearable was the fact that the weather was cooperating. It's just been a beautiful day today, with temperatures starting in the 20's, and well into the 40's by the time we left to go home.

A little snow

Sorry it has taken me so long to update. Again, lots of things due each week and it takes me a while to get all the work done. I took the day off -well at least the morning- and headed up to Hatcher Pass with Sierra, Rob and Devine. I woke up this morning not having any inclination as to the surprise outside my window. I slept with the window open and the blinds shut, and I was not cold at all. This morning I got up, walked to the window of my small room and opened the blind to a world covered in white. We had gotten about a ¼ of snow in the valley; first snow of the season!!!

I started some school work and was promptly called to head up to meet up at Hatcher for some powder runs. The farm looks beautiful covered in snow and I can’t wait to be able to cross country ski right out my door. Driving up the Palmer Fish-hook rd. I had a pretty exciting wake up call. I nearly slid into the little-su (the river running along the road up to the top of Hatcher Pass). My car handled the snow fine thanks to the AWD but the ice was a bit sketchy. I don’t know who keeps telling people they don’t need studded tires but I’ve decided for myself…I’m getting them. Maybe…if you don’t do anything but drive on cleared roads in anchorage or the highway, but it’s totally required out here and up at all the recreation areas. I took a picture of the car so you could see the 5+ inches of new snow lying on the road. Behind the car is Skycraper mountain, with most of it's snow blown off and loaded on to the adjacent peaks.

Hiking up the pass today I was sweating my gnards off. I ended up taking off almost everything. It was snowing and I was hiking only in a base layer top, ski pants and boots. I had my gloves, beanie and outer shell all removed. I donned my gear as we neared the top as the wind began to increase. There was a bit of wind loading but all the signs showed the snow was still pretty safe. Hatcher was busy today. We saw so many people, did some runs with people we didn’t know and just general had a good time with what seemed like everyone and their mother. We hike all the way to the top of the peak today and the view from the top down was amazing! It was a little scary, because we missed perfect visibility by about twenty minutes and were socked in with snow and clouds. Nothing goggles and a pre-run observation couldn’t take care of.

At some points, the powder was waist deep (not the whole snow pack). They must have gotten just gotten dumped on last night! This made for some ridiculous spills but still allowed you to bomb slopes well over 45 degrees. It was a great day overall. I bought some telescoping traverse poles and a snow shovel at REI two days ago. The poles make it way easier to get to the top, plus they double as avalanche probes and allow me to test the snow constantly all the way up the ridges. The picture with me came out quite strange but it doesn’t matter. Rob is not that tall and I am not that short, but I guess me being slightly behind him and about 2 lower in elevation made for a hilarious picture. If you look closely you can see I am quite drenched in sweat. Who’d a thunk…sweating in Alaska! I wanted to take many more pictures but unfortunately my battery died. Until next time!

Shralp snacks anyone?

Today I experienced my first back country snowboarding session. It was amazing…plain and simple. I went with Sierra, one of the other students in my program. We parked at the lodge and had a mile and a half hike up to the pass. From there we had to climb a ridge and follow it to the bowl and surrounding slopes. Snowboarding this way is such a different ball game than going to a resort. I had my beacon strapped to my chest, my extra clothes in my bag and my snow shows strapped to the back of my pack. When we started to climb the ridge I had the snowshoes on, but because I borrowed them they were totally wrong for me. I began to sink instead of float on the snow. I took them off and hiked up the packed boot trail. This was actually easier and used way less energy.

View North into Hatcher

Up the hill to the top

Powder run anyone?

When I got to the top the view was amazing. The Alaska Range could be seen to the southwest and it was absolutely breathtaking. I’ve never seen the peaks of the Alaska Range from Hatcher, and it blew me away. When I got to the top of the ridge, my phone rang and it turned out to be Dustin. I felt bad but I had to inform him of where I was and what I was doing…he got quiet and not so happy. You guys have surf and I have powder. I’d say its fair game. Once at the top I relaxed for a bit, drank some water and checked out the conditions, angles and slope options. There’s a lot to take account of up there but safety (i.e. not getting hurt) is always worth my time. I found my drop in point. It was about 100 yards along the ridge above a small cirque (apparently the top of the bowl). I went to the ridge and dropped in to some of the best powder I’ve ever been in. The snow pack up there was not necessarily the deepest but it was still so perfect. There was about a foot and a half of powder on top of about 2-3 foot of soft fluffy snowpack.

Skiers Climbing the upper ridge (with dogs)
Alaska Range across Susitna Valley

Dropped in at the rocky outcropping

I made it down to the ridge, rode down the face of the ridge we climbed up and sat down in the snow, smiling with exhaustion and joy. Sierra and I decided to climb it once more and make the run again. This time was better. I found deeper powder and a wide open face. It was beautiful. I S-turned the whole way down and could think nothing more than a desire to head up to the top again. But it was not to be, it time for school. I’ll be back. Something tells me there’s going to be a little more snow.

Sierra is the speck in the middle of the shot

Tired and ready for lunch

Starry Starry Night

What a crazy week it has been. We’ve had so much going on with school, environmental education workshops and preparing for winter. I took a break this morning to head up to Hatcher for some XC skiing. There was a little more snow this time and hopefully the pictures do the place justice. Erin sent me an awesome care package and it had a ton of stuff for Cody too. Cody is trying out his new reflective collar and I’m enjoying my new t-shirt and organic coffee. With the new collar Cody will be easier to spot in winter time when we go cross country skiing. For now, it just looks awesome.

Now remember, there is not this much snow down in the valley. Actually, until last night it was still moderately warm in the valley. When I head up to the pass today the dusting of snow had reached to the foot of the mountains. It’s pretty cool that I can drive 15 minutes and be in a completely different climate range. The temperature wasn’t that big of a change due to the strong sunlight, but man oh man was there a ton of snow. Cody came along and had fun running in front of me and trying to make me fall. I saw a couple of people up there hiking in the snow and was even able to make it part of the way up the Gold Cord Trail. I stopped about 15 minutes into the side trail and decided to save some energy.

While participating in a Project Wild workshop on Saturday morning, we got a chance to see the local moose family. While standing in the back field, discussing lessons and info about project wild, a Mama moose and her doe ran into the middle of the field. They stopped, as did we and then stared for a minute or so. We stared as well. The moose figured us for dummies standing in the cold and went about their way. Moose are no big deal up here but I am still getting used to this whole wildlife things. It may just be a moose but its right in our backyard, literally. For me, that is awesome. It’s 10pm, 28 degrees outside and a clear starry night. I’m getting up early to head to April Bowl and catch some runs, but for now….STUDY.

Is anybody out there?

Hello all! It’s been a really busy week. We started the session this week and I have 3 classes, lots of reading and many papers to come my way. The puddles in front of the house have been freezing the last 3 nights and I’m almost positive it will snow before the weekend is out. I tried my hand at cross country skiing this week and I must say it was pretty fun.

I left the house at about 9 in the morning and took Cody with me. We headed up to Hatcher Pass and it man was it a beautiful day. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground and more the higher we went in the pass. Since this was my first cross country skiing experience I stayed out of the backcountry. I parked at Hatcher Pass Lodge, got on my gear and skied the 2 miles uphill to the old Independence Mine. Cody loved it, running through the snow, biting at chunks of snow slab. At one point a Snow Ptarmigan popped up out of his snowy enclave and then proceeded to be chased by Cody up the side of a large embankment and into deep powder. It was amazing to watch Cody have as much fun in the snow as I was. On the way to the mine, the park caretaker drove by on the way down to town. He said I was the first skier of the season and he wished he didn’t have to go to Palmer today. I never get over how nice people are up here. I skied around the old mine for about half an hour, stopping to take in the sights and revel in the beauty of this place.

I fell a couple of time, which was expected but it didn’t hamper my experience. While heading uphill for 2 miles I put on my Ipod and the beanie Erin bought me last year. The music made the ski session flow smoothly. I thought it would be cold but I quickly had to shed gear. After 10 minutes my gloves were off and I no longer needed my heavy jacket. Fleece was all it took. On the way down I laughed and smiled as I quickly realized I had to learn to snowplow and slow down or else I would severely injure myself. It wasn’t steep, but 2 miles of gradual downhill on skis is quite fast. After about 5 minutes I got the hang of it and was on my way. Cody ran beside me, jumping through the snow and wagging his tail the whole time. It was a really fun time.

I’m reading a book for class called “The Tipping Point.” Sometimes books seem to portray facts and skew statistics that most people are not aware of. In other words, I haven’t yet decided what I think of it, but I will get back to you. I’m going to try to ski in the early morning tomorrow, but it depends on how quick I get up, make some coffee and get going. It’s funny; no matter what you do there is always the element of the classic “Dawn Patrol.” It was driving to the beach at 5:30 to surf, getting up at 6 to drive to Ocala or Alafia and ride some trails and now it’s getting up early to ski or snowboard. The only major change is I don’t have my best friends to ride with. But hey, at least the sun will come up later, making for a wonderful 9:30 dawn patrol. Erin will love that!!!

Snow...in Alaska??? No way!

I put these clips together real quickly so that you could get an idea about the snow up at Hatcher. I was just here the day before and it looked nothing like this whatsoever, much of the snow had melted away. But as we climbed the road today, the snow was everywhere, the lowest it has been on the mountains since I’ve been here. We saw 4 snowboarders, 2 skiers and their accompaniment of dogs (I was quite jealous) hiking their way into the backcountry. I don’t know why I said it was cold on the end of the clip. My hands were cold, not me in general. It was about 35 degrees up there and I was fine, I just decided it would be fun to throw snowballs without gloves…that always catch up with you. Nothing a warm cup of hot chocolate couldn’t cure at Hatcher Pass lodge.

The road to willow had almost a foot of snow on it, and this was for sure the last weekend it will be open. CLOSED FOR THE SEASON she will say. Bad for cars, good for snowshoeing, boarding, snow machining, and skiing. I was told by the skiers and boarders that I saw that there was up to 3 ft of powder over the pass at April Bowl. This all sounds great but I am a bit weary of early season snowpack. There is never too little snowpack to avalanche, and in going home after our little hike and doing some research, I discovered that 3 people have died in or around April Bowl since 1998. Now this is a little scary but as I read all the reports, every incident had visual clues that the terrain was a “NO GO.” So while I am respectful of avalanches, the research has helped out in showing me that all of these avalanches were caused by overconfident, peer pressured or ignorant people. It’s so obvious when you shouldn’t go, it’s just not worth it. April Bowl is supposed to be awesome but the slope aspect and leeward loading makes it a pretty high risk area. Not sure if I’m going to go there yet. If I can hook up with some people who have their shit together I will probably head up there. Before I do though, I need to get a shovel and probe.

As of now I think I’m going to rent a pair of snowshoes, hike the ridges, check out the wind loading, factor in the slope angle, slope aspect and then GPS the coordinates of spots that look good to go. I can’t wait for the first big dump on Government peak, because that is where Erin and I will go.