HatchYourTrax

We’ve got a pretty rad update for today.  Tom Murphy sent in some pictures and stories of Hatcher from back in “tha day.”  I thought Hatch could be burly nowadays, but these guys were rockstars.  No plowing past the Motherlode. Avy control in April bowl. Big lines on wooden nordic skis and heli skiing the Snowbird! Hell yeah!

Most of these shots were taken in the late 70′s to early 80′s.  Tom is one of the folks who helped Hap build the A Frame and Lodge up at the pass.  Thanks guys.  You are all legends in my book.

The shot of Howie Powder and Todd Frankievitz is from the “Mountaineer’s Race” which began at the A Frame, ran up Microdot and then back to the A Frame. They placed 1st and 2nd. Howie passed this past summer in a motorcycle accident on the Fishhook.  The weekend before, he rode 33 miles on his unicycle in the 24 Hours of Matanuska Mountain Bike race.  I was privileged enough to meet Howie.  He will be and is sorely missed.  Todd was caught and killed in an avalanche in Turnagain a few years back.  Is this the Todd that “Todd’s Run” is named after?  I’m not sure.  God Bless fella’s.

The next shot was taken at the Snowbird in the mid 80′s.  Seeing a heli there is pretty crazy.  It’s a burly trip to get there now and I can’t even imagine attempting it on nordic skis.  Maybe that’s why they ponied up to get a heli ride?

Hey, it was fast and glorious times in the 80′s…just a different white powder.

According to Tom, there was no plowing past the Motherlode back then and the parking lot was directly in the avy path of Marmot.  Here’s a shot of their buddy’s truck nuked by multiple slides below Marmot and another of someone taking wX observation at the old A Frame weather station.

April Bowl - Providing Brown Shorts since '77

Tom lived at the Independece Lodge for a few years until he and Hap built the A Frame lodge in ’75.  All told, he lived above treeline at Hatcher for 15 years, working, playing and living it up.  Tom, thanks for the history, the great pictures and some interesting stories!

All photo credits go to Don Svela.

Just a quick photo update.  Here’s a few shots JpTele emailed to me from our Marmot session on Sunday.  Shallow on the ridges but the gullies were sick.

The line the crew skied on Friday                  B Vaughan off the top of the first gully

Shreddie has been converted                         JpTele killin it proper off the peak

Can’t take credit for this shot. It was taken by CTX who skied with us on lap dos.

What up folks? The search for deeper snow continues.  It’s been warm and somewhat visible at times.  We’ve seen some killer lines ridden lately.  The pictures are dark so take them with a grain of salt.  Today, we had our sights aimed on Marmot… and it was ON.  Not much snow along the ridgelines as usual but the gullies and technical stuff was bomber. I’ll take Marmot pre-snowmachine riding ANYTIME.

I didn’t bring the cam today…the one day the sun was shining. Jared was prepared so we’ll update the pictures later.  For now, here’s some shots of the lines we rode the past few days.

Probably could have taken a better route…it was worth every step though.

AK afternoons in December = EPIC VIZ!

Dropping…Only 1100 more ft of vertical to go

Numero dos                                    No light? Go Black & White

Goooood afternoon Hatcher…Mitch ponders snow conditions on 16 mile?

B Vaughan stomps the gas                                  Erin hates snow

For you 16 MILE and PARADISE riders: the snow is pretty fun down there!  Nice and carvable without too many whooptee-doos. We ran a few laps this weekend and had a killer time…not as rad as poaching the foot of blower pow on the full moon, but fun nonetheless. Get on it before it get super cold again and freezes solid…NO SNOW in the forecast till next Sunday.  Things can always change.

Also…the NWS is calling for warm weather, which in their words will create “IN AN INCREDIBLE TEMPERATURE INVERSION WITH TEMPERATURES BELOW FREEZING AT THE SURFACE BUT WELL INTO THE MID 40S AT BETWEEN2000 AND 5000 FT.” Not  awesome…GET ON IT!