Nov/Dec, 2016, Alyeska AK

Ski Reports 2016-17
Day 1 – 11/24/2016 Our first skiing since moving to Anchorage Alaska! Felt really good to make some turns again. Alyeska is now our home hill and this was their first day of operation. Two base lodge lifts, Ted’s Express and Bear Cub were all that was running, and a single path of manmade down the Jetway-Upper Von Imhof-Sourdough cat track-o-doom along with the easy side of the Cub chair was all that was open, so we took the two chairs and called it an enjoyable 22 degree Turkey day morning.

Day 2 – 11/27/2016 Sunday at Alyeska was enjoyable. Warmer than T-day at 29-31 with a few glimmers of blue sky in the clouds. The snow had softened and then refroze, so it was a bit firmer underfoot, but still very carvable between the chocolate ships being hockysticked off by the patrol. Ski racers were out in groups, but were very well behaved and considerate of us plebians. Two full runs on the Cat Track Of Doom and a shorty down Bear Cub were nice enough to earn us lunch at the top of the tram, looking out over the valley.

Day 3 – 12/3/2016 Saturday, we were early and scored second chair for their 10:30 opening. Being chilly at 7 degrees made for nice crisp snow. The recent addition of another half foot has started to cover up the off-piste but it’s still too thin to ride off the groomed tracks. Did hit one spot of scraped off at a choke point, but that was the only skiddly spot. Ted’s Express, Bear Cub, and chair Seven that takes off at the hotel were running, so we hit ‘em all for 2 rides each along with once up the magic carpet for grins and giggles. Crowd was well dispersed, we never had to wait for a chair. Cloud deck was up high with some blue spots showing, no wind.

Day 1CC – 12/4/2016 Sunday we tried out cross country gear here in town by sliding along Campbell Creek on the 5-6 inches of cold snow. A lot less windshield time than downhill in Girdwood, that’s for sure. Figuring out how to wobble along and found out only snowplow and herringbone techniques transfer across to the free-heel world.

Day 4 – 12/7/2016 Wednesday at Alyeska for a few hours riding on a trace of new over man-made was enjoyable. Still just the lower Teds Express and Bear Cub lifts were rolling, but with almost nobody on the slope there was no crowding or waiting. Some of the little cat track side-runs are opening up, but it’s still pretty bony out there due to no natural snowfall since last week. There’s a glossy spot on Sourdough where it briefly splits onto high and wide vs narrow and low, so be careful going over the rise and onto the high and wide bit. Chatted to the lead snowmaker plus a patroller coming down out of the upper valley and they’ve been blowing snow like crazy and planting poles today. They are planning to open the Glacier Bowl Express (GBX) for accessing the upper and lower bowl cat tracks starting tomorrow. With it being so chill, the snow here is dry and slidey, not sticky and wet so no more having to dry our our gear for hours when we get home.