Peak 3 Skiing

So far this year I've been hitting the backcountry snow on my snowboard. I'd use my snowshoes to hike up with my board strapped to my back. Then I'd ride down. It's been a lot of fun. However, the problem is that the board is heavy and the snowshoes sink more than skis with skins. Because most of my friends are on skis and skin up the mountain, I end up falling behind. So I hit the end of ski season sales and put together an Alpine Touring (a.k.a. Randonee) kit.

Once I had everything together I jumped at the first chance to get out: Monday the 21st after work. Callie, Anne Gore and I headed straight from downtown to Peak 3. Peak 3 is the 3rd peak heading east from Flattop Mountain along Powerline Pass in the Chugach. It took us about 30 minutes to drive to South Anchorage and then up into the Chugach.

We parked Callie's car, loaded up and headed out. The day was sunny and warm. We hiked up in short sleeves with all vents open.

When hiking up we used skins on the bottom of our skis for traction. Skins are strips of fabric with a very pronounced "grain" to the face so they slide forward but the "hairs" grab the snow as they slip back. They give great traction. The skins attach to your skis through an adhesive on the bottom and clips at the front and back. Alpine Touring (or Randonee) bindings allow you to lift your heel free of the ski for a more natural walking motion (essentially like snowshoeing) and then clip the heel in for going downhill. The difference between AT and Telemark skiing is that with tele skis you don't clip the heel in on the way down.

Hiking up was hard work but lots of fun. As we ascended we had great views across Potter Marsh and out across Cook Inlet.

Skiing down was a bit hairy at first, but it quickly became fun. It was my very first time on downhill skis since freshman year of college (in 1998) when I switched to snowboarding. The first few turns led to some spectacular tumbles. But I quickly remembered how to link turns and we skied the rest of the way down and out. It went way too fast.


PICTURES: http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.r.mckenna/Peak3Skiing