Weekend o fun.

I think that weekends should be 5 days and the work week should be 2. Whoever set it up the way it is should be hung high in the center of town. Alas, we must make the best of what we have... so that is just what I did this weekend. Pictured below are some shots from ice climbing which happened on Sunday, on Saturday I went backcountry snowboarding in Turnagain Pass. I have no pictures from that day because it was sooooo much fun that I never stopped to take a picture, even though it was a great day for pics. too bad :( We went up Tin Cup, the run we tried to do a week ago. Man was it amazing. The powder was super dooper deep and even fluffier than it was deep! It was pretty much like flaoting down a mountain on a cloud, but since there are no pictures of that amazing day which will live forever in my memory, you'll just have to imagine it for yourselves...

As for the ice climbing, it was a blast as well, we hammered into a waterfall south of town. There were some really cool ice formations like this one in a cave half way up.

That's me, chopping away at the waterfall. If you have never ice climbed then get a ticket up to alaska and meet me at my place, trust me, it's worth it.

A shot of Kevin looking back at me as he headed for the top.

Can't wait for next weekend. Damn, 5 days to go.

Paper cup.

Jesse Christy and I went down to turnagain last weekend to try to conquer Tin Can. It's the name of a run in the backcountry that lots of people love to do. We found tin can and headed for what we thought was the way up to the summit. Come to find out after skinning for quite a while that there was a very large gorge blocking our access to said peak. Without the proper ice axes and stuff we opted to do a different hill that was just to the left of Tin Can. After the run we named it paper cup cuz it was slightly smaller and less hard core than it's bigger neighbor. We managed to get some great turns in and Jesse even hucked off a the top of a tree covered in multiple feet of snow! A great day in the backcountry, as is any day spent outside enjoying fresh pow. Can I get an Amen?

paper cup at turnagain

Backcountry Skiing in Turnagain Pass

This Sunday, Ben and Kevin and I ventured out to Turnagain Pass for some free skiing - backcountry that is. The hike up was tough, however halfway through a couple caught up with us and zoomed right on by....they had to be in their 70s! The weather was great going up, but then about 20 seconds after we started skiing down, the snow started falling hard and reduced the visibilitity to about 10 feet but you couldn't see any definition in the snow.....so needless to say, it was a bit rough coming down. Anyway, here's some pics. Ben had the camera this time, so no pics of him this time :(

Trekkin up!

It was about 2 degrees out, as shown by the frost in my hair!

Takin a turn

Kevin on his way down.....in almost a blur - he goes SUPER fast.

Happy New Year!!!!

Hope everyone's new year was more fun than you hoped for...because ours was a little less. Here goes out story......
Our plans included driving up to Talkeetna (about a 2.5 hour drive from Anchorage) with some friend to ring in the new year with some great Alaska bars and fireworks. Ben and I ended up having to stay at a cabin that was a 25 min drive from Talkeetna itself because they were the only place we could find to allow dogs. Come to find out, they allow them, but you can't keep your dogs there when you aren't.....so we had to tote the pups around in the back of the car for the night :(. We brought in EVERYTHING into the cabin so we'd have room to tote around friends and pups in the Jeep, and headed for the town. After a fun time was had by all in Talkeetna, Ben and I and the dogs headed back to our cabin. As we headed on the really wide back roads eagerly awaiting the warm cozy cabin, a moose came out of the trees. So we slowed down a bit and moved over to the right side of the road.....then WHAM! What we thought was road was actually the 5 ft ditch just filled in with lots of snow, the Commander went in and went in hard (and tilted). After attempting to drive it out, it was obvious there was NO way. We gathered ourselves (ok, just me, I kinda freaked!) outside and LUCKILY for some reason we left our cross-country ski boots in the car, and all our skis were on the top of the car. We only had one pair of gloves and NO lights! It was about 12:35am in the Alaskan wilderness....needless to say, it was DARK. So we attached ourselves to the dogs and headed on the faintly lit (from the snow) road. The dogs were a bit freaked out as well and ended up not pulling as much as we hoped. So 3 hours later, we somehow arrived at the cabin, completely worn out. Then come (later in the) morning, we had assistance from the cabin owner and a couple of friends to pull us out of the ditch.....with chains needed on the truck to pull us! Whew! What a memory eh? We're thinking next year to lay low.

Here is a picture of the ditch where we had gone in, you can't really tell but its about a 4-5 foot difference from the road to where Ben is standing. Now just imagine the Commander there at about a 45° tilt!

The Cabin

This is the cabin we stayed at in the morning after our "fun". It is a GREAT place, has really friendly owners, and has the most AMAZING view one could hope for. Unfortunately the clouds were a bit low, so we didn't see the top of Denali (Mount McKinley), but you could see the rest of the Alaska Range and could just imagine what it looks like on a clear day.
Its called "My Alaska Cabin", we HIGHLY recommend it to anyone and everyone. We'll post some pics below, but stop by their website for more pics and information.







A cool firepitThe great viewClose up of Denali

So here's a funny story, when the car was finally dug out and we were on our way to town for breakfast with everyone else, we stopped suddenly to take a picture.....and the skis and snowboards on top of the car kept zooming by. In the frenzy of everything, we forgot to close the ski rack! :)

Hatcher's with New Friends

Last Saturday, we ventured out to Hatchers Pass with our new friends up here, Heidi, and Jesse and Kristy. Heidi is our "online" buddy (funny story, good ending), and Jesse and Kristy moved up here from Hawaii last fall and knew our friends Spring and Kevin.
Anyway, Heidi just got new snowshoes for her and her husband that she wanted to go explore in, and Jesse and Kristy hadn't been to Hatchers yet.
And a side note.....Kristy is a SUPER trooper (no, not the movie kind!). She is currently 6 1/2 months pregnant, and the day before we went to Hatchers, she spent the day in the hospital getting 2 full IV's shoved in her after getting super dehydrated from a cold. Then proceeded to leave us in the dust practically up the mountain! What a crazy trooper!

Heidi testing her new gear

Self portrait of Heidi and me!

Ben and Jesse with the puppies (the dark one is Marina - Heidi's dog)