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Alaska Heli Trip 2017

8K views 69 replies 19 participants last post by  neni 
#1 ·
After a great - tho wet, lol - stay in PNW getting lots of verts into our legs we now arrived in the promised land of steep n deep.



However, the bad gut feel after frequent checks of weather forcast the last weeks came true. "Worst conditions in the Chugachs in 20y operating". Two weeks of 60mph wind and bluebird has stripped all snow off the mtns. Hip-high castrugis and boilerplates are to be expected. Oh man... we'll face some "technical" riding, lol.

Well, the wind has stopped yesterday and some clouds are rolling in... Pray for snow!
 
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#32 · (Edited)
Me having some fun :=D

Smiling faces!

Studying a drop-in... today it was mostly looking fairly downwards :=D

Another drop-in...

... guess what ; )

Getting directions

Snow quality was amazing in some parts. Deep spray pow, yay. SO is somewhere in that cloud of snow

The highlight, a long sweet couloir, top to bottom, made the legs burn on the last day of this week :)

...Its drop-in


Happy as a pig!
 
#35 · (Edited)
It occupied only the most right part of the entry into the chute. The drop-in was w/o cornice ;)


But yeah, I wouldn't want to stand beneath it in spring time :laugh:
 
#36 ·
It's snowing and snowing and snowing... mountains sure get a reset.

Forecast shows snow non-stop all week long... eek... hope it'll change at some point or we'll have no flight day at all anymore :hope:
But as its snowing at sea level, we at least can use the splitboards to get to ride. And they're digging out the chairlift ATM so we can ride Mt. Eyak at noon :)
 
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#37 ·
The guys from the tour camp report 1 foot overnight in the mtns. Still dumping...
 

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#39 ·
Will know after skinning today. It didn't appear that they widened, tho.

But I just managed to find thirtytwo Jones MTB boots in size 7 and they should be shipped here in 2 days. Woohoo! Fingers crossed that they fit, lol.
 
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#44 ·
34 inches of fresh!
Still pounding few yards above sea level, straight downpour at the lodge.
No end in sight...
Still captured in the lodge...
Antsy...
Anxious...
 
#46 ·
Laying in bed reading and watching bald eagles fly by the window every odd half hour beats sitting in the office at work tho :)
 
#50 ·
Too bad it began to warm up n rain since yesterday evening. The tree riding yesterday at Mt. Eyak wasn't bad
 

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#51 ·
The tour camp up in the zone reports 5 feet. They've been shoveling alla time to keep the tents cleared. Still nuking without end. Storm is followed by an even bigger one. It's over for us, we won't get a flight window and avy danger is way too high to hike anything. Next potential window will be late next week.
:crying::crying::crying:
 
#52 ·
So... we'll head back to Seattle tomorrow.

Weather gods haven't been on our side during this trip.

Maybe they have the mercy to give us a day or two of good snow someplace around Seattle this Fry/Sat :/
 
#53 · (Edited)
You can go do some storm riding northwest style. There is a big storm kicking in. Its raining now but turning to snow and gonna dump a foot here. Im sure Washington is gonna get it too.... snoqualmie pass, stevens pass, crystal.... check their noaa forcasts...

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=44.0045&lon=-121.6774#.WNwMpHTn_qA

Looks like friday is going to be a sunny pow day in the northwest....
 
#55 ·
You can go do some storm riding northwest style. There is a big storm kicking in. Its raining now but turning to snow and gonna dump a foot here. Im sure Washington is gonna get it too.... snoqualmie pass, stevens pass, crystal.... check their noaa forcasts...

National Weather Service

Looks like friday is going to be a sunny pow day in the northwest....
Yup, Friday @ Crystal is what we're hoping for.
 
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#59 ·
Next year if you guys try for the PNW again let me know. I am down for some road tripping to Interior BC and chasing some snow storms. Get a MAX pass, 5 days at a bunch of resorts. Big Sky is 12 hours, Revelstoke is 12 hours, Crystal and Snoqualmie are about 6 hours. Bachelor is epic unless you hit the one week we get shit weather, lol.... Salt Lake is 10 or 12 hours(Solitude and Brighton are MAX pass).... In Reality the NW will get a couple of rain events each winter when the Jetstream shifts too far in the wrong direction... It rained today followed by snow tonight and for the next 2 days.....

I never have a problem driving.... We are going to Copper this Friday for Matts Nationals in boardercross Sat-Mon then we haul ass to Kirkwood for North American Champs in Big mountain Tues-Sunday..... Then I go back to work Monday(ugh).....
 
#61 ·
Same from me Neni! I'm happy to show you around any of the Calgary area mountains. There's also many heli rigs in our area. We tend to have very dependable conditions (although there's usually a persistent weak layer in the snow pack). The cat/heli operators here are very knowledgeable about their terrain, and can always find something enjoyable to ride.

We don't get the 5 ft dumps of Alaska (although we do get 3-4 foot dumps!) but what we do get is light, champagne powder, and usually plenty of blue sky to ride it in!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!
 
#64 ·
Yes it does. We thought about heading up to Calgary to hit some of them, but didn't make it happen. MAX mountains near Calgary - Kicking Horse, Kimberley, Nakiska & Fernie.

However, we did get to Copper in January and Big Sky in February (4 days riding @ each) which were both amazing.

I won't lie, it was tough coming back and riding in New England after both of those trips.
 
#68 ·
PNH - Points North Heliskiing - in Cordova; the same like on the last two trips.
 
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