Alaska Performance Backcountry Skiing Photos and Videos
2007/2008

by: Tim Kelley

Anchorage - May 2008:  "Performance" spring skiing is usually equated with skate skiing.  But spring corn snow can make for some great classic skiing.  Waxless skis can be a good choice for these conditions.  I recently bought  a pair of Fischer Superlight Crowns (so I could be like Tim Miller!!).  They are versatile and fun skis for corn and summer snow striding, and they are good in the turns.

Beware!!   If you inexplicably crash while crust skiing ... the problem is likely NOT your skiing ability.  Most likely you were attacked by a crust vole and didn't realize it.  These devious monsters go ballistic when they smell wool socks skiing by their dens.   They are as fast as lightning and with their extremely powerful forearms (see above) they can quickly trip you and cause you to have a yard-sale crash.  If this happens to you - start screaming at the top of your lungs and flail your poles wildly to drive off the voles.  Or else the beasts will tear into your ankle and rip chunks of your socks off to use as bedding in their dens.  Don't be tricked by the cute and innocent facade these psycho-rodents project.  It's all just an act!  These are very dangerous animals!!!!

Portage - April 2008: "Skookum" is a Chinook word with a double meaning: 1) strong or heroic, or 2) demon or evil spirit.  Crust skiing to the Skookum Glacier right now (April 20th) is definitely skookum.  By that I mean the crust snow is good (very strong and heroic).  But be careful of the skookum spirits that live in the back of the ice cave!

Kenai Mountains - April 2008: Lots of skiers have ridden the Alaska Railroad and Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage ski train to Grandview to go skiing.  But why ride there, when you can ski there?!  After all, it's only a 32 mile (50 km) round trip crust ski from Portage.  It's a little tricky getting from Spencer Lake over the ridge and into the Grandview Valley.  But it's worth it once you get there.  This was my fourth time skiing from Portage into the Grandview Valley.  It was Cory Smith's and Benji Uffenbeck's first time skiing to the Grand ... but I'm betting they will be going back again, and again, and ... !!

Question: Were does most Swix, Toko, Holmenkol, Solda, etc ski wax end up?

Answer: Landfills.

Skis end up using a small fraction of the product wax companies sell you.  Most ski wax is destined to wax shavings that people usually throw in the trash, along with the container the wax came in.  A more environmentally responsible option is to save your ski wax shavings in recycled Ziploc bags.  You can save them per wax type.  Or you can do like me - save them as either "warm" (Swix purple, red and yellow for example) or "cold" (Swix blue and colder).  In the spring, take the wax shavings, melt them in a Pyrex cup and pour them back into the original containers. You probably wouldn't want to race on recycled wax.  But it is great for training, ski storage or ... spring skiing!

Kenai Mountains - April 2008: When I skied to Lost Lake last year I saw snowmobile tracks coming in from the west.  There is no formal trail to the west so I asked a snowmobiler where the sno-go trail led to.  He said the Snug Harbor Road ... and I immediately put this trail on my "to do" skiing trip list.  The beginning and ending sections of this 26 mile route are ratty and bumpy snowmobile trails.  But the central sections is incredibly nice.  One could mistake this area for the tree-less mountains of central Norway (the Jutenheimen) or the hills northeast of Nome.

There was no sign of spring crust snow on this mid-April ski.  Cold powder classic skiing and lots of wind were being served up.  But hey ... it was a sunny April day in Alaska and there was lots of snow.  That's the ticket!

Trapper Creek - March 2008: When the Curry Ridge Riders snowmobile club posted on their web site that they had just finished the north end of their new 46 mile (74 km) groomed snowmobile loop, it didn't take us long to get to Trapper Creek and ski it.  Wow!  This has got to be the coolest groomed loop I've ever skied in Alaska.  Benji Uffenbeck, Cory Smith, Tim Miller and I were treated to a cloudless day with never-ending, close-up views of the Alaska Range - all while skiing on a freshly groomed trail.  Thanks to the Curry Ridge Riders (and all the other trails groups in the Susitna Valley: WTC, LSDA, MSDA, etc.) ... you make the Valley a great place for ALL winter recreation groups.  Note to xc skiers - if you use any of these these cool Susitna Valley groomed trails, please consider donating to the non-profit groups that make them happen.

Nudinli Ridge - March 2008: Nudinli is Dena'ina Athabascan for "Ridge That Extends Across".  According to "Shem Pete's Alaska" this is the name of the ridge that extends from Little Mount Susitna to Beluga Mountain.  This ridge helps form the western boundary of the Susitna River Drainage.  It's a long, sparsely treed ridge ... that makes for some great skiing.  On page 113 of "Shem Pete's Alaska" Shem states this Dena'ina history about Nudinli:

"Some young people stayed all winter up on Susitna Mountain and Beluga Mountain and ... Nudinli.  They got all the meat they wanted and just stayed there all winter.  ... They'd stay until March and then come back to their women with furs and porcupine meat on sleds."

Ah yes, the good ole days when all it took to impress women ... was a sled full of porcupine meat !!  Actually, joking aside, it was no doubt a huge amount of work and an epic struggle to get a sled full of porcupine meat in those days.  In late March I did a snowmobile supported ski trip to Nudinli Ridge.  I ski toured 30 miles to get up onto this ridge and to get to Wolf Lakes and back.

Chedatna Lakes - March 2008: A side project of mine for a few years has been to find the location where Alexander Creek homesteader Otto Thiele took a picture in 1941 (see below) that is the signature image of the Alexander Creek Inc. Native group.  Based on lining up ridge and gully angles, I think I found the spot during a recent crust ski in the Chedatna Lakes area.  It makes sense logically too that this is the spot - it would be on the route Otto would follow back to his home at mouth of Alexander Creek.  I plan on going back when the snow cover and light are similar to the original shot to retake this picture using snowshoes.

 My 2008 picture from at, or close to, the same spot

Knik - March 2008: Back in 1984, due to low snow along the normal Knik-Goose Bay Road route, the Iditarod re-started at Settler's Bay and traveled along the Knik Arm coast to Knik before going inland.  Recently I was crust skiing this stretch of trail I had never been on and stopped to take some shots of this old fishing boat that I have looked at from the road for many years ... but had never visited.

Crescent Lake - March 2008: This was my first time to Crescent Lake.  "What!... Dude, everyone's been there!"  Yeah I know ... that's why I haven't been there before in the summer.  Sure glad I waited for this day to go.  It's a psycho steep and narrow sno-go trench up and down the Carter Lake Trail.  But once above the tree line it was mostly primo crust cruising to the far end of the lake and back.  Saw and talked to a few snowmobilers that were enjoying this perfect weather day.  No skiers sighted, but I did see some old tracks from skiers that had been kite skiing up here.

Permenente Trail - March 2008: I had never skied the Permenente Trail along the Kings River, though I had mountain biked it as access for climbing trips before.  15 years ago I had talked to a hunter that was driving a 4-wheeler on this trail.  He mentioned a cabin and an airstrip further up the Kings River drainage.  So I figured I'd go and see if I could find the cabin on skis.  I also remembered a funny incident on this trail about 12 years ago.  Wiley Bland and I were mountain biking here, again on a climbing trip, and we startled a hunter.  We startled this guy so bad he slipped, dropped his rifle and started sliding and tumbling down the bank next to the road.  The hunter was un-hurt from the fall ... but very embarrassed!

Caswell Lakes - March 2008: I'd never been to Caswell Lakes east of the Sheep Creek Lodge.  And I've never skied the Amundsen Trail from this area up to the Talkeetna Mountains.  It took a while to figure out where the trail started and where to park, but I ended up on the trail I wanted to ski.  It was a long 12 1/2 mile gradual uphill to tree-line on the mountains via a narrow and bumpy snowmobile trail.  I ran out of time at tree-line, so I skied back to make it a 25 mile cruise.

Wishbone Hill, Sutton - March 2008: While ski-exploring trails in the Talkeetna Mountains north of Sutton I reminded myself that I had never been to the lakes up on Wishbone Hill.  This hill is a strange geological spot in my opinion.  A lumpy wishbone shaped ridge in the middle of the Matanuska Valley - it has cliffs on one side, old coal mines loaded with petrified wood on the other, trails all over it and mountains towering around it.  I took the time to take a side trip and ski up to these lakes on a day no snowmobiles or 4 wheelers were around.  The lakes were a picturesque micro-spot of Alaskan coolness.  Quiet, scenic, nestled between ridges of wind challenged trees, wolf tracks everywhere ... it's hard to believe you are only 3 miles from a major highway when you are there.

Portage Lake - February 2008: In late February Portage Lake had some good crust skiing for a week or so between storms.

Purches Creek / Dogsled Pass / Craigie Creek / Fishook-Willow Road Loop - February 2008: The key ingredient to pulling off this 33 mile Talkeetna Mountain loop on racing skis was ... luck.  Maybe a day or two before I skied this loop a group of four snowmobilers went up Purches Creek and made a trail that I used to the max.  Without this trail I would have been wallowing in deep powder, and likely would have bailed out on this ski loop attempt.  So thanks to those unknown trail breakers!

This was a "combi ski".  I used combi boots and classic skis and did about a 50/50 split of striding and skating.  As you can tell from the pictures ... what a day!  The sweet spot of winter has arrived!

Independence Mine to Palmer - February 2008: From my work on the Alaska Lost Ski Areas Project web site (www.alsap.org), I came across references of Independence Mine workers skiing from this mine at Hatcher Pass to Palmer in the late 1930's.  The likely ring leader of these skiing miners was Russell Dow.  Russell was a New Englander that skied at Dartmouth College before coming to Alaska in the late 30's to drive bulldozers for a living at the Independence Mine.  He also skied a lot, taught miners to ski and went on to teach WWII troops at Fort Richardson how to ski.

Legend has it that after a week's work at the mine, Russell would ski to Palmer to visit his girlfriend who worked at the laundromat.   Then he would catch a truck ride back to the Fishhook Inn, and a cat ride to the mine.  Russell likely skied the Fishhook Willow Road all the way to Palmer.  I wanted to re-create this ski, but do it by connecting trails instead of skiing beside a road the whole way.  It took some field research, but I finally learned the lay of the trails and pulled this ski trip off.  Thanks for the inspiration Russell !!

[Photo Credit:  Russell W. Dow collection, UAA Consortium Library Archives]

Willow, Delta Islands of the Big Susitna River - February 2008: The "Golden Heart" was a cold War radiation monitoring aircraft, a WB-50D, that crashed in August 1956 in the Delta Islands of the Big Susitna River, west of Willow.  The cause of this crash that killed all 11 crewmen on board was never determined.

This summer the Anchorage Daily News ran an article about Doug Wolters, the son of one of the crew members, and his quest to find this crash site on its 50th anniversary.  While reading this interesting article I figured that it would be a good challenge to figure out a way to ski to this remote location.  Myron Wright helped Doug Wolters locate the remains of the WB-50 this last summer.  Myron also helped me find this obscure and unique site of history and tragedy.  Thank you very much Myron!

Palmer - January 2008: I've been exploring trails north of Palmer as part of a grand scheme to link a bunch of them together for a longer point to point ski trip.  This time around I found more dead-end trails ... but some very interesting dead ends.  As this is a moose range - selected areas are clear cut to allow better moose forage to grow.  The logging trails made by these operations often follow the tops of glacial moraines and make for some cool skiing.

Eklutna - January 2008: In the 1980's there used to be a neat running race called the Eklutna Project Run.  It started at the now abandoned restaurant in Eklutna and finished at the Eklutna Power Plant.  The cool thing about the run was that it followed a little known power line access road that clings to the edge of the Western Chugach Mountains.  Since running this route in the 80's I had wanted to ski this 8+ mile route.  With temps in the 40's, lots of climbing and a lot of breaking trail through heavy, wet snow in order - I knew this ski was going to be a tough slog.  So what better time to invite my tough as nails wife to go with me.

Note: Some of this route is on Eklutna Inc. land.  So contact them before going, at: www.eklutnainc.com.

About half the ski was on old snowmobile tracks, the other half was make-your-own-trail in very sticky snow (see the picture of the snow covered pole on the right for "proof-of-stickiness").  The route is about 1/2 under the power line and the other half off in the woods on roads that skirt gullies and steep sections.

Near the end of the ski we ran into an area with a lot of snow rollers.  This is a fairly rare weather snow phenomenon that can be caused by wind or gravity.  Here snow build-up on branches got heavy from warm weather, the snow dropped from the branches onto a steep slope and the glob of snow began rolling to make a snow roller.  I added a new item on my "done-that" list today ... I can now claim to have eaten a snow roller!!

Willow - January 2008: January is usually a good time to take your classic skis to Willow and do some ski exploration of the WTC (Willow Trail Committee) trail system.  I'm always raving about these groomed multi-use trails, it's my favorite groomed trail system in Southcentral Alaska.  These trails make me wish I lived in Willow in the winter.  Here are some shots from a 50 km ski on WTC Western Gateway trails I had never been on before.

East of Houston, North of Wasilla - January 2008: Trails that I haven't skied before in the Su Valley ... that's the perfect draw to get me up into the Valley to ski them.  These trails were east of the Herning Trail, that heads north of Houston.  Then trails led to Bench Lake and on to the Schrock-Pittman area.

Wasilla - January 2008: For years when passing through Wasilla for ski trips I would stop and hang out with my girl in the Valley ... Wasillita.  But holy crap!!!  I fear something really, really bad has happened to Wasillita!  It looks like she was abducted!  Only a boot remains from the struggle with her kidnappers.  Wasillita ... where ever you are I hope you are okay!  I miss you girl !!!  (sob, sob)

Bell Island, Lower Susitna River Drainage - December 2007: I got word of an old beaver trapper's cabin made in the early 50's on Bell Island in the Big Susitna River.   I was a little miffed that I did not know about this cabin, as this part of the Su Valley is my haunting ground.  So I decided to go on a ski and find the cabin.