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Winter
Trail and Spring Skiing Pictures - 2006
by Tim Kelley and
Friends
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Paradise Island
Skiing in the Sound:
Early June skiing on the spine of Culross Island. The snow was
quasi-crust, consolidated summer snow which made for good skiing up to
the 2500' highpoint of the island. And it was good snow for
cutting turns coming back down. |
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Skiing Circles Around a Poet:
The distinctive peak at the east end of Portage Lake is Bard Peak
This was a spring ski across Portage Lake, up the Burns Glacier, across
the Whittier Glacier, down to Whittier, up over Portage Pass and then
back across the lake ... the Bard Peak Circle. |
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Homer's Home Run Crust:
There is not much debate on this fact - Homer, and neighboring areas,
have the best crust skiing in South Central Alaska. The snow has a
higher moisture content to set up hard and fast. The rolling
ridges behind town with a great mix of forest and open areas are perfect
for crust cruising. And there's the views of the ocean, mountains,
glaciers and an active volcano ... Homer has it goin' on! Here are
some pics from Scott and Becky Hauser that show crust cruising northeast
of Homer. |
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Rob
Whitney was in the remote Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta village of
Kasigluk,
Alaska recently. He went to this village 25 miles SW of
Bethel for work he is doing with an environmental engineering firm.
In packing for this trip Rob made sure that he brought along the
essentials - his skis! Looks like Rob found some good, and very
unique, spring skiing. This place looks to be safe for skiing in
high winds ... no trees around to blow over on top of you!! |
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Crust and Gravel Are a Good Combination:
We didn't know anything about the Main Chugach Mountains Gravel Creek
drainage until the day we skied there. Now we know that it is a
great place for spring skiing. |
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Springtime Visit to the Bergs:
Photos from one of Southcentral Alaska's most popular crust skiing trips
- up the Placer River Valley to the Spencer Glacier. |
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A Crust Ski Into the Past:
Checking out old homesteader roads in the Eagle River Valley. |
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Kusko
Cruising:
Skiing village trails from Aniak to Bethel on the Kuskokwim River. |
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Chuathbaluk - Easier to Ski To Than Pronounce:
A 36 mile "truck trail" day trip on the Kuskokwim River out of Aniak. |
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Taiga 'Til Yer Tired: 50 miles of swamp
skating on the Trapper Lake - Rabideax Trail. |
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Mark Doner sent me
these two pictures and a description of a cool spring skiing trip:
"We parked at
Troublesome Creek (about mile 137) and skied down the creek to the
Chulitna River, upstream about 4 miles to the Tokositna, then up the
Tokositna to the trail east back to Mile 131 parking lot. We had a
hitchhike back to the car, but I'm scheming on a better way to close the
loop. It was a total of about 28 miles skiing right at the foot of the
Alaska Range - very nice! The trail to mile 131 is off the north end of
the Swan Lake swamp (look for a cabin on the ridge), but there is also
another trail back to the road (at mi 127 I think) a little further
south that could make for a little longer tour."
Good one Mark ! |
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Chasing Beluga on
Skis: Two ski trips (one recon 40 miler, one successful 60 miler) to get to Beluga,
Alaska (population: 26) and back. |
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A Good Possession for Skiers: Skiing
to Pt. Possession, the northernmost point of the Kenai Peninsula, from
Captain Cook State Park (60 mile overnighter). |
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WTC and LSDA are A-OK: Skiing the Willow
Trail Committee (WTC) groomed multi-use trails and Snowmo-Skiing on the
Lower Susitna Drainage Area (LDSA) groomed trail that goes down the
Susitna River and up the Yentna River. |
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Skiing in Musherville, USA: Checking
out the Talkeetna Mail Trail and Intertie area. There is a reason
many big name mushers live in the Willow area ... these trails. |
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Ice
Roads, Mile-Long Tunnels, Forbidden Trails and Abandoned Cabins,
Pictures from exploring the Lower Susitna Drainage by skis (and a bit by
use of Nordic Blades). |
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[2005]
Give the
Sport of SkiFishalon a Try:
Combining cross country skiing and ice fishing (with a touch of
snowmobiling), this is a good way to explore the Susitna Valley. |
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[2005]
Crust
cruising on the South Fork of the Matanuska River: Scott
Hauser and crew picked a perfect day last year to do some spring skiing
in a new area. Check out his pictures to see what great spring
skiing is all about!! |
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Alaska Performance Backcountry Skiing |
2009 Skiing Pictures
2008 Skiing Pictures
2007 Skiing Pictures
2005 Skiing Pictures
2004 Skiing Pictures |
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