Recently I was crust skiing on Bald Mountain Ridge.  During this trip I looked north and noticed a cool looking cirque on Black Mountain Ridge.  This cirque had eluded my radar in the past, and I had never skied this place before (and had never heard of anyone else crust skiing it).  But now this cirque was loudly calling out to be crust skied!  So my wife and I were soon heading back to this area.  We skied from the Willow Fishhook Road over to Shorty Creek and on up into the Shorty Creek cirque.  Crust skiing conditions varied from perfect to so-so.  Apparently this area gets a good amount of snowmobile traffic, so there were bumpy old sno-go tracks in some places.  But overall, this is quite the over-looked gem of a crust skiing venue.

I used to have a secret crust skiing spot.  Someplace that you never saw skiers and rarely saw snowmobilers.  A place that I never posted on this web site.  It was at the headwaters area of Purches Creek.  You got to this area by skiing over Dogsled Pass.  But dang, was this area hit hard by snowmobilers this year.  There is a snowmobile highway heading up Craigie Creek and over Dogsled Pass on to the headwaters of Purches, where now every square foot is tracked-up by snogos.  I was on top of Dogsled Pass recently and could see it wasn't worth it going any further to the north.  No smooth crust in sight.  Oh well, snowmobilers have just as much right as me to be there.  But it was a good secret crust skiing spot while it lasted.  The not so secret, though infrequently visited, Craigie Creek and Dogsled Pass area, shown in the pictures here, is one of my favorite mountain crust venue.  More ski-able terrain and way less people than the east side crust skiing venues of Hatcher Pass.

If you want to experience "the Arctic in Wasilla", head to Bald Mountain Ridge.  The west end of this ridge is a wide, tree-less and wind-swept expanse.  Lots of square miles of white.  You can see this ridge behind Wasilla from points south.  And when you view it, you think - there must be some good crust skiing up there!

Well, there is good crust skiing up there.  Though I have to say, it is "OK" more times than it is great.  I've skied across the ridge several times.  The winds tend to sastrugi the snowpack.  So it takes some melting to mellow the surface out.  But perfect crust or not ... it is definitely a unique place in Southcentral Alaska to crust ski.

Recently I did a 16 mile crust skiing loop on Bald Mountain Ridge.  I started and ended the ski at the Dave Churchill trailhead on the Willow Fishhook Road.  Once on the ridge, I swung to the western end to look for a snowmobile trail I heard about that comes up from the Houston/ Herning Trail area.  I found the mystery trail, but I'm not sure where it starts.  Earlier this winter I looked for the start, but local trails in that area had changed.  So, I'm still on the hunt to figure this trail out.  Figuring out this snowmobile trail will hopefully result in a cool new ski loop in this area.

A few years ago I tried to ski to the Kanikula Glacier.  I got within 2 miles of this glacier, but lots of open water kept me from making it to the ice.  This year I figured I'd try again.  But instead of skiing for 30 miles and be surprised, I decided to get a snowmobile ride to the glacier (if possible) and then ski back.  The ride on the back of my wife's snowmobile went well.  No open water was encountered.  Beautiful day and gorgeous area.  But if I knew the trail went all the way to the glacier this year, I would have skied to it instead of skiing the direction I did.  The reason - there was a stiff easterly wind of 20-30 mph.  So getting to the road was chilly and slow going at times.  We had this area of Alaska to ourselves this day, didn't see another person on these trails.

Crust skiing to Colony Glacier and back has been on my hit list.  So was glad to finally pull off this 40 mile crust ski.  Last year I got as far as Inner Lake George.  But snow was too punchy for my skate skis, so I called it a day at the edge of the lake and turned around.  This year the crust snow was great from start to finish.  This will rate as one of my favorite crust skis, because the area you ski through is off the charts beautiful and unique , it's challenging ... and because it took multiple attempts to pull it off.

Back in 2014, Luc Mehl and friends encountered a giant 9 foot-long hotdog while hiking across the Little Susitna tidal flats (see Luc's picture below). Research pieced together some of the story behind this huge frankfurter.  Once some Valley high school kids absconded with a large foam hotdog that was on the top of a restaurant in Houston, AK.  The foam wiener made it into the Matanuska River and then found its way into Knik Arm.  Cook Inlet's high tides then stranded the mega meat tube on the tidal flats near the mouth of the Little Susitna River.  That's where Luc and friends found the king-sized sausage.

The two years after Luc encountered the king of wieners, there was little snow for skiing on the tidal flats.  Then last year I gave a hotdog rescue a try, but the crust snow was feeble and I turned back.  This year the crust conditions were good and I skied the high tide line across the flats hoping to find the Frankenstein frank.  No luck.  I knew it was a long shot.  The buoyant buns probably now have this massive meat stick hundreds of miles down the Alaskan Peninsula by now.   Oh well, this is a good crust skiing loop even without finding the infamous giant hotdog.  I did this loop in 2010, but the conditions were not as good as this year.

A section of Knik Arm tidal flats that I had not skied was the Eklutna tidal flats (between the Eklutna River and Peters Creek).  So, I went and skied this area recently.  Good crust skiing was found.  Access on either end is via Eklutna Native Corporation land (call: 907 696-2828).

Too often you can't crust ski to the Knik Glacier.  Warm winds from Prince William Sound melt the snowpack and expose the rocky floodplain of the Knik River.  So when the crust is good ... you go.  Trail down Hunter Creek was icy, but good skating on the river and great crust on the glacial lake.

My wife had never crust skied at Goose Bay.  I went there last year, so I brought her there this year.  Lost of wide-open crust skiing at a venue that is not often visited by crust skiers.  To get there:  Drive to the end of the Knik-Goose Bay Road.  Park next to the runway.  Ski around the west end of the runway (do not cross the runway).  Follow the road and short trail down to the tidal flats.  Map: here.

Already this year I have seen a bunch of postings on social media of an ice cave that snowmobilers and fat bikers have been going into at the Spencer Glacier.  I hadn't been to the Spencer Glacier for a few years, so I figured I go check out this web-famous ice cave.  I'm guessing this ice cave will probably have over a thousand visitors this spring between independent snowmobilers, snowmobile tour participants, fat bikers and skiers.  And social media will be plastered with shots from inside of it looking out.  A celebrity ice cave in the making!  But fame with people and fame with ice caves likely share a commonality ... the fame will melt away, and likely be forgotten a year from now.  At the rate the Spencer Glacier is receding, these ice caves will definitely be gone a year from now.

My wife had never skied the Knik Tidal Flats area.  So I took her there and we found some good crust skiing (on rain crust).  If you want to ski here: drive to the Knik Bar and Grill, ask inside if you can park there, walk across the road to the trail that goes down to the flats.  The snowmobile trail along the bluffs may be rough.  But if you go out away from the bluffs a ways, the snow is usually untracked.  Like with all tidal flats crust skiing in Upper Cook Inlet ... be aware of tides.  Extreme high tides will flood the area and usually trash any good crust skiing.

Recently while skiing across Bell Island I crossed the Middle Channel.  A long time ago the folks used this route to access Alexander Creek.  But since the turn of the century the preferred trail goes north of here.  Back in 2013 there was some excitement in the Big Susitna River that started here.  The Big Su cut into an old pipeline right of way at the mouth of the Middle Channel, ripped out a 300 foot section of abandoned gas pipeline and sent it tumbling down-river towards Cook Inlet.  Other than birthing of runaway pipelines, this is a remote, quiet and unique place to ski that I try to visit regularly.

I had never been up Eklutna Canyon.  So I figured I'd take a quick ski up into the canyon and check out where they recently (last summer) removed an old dam.  You could see where the dam used to be, but it's definitely gone now.  Surprised to see an excavator just below the dam site that was filled with mud.  I would later find out that the excavator was stuck below the dam and having mechanical problems.  And before they could get it fixed, or lift it back out of the canyon with the giant crane above on the canyon rim, a flash flood hit it with silt and mud that had settled behind the dam over the years.  Cool place to check out on skis.

Recently I checked out The Chase Trail.  This is a route that cabin owners to the north of Talkeetna use.  It starts in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough parking lot in Talkeetna and heads north along the Alaska Railroad tracks.  About 5 miles out the trail crosses the tracks and climbs up onto a low ridge and takes a left at a "Y" in the trail.  From here the trail goes through nice mixed forest where there are numerous side trails to private cabins.  This was an out and back ski.  It was 20+ miles of classic skiing on cold powder.  Fun, but not the fastest of skiing conditions.

Another ski, another unexpected groomed trail.  They're everywhere!  This one was on the Little Susitna River between Hock Lake and the Gasline Trail.  Someone pulled a drag on this stretch of the Little Su.  Made for good skating.  I had never skied on this stretch of the the Little Su before, only on trails to the east and west.  So it was fun to ski this serpentine stretch of river.  The river banks reminded me of the Deshka River.

Recently I was skiing on the Willow trail system.  It was great skiing because the rain and meltdown of the Anchorage area didn't make it up to Willow.  While skiing in this area, I was surprised to find the trail between the Willow Creek Campground and Deshka Landing had been groomed.  Lots of dog sled tracks on the trail, but no snowmobile, ski or bike tracks.  Usually this stretch of trail is a ratty snowmobile track.  So it was fun finding this groomed trail and skiing it.  It should remain in good shape until the next storm.

After the December rain-down and meltdown, a small snowstorm moved through Southcentral Alaska.  But due to the whims of weather, the area of Bell Island and vicinity got very little snow.  But for a skier ... this is not a problem.  Because it means there is good early winter crust skiing in the area.

I use these conditions to check out the channels that cut across Bell Island.  This can be a tricky boating area.  The water is murky with silt and you can't see but a few inches down into it.  The channels are shallow and they constantly change.  So it's easy to hit bottom and ground your boat in this maze of murky glacial waters.  So I like to ski this area, do channel research and GPS the best (deepest) channels.

In the past I have gotten comments in the summer like: "How the hell did you get that boat down the West Channel!?"  I usually respond with some quip like: "Well, I guess you just have to know how to read the water."  I don't say that I learned the channels by skiing them.  Most boaters in Alaska wouldn't comprehend what I'm talking about.  So ha! ... let them think I'm a gifted river runner!  ;-)