Early Season Skiing at the Jewel

With blue skies and fresh snow, we decided to ski the Jewel Glacier (an early season gem) along with every other backcountry skier in Southcentral. Holy smokes it was crowded! I would’ve thought the 3.5 mile approach would’ve detered a few peeps….but not so much.

View of the Milk Glacier. Boone ditched us in the parking lot to ski the Milk, and on the lower right of the glacier, you can barely see Boone and his friends skinning up. They made the right decision to avoid the crowds and ski the Milk, they had it all to themselves.

  Boone & his friends skinning up the Milk.

View of Crow Pass and Crystal Lake. Rumor has it 12 people stayed in the cabin at the lake the night before. We saw a bunch more people headed in with big packs on our way out…..glad we did this as a day trip.

Kasey enjoying the fresh pow.

Ryan dropping in on a good line.

Kasey dropping a knee.

Kasey and Ryan headed back on the Crow Pass trail.

Arctic to Indian

 

Kasey and I have been talking for weeks about doing the Arctic to Indian ski traverse. The weather was perfect Saturday so we headed out early for the 22 mile ski. The snow bridges and trail were both in great shape.

A stitched together pano of  Ship Creek.

Me & Kasey.

Sunshine turned to cloudy, moody weather as we approached Indian Pass and the Turnagain Arm.

Our first glimpse of the inlet. Kasey at Indian Pass. The snow was nice and soft, cushioning our falls on our waxless skis 🙂 The descent was better than I hoped (and remembered.)

It took us a pretty easy eight hours, stopping for snacks and pics, enjoying the views along the way.

 

 

 

The Annual June Ski

I love the June ski. It’s not the longest run, or the best, but it’s the only time I get to ride my bike to a backcountry ski run. It’s always sunny, with spring ski snow that’s somewhere between corn and slush. Every June, Burrell and I hop on our bikes, packs loaded with skis, and ski the gullies in Powerline Pass after work. 

Neil and his pup joined us for an after ski beer.

B heading home.