Last week was the definition of perfect powder skiing in Alaska, and this week the PNH Touring Program saw more of the same. The difference this week is we got to break in a new line, spend some time in the sublime spines of Danno’s, and we even got stormed in. The 2+ feet of new snow that collected  was a good excuse to let legs and minds rest as we all attempted to comprehend how unreal the past few days have been.

When you get the heli ride out from PNH base to our touring base camp it’s tough to relax. There’s just so much terrain that calls out to every skier and rider on this planet it’s near impossible to not lock into a feature and dream of the possibilities.

With good snow and weather, combined with a super cool crew from Jackson, Oregon, and Telluride, Jeff and I pushed for a line we had been eyeing the past few weeks that had yet to see any tracks, up or down (lookers right skyline).

A few thousand feet of warm-up powder skiing was warranted since this was day one with our new group and we wanted them to feel loose and ready to charge for the new line. Luckily this line is easily seen from numerous vantage points in our touring area so our group could get a feel for what we were hoping to tick off. All systems were a go so we collectively skinned up to the huge ramp as far as we could go

before booting to the top.

Right after I took the above booting shot a huge bald eagle flew right over us. If that’s not a good sign then I’m not sure what is. We continued onward, took in the views, and proceeded to lay into the first ascent/first decent now known as “Shakedown Street”.

Needless to say, but our group’s energy was sky high! Skinning the long glacier route back towards camp Jeff took a quick detour to borrow a chunk of glacial ice for a few drinks to celebrate that evening.

With a few more days of perfect bluebird skies and deep powder we enjoyed some cruiser powder skiing easily accessed from our base camp,

while a few visitors made the extra effort to send “Home Bowl” right into camp.

With a sizeable storm on the horizon the move was made to get over to the spine wall that I showed you last week known as Danno’s.

We ramped-up with a skin and ski of some lower spines in the vicinity to get a feel for conditions,

which were as good as we could have ever hoped for.

With the storm arriving that evening everyone was secretly relived to get a little rest time after a few huge days of proper skinning and skiing in the Chugach. The storm dropped 2+ feet on us and is just clearing now as I write this back at PNH base, preparing  to fire back out into the field with a group of Tahoe folks stoked to get after it with clear skies on the horizon for the start of the week ahead. Life is good in the Chugach!

 

 

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