A Bluebird Ski Weekend

This past weekend we were blessed with several days of clear, sunny skies and calm-winded days, which made it feel like spring skiing in February. We took advantage of the visibility and got some ski hiking in. The following pictures depict our final hike on Sunday afternoon, which was accessed via Eaglecrest Ski Area in Juneau. 

The view of the Ridge.

Our ski traverse line, overlooking Juneau in the background.

Ben Stewart.

Pat was working on the Ski Patrol team, but managed to sneak away for the hike with me. Note his official Ski Patrol regalia.

Looking over the ski area from the Ridge.

Visibility back to the Juneau Icefield.

All we are missing is Barley.

Finished the hike, time to throw the skies back on.

Pat skiing ahead out the ridge. He is in the very center of the photograph.

Looking back towards the Eagle's Nest, which is as far up as the chair lift takes you. You can just make out the building on the left center edge of the photo.

Admiralty Island, the view from the back side of Douglas Island, which is where Eaglecrest is located.

Pat ready to ski.

Leaving the boundary of the ski area, where they provide avalanche control and ski patrol presence. 

The sun shining on Admiralty Island.

An Epic January Snowstorm

So with January came an intense amount of snow. It fell 7 days straight, in the form of beautiful, light powder. We got 24 inches within 24 hours on a Wednesday, and had the best day of skiing all year on Thursday morning. Yes, Pat and I were lucky enough to take the morning off from work to ski! 7 more inches fell Thursday night, followed by 4 or 5 inches per night through the weekend. We were in heaven....

A self portrait of the snow removal process. Pretty remarkable the snow was up to Pat's thighs, definitely topped the Xtra Tufs.

Our Parking pad. On the left you will notice the snow berm that remains from the New Years storm, when our plow guy went AWOL and we were unable to keep up with the shoveling. Thankfully, we bought a snow blower a week after this storm.

The back window of the truck. We took the ski carrier of the truck and put it on the Subaru, i.e. that is all snow on top of the truck.

Side short of our buried truck.

24 Inches in 24 hours...pretty awesome final snow count.

The grill...Probably won' t be grilling anytime soon.

Jackie and Barley Nordic Ski at the Glacier

Barley and I spent last Saturday afternoon/evening skiing out at the Mendenhall Glacier. Following a week of single digit temperatures, the lake finally froze solid and fresh snow dropped Friday night. After 5 hours of powder skiing at the mountain, we decided to head out to the glacier and give Barley some exercise.

Fresh powder nordic skiing.

Afternoon sun shining on the glacier.

Looking back on the lake.

Barley was 'tired' after eating the snow.

As we got closer to the terminus, the fractured ice and blocks became more apparent.

Early Season Ski Trekking

Jackie, Sam, and Marissa took advantage of a bluebird day and hiked up the John Muir/Spaulding Meadows trail, looking to enjoy a bit of early season cross country skiing.

IT was a balmy high of 7 degrees, but the sun felt stellar!

Barley and Marissa.

Deep POW.

The sun shining over the ocean.

Sam and Barley trekking.

Barley enjoying the snow.

The chilling sunset.

Fall 2011

It has certainly been a while, but updates should be coming more frequently. Well, that might slow down as we continually get more snow, but we will try.

Alaska has been getting nailed with snow, and Juneau has certainly had its fair share. Here is just a bit of what we have been up to so far this past fall/winter, with certainly more to come.

Jackie's employer, Admiralty Environmental, began a new environmental testing project in October, doing surface water sampling out at the Herbert Glacier.

We loaded up in a helicopter and left Juneau, headed towards the Herbert Glacier.

My coworker, Gina, observing the glacier.

We saw this hole in the glacier, and the sun was shining right through it when we were flying

towards it.

The first ice fall of Herbert Glacier.

One of our landing pads.

Pat, Peter, and Justin took a couple calm sea days to scout for deer in late November and December. The snow line wasn't low enough so they didn't have much luck, but the scenery sure was beautiful.

Work

So as many of you may know, I now work of the University of Alaska Fairbanks- Geophysical Institute as a Research Technician. That is a fancy name for a  person who gets to do research on glaciers. I was up on the Mendenhall Glacier last week for some training and field work. Here are some select photographs. 

 In the photo above we are warming our hands while someone else (not in the photograph) is using the steam drill to drill a hole in the ice. The steam running through the pipe is a great way to warm your hands.

 Our camp on the Glacier.

 Looking up the glacier from our camp.

In the photo above we set a rope to rappel down a steep ridge that we had to cross traveling on the glacier.

Spring Skiing in Alaska

So again it has been a long time since we updated the blog. I will give a few pictures of the highlights so far this spring.

On Mothers Day I got to ride in my first helicopter. I went heli skiing with five friends on Sheep Mountain that is about 9 miles from town.

 Andy, Hilliary, and I enjoying some sunshine in the backseat of the heli.

 Soaking up some rays after our first lap.

 The lines that we skied on the second run.

 View towards Juneau from the top of Sheep Mountain.

 Looking towards the Juneau Icefield

Andy and Hillary taking a look at the snow conditions.