|
Home |
|
Intro |
Gear |
About |
Ski Trips: |
2024 |
23 |
22 |
21 |
20 |
19 |
18 |
17 |
16 |
15 |
14 |
13 |
12 |
11 |
10 |
09 |
08 |
07 |
06 |
05 |
04 |
UBXC |
Apps |
eBook |
2016/2017
by: Tim Kelley
|
|
|
Late February 2017:
The Potter Drop, An Illegal Lost Skiing Venue In Anchorge |
Anchorage,
Alaska has a few "bandit ski areas". These are locations
where skiers can be driven to the top of a run, ski down, and
then get picked up (and do it again perhaps).
The
granddaddy of all drive-up, ski-down trails in Anchorage is
probably the 5 Mile Trail that starts at the old military Arctic
Valley ski site and parallels the road down to the biathlon
range. Another drive up, ski down venue is the Glen Alps
drop-off, followed by a post-ski pickup on Canyon Road.
5 or so years
ago another drive-up, ski-down venue appeared. Though, I will
say up front, this was an illegal skiing venue because the
access crossed private land. And most people did not have
permission to do this. During the early stages of the
Southpointe subdivision on the south side of Potter Valley there
was an undeveloped cul de sac at the end of the road.
Folks would get dropped off here and skin or hike to the top of
the ridge. Then they would ski down through woodlands,
cross the Old Johnson trail, and end at the Seward Highway ...
where they would get picked up. The subdivisions
developers eventually put a stop to this skiing venue. Now
mostly only the residents that live in the area and know how to
navigate private properties without trespassing ski here.
Though you can still ski from the Old Johnson Trail up through
Chugach State Park land to the top of the ridge, and come back
down.
I've always
referred to this route as the "Potter Drop". From the top
of the ridge I drop down to the Old Johnson Trail and ski it to
the Potter Section House. Of course, conditions make or
break this route. I choose the rare powder days we have
near the mouth of Turnagain Arm. I hadn't done this route
for a few years because of unfavorable snow conditions.
But this year has had good snow to pull off this scenic and
unique route. Note: The route on the map below starts at
the Chugach State Park boundary. Respect land owners and
do not trespass to do this ski route. |
|
|
|
Route: Start at CSP
boundary. |
Beautiful glade
skiing on top. |
Painting the canvas. |
|
|
|
Views during the
Potter Drop aren't bad. |
Hitting the Old
Johnson Trail. |
|
|
|
|
Texas Christmas
tree decoration on the Old Johnson Trail. Can't say I've
ever seen this before. |
|
|
|
Mid February 2017:
A Quick Local Ski Trip - The Rippy Trail |
|
Early February 2017:
A Fogged-out, Yet Fun, Ski Trip |
|
Recently my
wife and I snowmobiled to the Big Indian Creek cabin in the
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Our intent was to
ski-explore the nearby Chickaloon Tidal Flats. But dense
fog at sea level (the same ice fog that Anchorage experienced
for two weeks) made for not seeing much of anything while
skiing.
While there, we buzzed out to
Burnt Island. This is an island at the mouth of
Turnagain Arm, on the edge of the Chickaloon Tidal Flats.
Most Anchorage residents have seen Burnt Island, you see it as
you drive south out of Anchorage. But very few people go
here due to there being no easy access (except by small plane).
I
skied to Burnt Island 13 years ago (70+ mile RT on the
Mystery Creek road/trail). But my wife had never been
here. So now she can look at Burnt Island from our house
and say that she's been there.
This small
island is half owned by the Feds, and half privately owned.
It's only truly an island, in my opinion, at very high tides ...
when it is surrounded by water, and not mud. In the above
picture you can make out a small cabin. 12 years ago the
private half of this island was listed for sale for one million
dollars ($1,000,000).
But that was quite a bit higher than the $11,000 tax appraisal
value the Kenai Borough tagged this property with. Like
almost 100 times more than it's likely value. So it looks
like this property never sold, as the cabin is not doing well.
A tree has fallen and punctured the roof, deadfall covers the
short trail to the cabin and the dock that was once anchored to
the shore is gone, a victim of the tides. Indeed, this
is a cool, yet very inconvenient, location for a cabin.
We stayed at
the Big Indian Creek cabin, which you can
rent
online. Nice place. Interesting, long ago there
was once a primitive mining road from Hope to this area.
From Hope the Gull Rock Trail follows the old mining road.
But from Gull Rock to Burnt Island, the road is pretty much lost
to time (and downed beetle-killed spruce trees). You
follow remnants of the old road between Burnt Island and Big
Indian Creek. Another Burnt Island tidbit: inveterate
adventurer Mel Straugh of Anchorage has figured out a way to
calculate and time Turnagain Arm tides and hike the
shoreline from Gull Rock to Burnt Island. He's hiked from
Hope to Burnt Island and back a couple of times. |
|
|
A foggy day on the
Chickaloon Tidal Flats |
The Big Indian Creek
public use cabin |
|
|
Early February 2017:
Dry, Cold And Slow Snow. But Not Complaining. |
Finally,
after a 3 year hiatus, we have decent snow cover in Southcentral,
Alaska. Storms have delivered dry and air-filled snow.
On-trail skiing has been good, though slow. Skiing
off-trail - not so fun ... you sink right through the snow to
the ground. Not yet the conditions for throwing down big
loops ... so nothing new for ski routes yet. But it's been
fun skiing trails I haven't skied in 3 years due to previous
low-to-no snow winters. |
|
|
On the trail to
Beluga, west of the Big Susitna River. Hadn't skied here
for a few years due to lack of snow. |
|
|
A cool "cut bank
end-run" trail along the Big Susitna River. Folks that haul
freight across the Big Su have to deal with the river's cut
banks. River erosion and snow drifting can determine if a
snowmobile pulling a heavy load can make it up a cut bank.
If you are hauling 55 gallon drums of fuel, you don't want to
get part way up a cut bank and start sliding backwards. So
sometimes to avoid a 30 feet section of steep cut bank trail, a
bypass trail will be made. In this case the trail went one
mile down the Big Su until a gradual ramp up off the river was
found. Then the trail meandered through big cottonwoods
back to the top of the cut bank. |
|
Above and below,
skiing on Big Lake Trails. Good conditions, though cold
and slow-ish snow. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some hoar
frost-covered winter crust skiing in the Twentymile, Portage and
Placer River valleys. |
|
|
|
|
|
River otter
tracks, heading to open water at base of a frozen waterfall. |
|
|
|
|
|
|