On Friday the 13th Clint Butler, Triston Buchanan, and I headed for Turnagain Pass. Finally things have calmed down here and conditions are shaping up nicely. Girdwood and Turnagain Pass has received substantial snow in the last couple weeks. With a couple clear days for snow to settle, minimal wind, and consistent temps it was time to go BIG!
The avalanche report has been consistent the last few days--the weak layer is near the bottom of the snowpack, so the recommendation is to avoid aspects with shallow snowpack and find deeper, more stable snow. In the Turnagain area, south facing aspects were holding a deeper snowpack--exactly what I wanted to hear!
Our plan was to ski my favorite shot in the pass- "The Shower Curtain" (hippies have a different name for it). It's a south facing aspect with uninterrupted spines at a sustained 45-50 degree pitch for approximately 2,500' vert. From the parking area it takes about 2hr 45 min to summit for a descent you'd be stoked to get even on a epic heli day. The skiing was incredible!The combination of good weather, new snow, and a healing snowpack made Friday the 13th arguably the best day in Turnagain Pass this season. -Jason Scheben
For more shots, check out Ian Coble Imaging at iancoble.com.
"In the last 3 weeks Southcentral Alaska has experienced an unusual warm spell. Due to the snow line hovering around 1,800', lower mountain skiing has been marginal to say the least.
Last week Clint Butler, Josh Hegna and I headed north for some higher elevation skiing at Hatcher's Pass. This area was experiencing the warm weather but not as much rain as the southern region. There was definitely evidence of snow loss but because it hadn't really frozen again we found creamy, quality turns considering.
The next attempt was to give Alyeska a shot. Simon Evans and I hit the resort on Christmas Eve. A couple of weeks ago the Girdwood area was served 6" of rain in 24 hours with winds exceeding 80 mph at 3,200'. Because the majority of our skiing is close to sea level, it created serious concerns. You can only imagine what this temperature change did to the avalanche activity. Alyeska Resort and Turnagain Pass experienced several natural and skier triggered slides ripping to the ground. The resort turned out to be pretty good skiing up high.
Today I saw a positive turn in regards to a healing snowpack and low elevation snow accumulation. Simon Evans and I decided to do some storm skiing at Turnagain Pass. The last couple days temps have dropped slightly- enough to bring substantial wet snow at the base of Turnagain Pass- (1,000'). Approximately 18" of new snow fell in the last few days at Turnagain Pass and Alyeska's higher elevations. We found some good pow turns in the trees. Dark days are getting lighter and hopefully rain is turning to snow." -Jason Scheben
Colin lives in Les Terrasses, France, a small village 1,500 feet above La Grave and spends a large portion of his time near his favorite peak, La Meije. Here's a sampling of his photography.