Yesterday started out clear and cold. The temp here at the Chalet was -11, and -6 (without the wind chill) up on the Pass. After discussions of skiing something up high and debate about possible winds, I wasn't exactly stoked to get out there. When Matt said "We could always go to town," my eyes lit up. I had visions of lunch and maybe going to the museum. First they laughed at me, then they explained that there was good skiing right around town that was more likely to be windless and/or in the sun.

We settled on the Valdez Glacier (our pics, summer aerial view of the glacier from USGS, interesting history) and with sun, almost no wind, and great glacier exploration, it definitely beat a day in town the way I was expecting. Most of the road to the glacier was plowed, enabling acess to the shooting range where we parked. We started our tour to the fanfare of late-morning gunfire. It was pretty cold getting moving, but once we got in the sun, it was fantastic. We toured across the lake at the glacier's outfall, weaving around and over what must be iceburgs in the summer. We poked around on top of the glacier for a bit - first tracks of the season on the glacier unless you count the goat that had been there earlier in the morning. Things were fairly windblown and crusty, so we decided to go poke around the ice caves on the lake. The Valdez Glacier is a big one, stretching about 30 miles back into the valley. Matt said it's retreated quite a bit in the last 10 years or so - he remembers when the glacier still filled the entire lake/iceburg area we were exploring.

We found some really nice little ice caves, and one we could ski all the way through. We were amazed at how smooth and polished the ice was inside (ice pictures). When we started to lose the light we decided to head in before it got too much colder. On the way out, we saw one lone willow ptarmigan, hanging out looking for seeds on the ice. He was lucky he didn't run into the hunters we ran into later on the trail - turns out it's open season on ptarmigan all winter long in AK (who knew?). Alltogether, it was a really spectacular day out on the glacier.

Today is even colder up on the Pass plus a stiff breeze, so Matt and Trev were "heading to town" to try and make some more sheltered turns. As for me, I might head for the museum.

Labels: Alaska

Rather than utilize the luxurious access off Thompson Pass, Em & I figured it was Himalayan training time and left the cabin door yesterday morning via skis for Stone Mt. We knew we were off to a great day as we saw a moose soon after crossing the Lowe river. Besides breaking trail in a couple feet of snow, Em layed an efficient track above treeline.

This morning, I took advantage of that highway. With good visibility, Matt and I went up into Loveland Basin. If the temp was 20 degrees warmer, we would have had some fantastic photos. For instance, we descended a fun gully down low which was bordered on the left by blue ice of a glacier snout...beautiful.

With the skiing great and the scrabble playing epic (Matt & Tabitha have post doctorate degrees in scrabble strategy), life is very nice. The only less-than-ideal reality we've faced is I was quite disillusioned with my car selling expectations up here. The Suby has produced zero interest thus far.

Labels: Alaska

We started driving north on Thursday - a few days later than planned - after clearing out the condo, fixing my tooth, and putting new brakes and rotors on the faithful Subaru. It was smooth sailing through the border and beyond, until we ran into a road delay just past Cache Creek. We were told it would be a 2 hour wait, and opted to drive back into town for some dinner. Several hours later, folks were showing up saying that they had been told to expect a 2 hour wait... The Bear Claw Cafe was kind enough to let us hang out, and we eventually got a few more hours of road time in before camping short of Prince George.

On Friday we continued to push north toward the AlCan. Twenty minutes past Chetwynd we gained a temporary traveling companion - a lost puppy (Australian sheep dog mix?) was running around on the road, and we scooped him up for safe keeping. He promptly made himself at home on Trevor's lap, and seemed happy to keep us company for as far as we'd take him, but we thought the Alaska border patrol might not feel as friendly toward him. After numerous local inquiries, we left him with some nice kids at a gas station / grocery store who said they'd find a home for him. A spectacular sunset was followed by our official entry onto the AlCan, and we were well past Fort Nelson by the time we pitched the tent.

Saturday began fortuitously with hot coffee and sticky buns only a few clicks past our campsite. It also brought our first sightings of big northern wildlife - the "Caribou on road" signs turned out to be literal, and we saw this guy heading south on the hiway, minding his own business and obeying traffic laws. Very polite, those Canadians. Two small herds of bison and a couple of golden eagles feeding on a less fortunate buffalo all reminded us that we were entering wilder country. We hit the Liard Hotsprings, and after a good 2-hour soak and swim, returned to the road refreshed and ready to go. Some pretty serious snow squalls kicked up just as we entered the Yukon, but 10 minutes after finally giving up and pulling over to wait it out, we stuck our heads out the window to find clear skies and stars.

Sunday morning brought hot breakfast (!) in Whitehorse, followed by beautiful views of a forbiddingly cold Lake Kluane and surrounding mountains. The very early sunset this far North saw us driving long hours in the dark before crossing back into the US and camping short of Glenallen. We thought about splurging on a motel room in Tok, but decided we'd been so cozy in the down bags, it wasn't worth the $70 they wanted for a room there.

We rolled across a socked-in and snow-laden Thompson Pass early in the day on Monday, surprising Matt, who didn't expect us until Tuesday. Luckily it seemed to be a happy surprise, and he quickly made us at home in the Pentagon. For those of you not acquainted with Matt and Tabitha's little piece of Alaska, their website is here. The Chalet is rented out for Thanksgiving weekend, so they have graciously made room for us in their digs next door until the Chalet is empty and they can have their living room back. After coming home from work, Tabitha cooked up some yummy chili, and we went to bed (indoors!) fed, showered, and happy.

A timely break in the weather on Tuesday allowed us our first powder turns of the season. 5 feet of storm snow in the last 5 days provided a nice Chugach homecoming for Trevor after 5 years absence. After much deliberation, many suggestions, and a lot of driving around gaping at the lovely lines, we settled on an option. A quick tour up Moonlight Basin yielded a nice 2200 foot descent, with the light not too flat until the bottom.

A slow and steady overnight snow led us to believe skiing was out of the question for today, but Matt saw a break in the radar, and he and Trevor are off to grab some turns. I opted for a quiet cabin day and maybe some shovelling while I wait for the moose to show up - Tabitha thinks the snow is just deep enough up high so they'll be down in the yard any day now. Stay tuned for more powder reports!

Labels: Alaska