June 13, 2010:  For the past couple of years fellow Prince William Sound skier Doug Huvar and I have had eyes on the ridges to the east of McClure Bay.  We both tried skiing to the high country in this area last year, but for one reason or another (like weather) it didn't happen.  This year Doug got up the long ridge east of McClure Bay this year, with his backcountry skis, a few weeks before my wife and I went.  He said the ridge would be good skinny skiing ... and he was right.

May 8, 2010:  Last year ash fallout from Mount Redoubt hit Hatcher Pass hard.  And crust skiing was shut down by a gray blanket of volcanic spew.  What a difference there is this year ... good crust skiing is aplenty and the crust surface is really smooth.  I enjoy crust skiing at Hatchers Pass because there is usually a lot of climbing involved.  So besides getting some good crust skiing in, you also can get a killer aerobic workout too.

May 4, 2010:  Benji, Cory and I skated good crust snow to the back of the South Fork Eagle River valley, crossed Symphony Lake and skied up to the 4000 foot level of a cirque below Triangle Peak.  Good turns coming down.  On the way back we headed over to Eagle Lake and made some new friends (see the last two pictures of this section).  Click here to see Cory's pictures from this ski trip.