HatchYourTrax

Last week’s wind storm did quite a number on the snow pack.  I think a lot of the snow was pulverized rather than deposited on lee slopes.  We toured up government wednesday to find hard crusts on windward slopes and heavy whoomping on some SW aspects.  Despite all this it was quite refreshing to get 4 inches of snow after the storm and an addtional 10 or so by friday morning.

THE RETURN

On Sunday we toured up to Independence Bowl and skied some of the usual spots, mainly what we have been calling The Gold Cord Fun Zone.  There was a slight hint of freezing rain from earlier in the week, but nothing too bad.

Did you attend church Sunday?                                     A little afternoon fresh

Giving the wind lip a little service                                     Ed is in there somewhere.

On Monday, we woke to sunny skies, which was odd considering the “mostly cloudy” forecast.  It turns out Ullr was doing us a favor.  The thin wispy clouds cleared from the pass by noon and we drove up to the pass to discover at least 6 inches of fresh snow down by the 16 Mile lot.  Up high the snow was even deeper, covering up the numerous tracks from Sunday’s riders.  We can only guess that the storm came in the middle of the night, dumped a bunch of blower snow and then dissapated.  The sky was blue, the snow was light, and the turns were great.

Miraculously re”freshed”                       The dot was still rocky up high

No rocks here, warp speed initiated                          Lower was DEEP

No rocks encountered by Master Bash         Thanking Dr. King for the day off

Seems like we are back in that ol’ weather pattern of mostly cloudy days with a slight chance of snow.  I don’t se it, but judging from Monday I’m not discounting anything.  As of now it’s still pretty clear out, with only some high wsipy clouds.  I’ll take it.  NOAA is calling for clear skies by Thursday evening with high pressure moving in and cooler temps beginning to dominate.  The snow pack is definitely getting a little more complex because our layers are finally beginning to stack up. Yes that’s right, layers and not just sugar on top of Tundra.  In some spots, the snow is bottomless.  Check the message board and the weather links for more info.

Thanks Erin and Jp for the photos!

Man do I love snow.  What I love more is snow, high pressure and a stable snowpack.  HYT found some really fun lines this past week and the high pressure has been killer.  We got about 4 inches of light snow mid week, and with a bit of wind, all the tracks were filled in by the weekend.  This update is going to be heavy on content….so enjoy.

Stacked and Untracked                                  Marmot in all it’s glory

We started off the shredfest tagging some lines on Marmot’s  upper west bowl and inside the rock bands. Good snow and filled in pockets of wind buffed goodness.

Gutting a Marmot and Libtech Lifestyle shot (checks payable to HYT)

Eagle Ed resurfaces

Saturday and Sunday we switched it up a bit and headed out to the Autobhan area.  It was empty where we skied.  We layed the track, put in first tracks and basked in the sunshine.  First tracks Sunday as well but the CREW was out there.  Full on lower 48 style.  I’ve never seen it like that at Hatcher.  Team Zizu in effect, groups of 10 goat roping up mountain sides.

Taking a Break                             Prepping for a hard workday

Need we say more?                                                        Rooster Tailin!

JP installed some NOZ on his setup

For now the wind is howling and unlike yesterday where it had little effect at the pass, the wind is definitely transporting snow.  Marmot station is showing gusts in the upper 30′s and Palmer Airport reported gusts upwards of 74 MPH early this morning.  We’ll see how this affects the snowpack.

Pray for snow, stay safe and slay some lines!

Big thanks to JP and Mitchell for the Marmot and Autobahn shots!

It’s been a pretty fun week of skiing.  The mountains have been emtpy since the kiddies went back to school and everyone is at work again.  Well, we here at HatchYourTrax went to “work” as well,  riding pow lines and finding new stashes. Sure…works for me. This double update has some shots from all over.  We went in search of new lines and found some good “tree” skiing through the alders.  Here’s some evidence of the mayhem (click the pictures to enlarge them):

Johnson refusing to take the bailout and Abroham banking on the Governments Secret Stashes

We raided Marmot pretty hard this afternoon. It was good to get some actual pictures with sun and good lighting last week, but it looks like we are back to the usual cloudy mid-winter darkness.  The south face of Marmot is wind affected, shallow and bootpacking is required to reach the peak.  Gotta earn those turns.

Ridgetop Preparation                                         Kristen takes first drop

Rare and elusive boardus Austrailis            Cara sets the edge and rails it!

Shredi Master

Clouds, and possilbe snow and freezing rain in the forecast for the next couple of days. There’s a large bluish-green blob on the radar in the Su valley, but it’s not providing much precip except to the Alaska Range. It was quite warm today, near 30 at the Fishhook Lot.  NOAA is calling for above freezing inversions at higher elevations.  Quite a rollercoaster of a weather we have been having this past month.

In other news, I’m adding a link for the Marmot Weather Station in “weather and road conditions” box on the right hand side of the site.  Again, thank Friends of the Chugach for this awesome weather tracker.