Japan to Alaska: 2014 Season Review, Part 3 More fun moments from Japan. Travis Gohan flies in helicopters. Chaz on the guide run. A new view of some old mountains. On my birthday, I skied this “fun” variation of Ross’ Gold. Zach working some pillows in less than average snow. We were also able to ski a couloir that I’ve been eyeing for a few years now. It was good to finally get it done. And in great snow, too. Backcountry Lee Lyon | May 12, 2014 4 Comments
Japan to Alaska: 2014 Season Review, Part 2 While flat light, trees, and powder tend to be the norm in Japan’s winter months, we were lucky to have our fair share of sunny days this season. A good run on the Lone Tree. Much of the season was spent getting familiar with a favorite zone in the area. We’ll call it the spine pillows. And another favorite zone, not far off. The spine pillows’ evil twin. […] Backcountry Lee Lyon | May 12, 2014 7 Comments
Japan to Alaska: 2014 Season Review, Part 1 With my northern winter coming to a close, I thought it would be a good time to look back on what has been a pretty fun season for me. Bear with me here, this could take awhile. My winter actually kicked off with a trip to Thailand and Myanmar. While I do enjoy the occasional non-skiing adventure, it was hard to focus […] Backcountry Lee Lyon | May 9, 2014 7 Comments
Turnagain Pass, AK Report: Perfect Powder on Pastoral Peak Today was a repeat of yesterday on Turnagain Pass in Alaska (near Girdwood). Blower powder on everything we skied. To start off we headed up to the top of Pastoral peak. The snow was phenomenal. We ripped down and glided across the bench on Pastoral’s northwest face and dropped the next face, which was even more fun. Simply incredible snow. From the bottom of the second face […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | April 10, 2014 0 Comments
30 Days in the Chugach Range, AK | Photo Tour: The past 30 days in the Chugach Range of Alaska have been inspiring. This place never stops teaching lessons and never lets you drop your guard. For the first time in my life, I feel as though Alaska and her people have let me in. She’s now calling me and I can’t resist. It won’t be long before I do a […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | April 10, 2014 6 Comments
Turnagain Pass, AK Report: Blower. Powder. Skinning up on 6″ of light powder on ice on Sunburst ridge today off Turnagain Pass, AK was frustrating. Skins didn’t wanna hold. Anytime it got steep, we slid back. The last pitch to the top was brutal. On top, I just wanted to go home. Clearly, it was going to be dust on crust. Bad skinning to bad skiing… We gave the line Elevator Shaft a go expecting pure survival skiing and found smooth powdery bliss instead. The snow […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | April 9, 2014 2 Comments
6″ of Fresh Snow @ Alyeska, AK Today | Photo Tour: Alyeska ski resort in Girdwood, Alaska received 6″ of new snow overnight. This new snow made the North Face fun, albeit a bit scratchy on the lower half, and upper bowl pretty fun. The new snow was very dry and temperatures were cold today. This combo lead to you feeling the hard “reef” underneath the new pow most anywhere you went. The groomers were great, though as […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | April 8, 2014 1 Comment
Turnagain Pass, AK Backcountry Report: We headed up to Turnagain Pass from Girdwood, AK today for a quick skin and ski. Cloudy to partly cloudy skies with some nice sun bursts got us on the trail with high hopes. About 3 inches of “new”, wet, slushy snow covered the slopes but didn’t cover the trees. Spring is here in AK for sure. After about 40 minutes of skinning we reached treeline at 2,300 feet and stopped. Clouds had […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | April 7, 2014 1 Comment
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