HatchYourTrax

Whoa…it’s the big one!

Well, sort of the big one.  The SU valley is getting hammered with a forecasted 1-3′ by tomorrow evening. Thats 1-3 FEET, not inches.  The storm is set to spread east across the Parks HWY and into the Talkeetnas by afternoon. And then instead of tapering off is supposed to head back west.  It’s blowing snow here in Palmer and we’re loving every moment of it.  Pray for snow!!

This storm is burly, stay safe out there! For hourly updates check the Marmot Station.

Hope everyone is getting out and enjoying the mountains!  Snow has been touch and go out here, with fresh snowfall being followed by significant wind events. Hatcher Pass, and more importantly the valley in general, received almost a foot of snow over the end of Thanksgiving week…Awesome.  It’s about time.  Things are starting to fill in (17 inches+ at the mine), and the mountains are beginning to resemble those beautiful white canvases we all love to shred.

Significant SE winds the 26th and 27th

We’ve been out in the mountains a lot lately and have been riding some great lines…just not documenting them as well as we should.

For this, I will promise to step it up.  It’s not always fun to be the guy with camera or the gaper wearing the headcam, but people seem to like the shots.  Here’s a few low quality shots I had to take from facebook, but it’s a decent representation of what’s been going on.

Pretty typical of the routes the last few weeks…skiing the gullies.

A hairy approach to a sick run…took this shot in bad light (Is it Solstice yet?)

The snow was CRAP.  Seriously, don’t ski.

This shot was taken before two days of 25 mph + winds.   The Thanksgiving storm was a godsend…a much needed break from a few inches of precip followed by strong winds.

NOAA is forecasting 45 mph winds tomorrow afternoon followed by some precip and continued 30-45 mph winds tomorrow night.  What does this mean?  It means another week waiting for mother nature to provide. ..the rare and elusive Hatcher Occurance.

Lighting wasn’t great today, but better than expected. Here’s a few pictures while the light improved for a bit. More on the message board!

The snow pack is pretty wind scoured but if you know whats up you can find the goods. Click the pics for bigger pictures.

Some snowboarders were playing in the gully below Skyscraper..looked fun but they had no packs, which meant no shovels, probes or beacons.

I am NOT an expert, but I do know there is enough snow and terrain exposure out there to bury someone.That being said, there’s a small wind slab on some east facing aspects.  Not very deep, and was manageable, but definitely hairy in the rocks.  Have fun!

Some one posted a really great condition update on the message board from Thursday.  Click here to check it out.