Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Ak Conditions Report: Bluebird, Powder and Jumps

Scott Rich | | Post Tag for Conditions ReportConditions Report
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Desi Sherwood launching a 360 off Kitchen Cliff. Glacier Bowl Express in the Background. Notice that almost nobody is riding the lift. Classic weekday at Alyeska!!

Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Ak is off to an incredible 2016. From the beginning of January, Alyeska has received over 100 inches of snow, just above Ted’s Express (midway). With no end of the storms in sight, it looks like Alyeska Resort will be receiving regular refresh’s during this month of January. Bring it!

The storms recently, have come in a bit cooler than the storms in December, with the snow line hovering around 300-800 feet. Most of these systems, have not been to big, dropping a modest 6-8 inches of snow overnight.  Luckily, the quality of the snow has been much drier and lower density than in December.

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Desi Sherwood and one of his signature 360’s off Picnic.

The patrollers and snow safety has done well with openings last week, during a couple bluebird days. The High Silver hike above High Traverse has been open for the first time of 2016, as well as north face from the Ragdoll gate over to Spoon Line and Tram Pocket. North face has been skiing great on the top three quarters of the run. A few inches of soft snow on top of a supportable crust has made for some super fun and fast runs down North Face. Once you reach the autobahn, your going to want to watch for avy debri, rocks, and buried alders although super manageable and easy to avoid. Pay attention as early season conditions still exist down low. It has been such a treat to have these areas open this early in the season, especially with the spotty conditions down low. If you see a patroller on the mountain, don’t forget to thank them for their hard work this season. They have done an incredible job!

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Brad Gosset doing snowboard things, hand dragging off kitchen Cliff

Yesterday had to be ones of the best days of the year at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, AK. It wasn’t the deepest of days with only 5-8 inches of lower density snow. It was a rare bluebird powder day with almost nobody on the mountain, by the time the resort closed, there were still plenty of stashes to be found. North face was open by 1045 from the knuckles over to spoon line, then High Traverse opened around 11:30. The morning was spent tracking out these areas, then it was off to Alyeska’s natural terrain park by the afternoon. Jumps such as Kitchen Cliff, and the gullies on Silver Tip, was where all the action was at yesterday!

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Brad Gosset hitting a natural quarter pipe at the top of Glacier Bowl Express

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