Turnagain Pass Skiing, June 2008

June 21st, 2008

On a rainy June 21st, 2008, in Anchorage, the web-cams for Portage and Whittier showed almost clear skies and nice weather. Adam Verrier and I decided to load up our AT gear and head down to Turnagain Pass for a mid-summer AT ski of Tincan. Driving down there the weather improved steadily, and by the time we got to Turnagain Pass it was all sunshine and shorts-weather. Amazingly, only one other group of people had taken advantage of this great opportunity. We skied in shorts all the way to the summit and have the sun-burns to prove it. The snow was a little slow, but well compacted, and on the steeper slopes the skiing was actually quite good.

Revisited on June 29th, 2008

Adam and I again went down to Turnagain Pass on a rainy Anchorage Sunday, June 29th, for another perfect day on Tincan. This time we skied the North face (Todd's Run) on near perfect corn snow. Wow! Pictures added at the bottom.


Tincan seen from the parking area at the top on Turnagain Pass
Adam and I about halfway up Tincan
Myself with Lyons Creek and Tincan Creek in the background. And for all you Tincan fans out there ... the actual Tincan Peak is not the one we typically ski on but rather the prominent peak at the head of Tincan Creek (in a line directly above my left ski tip).
Lyons Creek
Myself and ...
Adam soaking up some rays atop of Tincan
Pretty good skiing on compacted summer snow coming down from Tincan
Panorama from Tincan looking West and North towards the Turnagain Arm


We revisited Turnagain Arm on June 29th, 2008, for another round of great skiing. This time we decided to go all the way to the summit and ski down the North face (Todd's run). The conditions turned out to be optimal on the North side.

Bushwhacking our way up onto the Tincan ridge.
Heading up towards the summit
The last part up to the summit was easier to scramble than to skin-up
Adam enjoying the view of Tincan Creek with today's summit in the background (note: this is not the true summit of Tincan).
Adam on the North face.
Near perfect conditions on Todd's run.And bush-whacking back out to the road!

Penguin Peak June 15th 2008

Penguin Peak (4305 feet) in the Chugach Mountains along the Turnagain Arm. Hiked up and skied down (to around 800 ft elevation) on June 15th, 2008.


Penguin Peak on a clear day (back in 2006) as seen from Indianhouse Mountain across Bird Ridge.
Today was not a clear day (thick fog above the old radio tower) but the snow was good from the summit all the way down to about 800 feet elevation (a continuous snow decent of 3500 feet on June 15th!).
The snow was firm enough to hike straight up on running shoes (much easier than skinning).
Looking down the avalanche shute (to be skied on the way down).
The old radio tower in the fog.
On the summit (not much to see).
Better watch where you step around here (huge, unstable cornices).
Looking down the summit ridge ... visibility of about 30 feet made skiing difficult. Avalanche prone snow which felt and flowed like concrete made it even more fun.
At the bottom of the avalanche shute (~800 feet elevation).

Turnagain Pass Crust Ski May 2008

Turnagain Pass Crust Ski

May 26th and 27th, 2008

Lyons Creek, Center Ridge and Tincan Creek

with Tim Miller, Chrissy May and Trond Flagstad

Trond Flagstad and I headed up Lyons Creek at 9 am on Memorial Day, 2008, with Chrissy May and Tim Miller whom we ran into at the parking lot. The day before I caught up with Tim Miller half way up Lyons Creek. Both days, we had the entire area to ourselves. Amazing that no more people are out enjoying this paradise. Temperatures overnight had been in the low 30's and the crust had set up perfectly. We had good crust skiing until almost noon.

Trond Flagstad, Tim Miller and Chrissy May heading up Lyons Creek

Trond Flagstad granny-skating up a steep section

Tim Miller and myself heading up the upper Lyons Creek drainage ...

.... for a promise of perfect S-turns

Upper Tincan Valley

On top of Center Ridge

Enjoying the rays on Center Ridge

Tincan Valley on the left, Center Ridge middle and Lyons Creek on the right.

Portage Lake April 2008

Portage Lake Crust Ski, April 22nd and 23rd, 2008

A couple of warm days & cold, clear nights set up perfect crust ski conditions on Portage Lake and Portage Pass.


Panorama looking across Portage Lake towards Portage Glacier

The beautiful town of Whittier and Passage Canal from Portage Pass

Self portrait
The toe of Portage glacier
more Portage Glacier
still more Portage Glacier
Sunrise over Portage Lake

Small human being in big surroundings
Fellow morning enthusiast
Of course he wasn't too happy about me disturbing his play time
Toe of Portage Glacier

Twenty-Mile River September 2007

Kayak Trip on Twenty-Mile River September 2007

After knee surgery on July 10th I had been sitting and lying (mostly lying) around for more than two months in rehab. By September I was going stir-crazy not being able to do anything besides stationary bike and rehab training. Kayaking offered the only outlet at this point. After a few easy trips on local lakes I headed out to Twenty Mile River on a bright September 16th. The Twenty Mile River flows at about 3 mph and being able to average 5-6 mph in the kayak I can make it up the river at 2-3 mph speed. What took 2 1/2 hours to kayak up took only 50 minutes to come back down. This is a great upper body workout ... and fun too.

The flacid lower part of 20-mile river and the nice vistas


Some places the river picks up speed, and I have to output a bit more enrgy to get up!

Fall colors are starting ... already on September 16th

Observe the double (triple) chin ... the result of laying around for over 2 months.