I’m currently back at work, staring out the window westward towards a blue sky with pink football shaped clouds pinned freely across the horizon. I’m told it’s snowing to the east (where it matters) and with “snow accumulation 5 to 10 inches” expected I’m lucky this will be an abbreviated work week.

The skiing in the pass was nice and mellow the past two days. Max tested his new skis, a little over a foot of new snow had fallen, the partly cloudy forecast was accurate and the slopes were as unstable as expected. Still plenty of great skiing, the type thats especially welcome this time of year when the flames of with drawl need a full soaking to be controlled but before the full force of addiction drives one to do something crazy.

We kept too our usual late start habit. After an easy Friday I was rested for the hopeless Michigan – OSU game, and caught a bit of the Sevilla- Valencia match before heading out. It was snowing in Anchorage, but less so as we reached Turnagain pass, which, along with Alyeska not opening, contributed to the overwhelming crowd. Seeing all the cars cramming the usual spots we drove back to Eddies’, opting to risk increased bushwhacking in exchange for avoiding the crowds, which hadn’t dissipated despite the day being more then half over.

A little instability on upper Eddies

A little instability on upper Eddies'

The end of the day program is really suiting me so far this season though. After a morning of watching football and soccer I’m properly subdued for the drive and initial skin up. Towards dusk there is also a light pressure to keep quick, watching the sun drop urges me on preventing any dawdling. So far this season Max and I have been measuring our lateness by our distance from Anchorage when “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” starts on NPR before charging around, eating on the fly, stopping only to attach or remove skins and driving home afterwards in the dark. Saturday, we almost had to break out the headlamps as the tall pines on the Eddies’ approach blocked both light and snow, leaving us looking for the faint track home on the dark icy ground.

Day two started equally late. The new PES arrived saturday night which kept Kim and I up till a 4 am, and Max spent sunday morning busily trying to make Riley’s new split board functional. On the drive there was some sunshine peaking through near Hope, but the pass was cloaked in thick concrete colored fog. With Riley on skins for the first time we went for simplicity and skinned the highway up Tin Can where we saw Brett and Ryan on their way down. The snow was completely beat from the previous day’s crowd, but the wind (which was intense) salvaged things somewhat, buffing the lower tracks while completely erasing them near the top, where it turned the snow to spongey easy skiing cream. The lower mountain skied like Wildcat at Alta, mid grade turns down a few short pitches through half tracked snow and the occasional rock band. And in it’s most Alta like mood the lower traverse slowed Riley and her snowboard to an expected crawl which hardly fazed her.

We played around with the cameras through out the weekend, and have a little video. The shots, in no particular order, are Max in the trees on Eddies’, myself up high on Tin Can, and Max skiing with the POV on our first run down Eddies. Nothing exciting, but with our periodic incompetence it’s nice to prove we can actually use what we’ve got.

I should have some more stuff up soon, I plan on skipping turkey and skiing for Thanksgiving. Growing up the whole meal aspect of the holiday always seemed like a diversion from the day’s best aspects, playing and watching football with my cousins. And although I guess Brian and I could arrange a game in Girdwood, with the best part of the festivities missing it’s best just to skip it all together. Plus I have no idea how long to cook a turkey.

Meanwhile, I’m keeping myself busy by reading about the following.