I am not from Alaska but it seems to me like it has been a wired winter up here. I thought I was coming to the state that produces epic ski movies, people skiing over the head powder, and boosting off snow covered spines. Also we all know that on the coast you can have one storm that dumps 5 feet of snow overnight, WHERE IS THE STORM!!!! Ever since are mega hurricane storm all we have gotten is Hawaii's tropical weather. It is not super hot, still cold but lots of rain. The last few weeks we have been able to get high enough (2,000ft) to ski some good snow but times are changing. Last 4 days we have experienced lots of rain and warmer weather. The snow pack is saturated from the bottom up and not freezing. We have watch the avi danger go from low (level 1) to Considerable (level 3). With this problem we saw are first avalanche victims that unfortunately lead to one human fatality and one dog fatality. With all this sad news the skis have gone away for a little, the hiking shoes and shoe crampons have come back out. |
With lots of stress from finals week I needed to get out and reset my mind, lucky miranda was in the same vote. We had a window of time this morning to sneak away before are afternoon finals. I picked near point for the shortness of the hike and I finally figured out the state parks tail system. We left the trailhead at 8 and it took us 2 hours to summit. Hiking here this winter is like hiking up a ice rink. I never hike with poles or shoe crampons but this year in alaska they are very useful! We summited at 10, just in time to watch the sunrise. Ya, 10 am sunrise, days are getting dark up here! Two more days of finals, then the true adventures begin in the dark. ALASKA IS DARK, BUT PRETTY AWSOME!