April 20

SLC-Airport wake up call. And got out of there easily. Went to the Taqeria with Leslie, Charlie and Margerite. The best fish tacos! Hiked up the creek behind the house for a nice 4-20 walk with Leslie.  Saw the latest Voile. Mike's newest design is what I want. They'd be perfect in AK. They are looking sweet with some rocker and some camber underfoot. Can't wait to get on them. Brian came over and I gave him greetings from Jed Workman. Showed everyone some video and photos of the trip. Yeah baby!

April 19

Woke up late. Safety first. Toured the town. Updated the blog. Flew to Anchorage. Hung out some more. Finally had to say good bye to the brothers. Woke up in Seattle. What just happened up there?  "Magic happens when your with Brad in Alaska." Another great Dave the Wave quote.

April 18

We skied a great last day with Jessica. Tom Bennett joined us as a tail guide. Dave had new clients coming in. We explored out into Clueland and did a lot of martini skiing. Beautiful views of the Copper River.After Friday it was a wind down day for sure. Jessica drove us into Valdez where we stayed the night a the Best Western once again. We ran into Zell, Scott Raynor, Reese and Jen on the way to the Fu Kung and had a great meal together. Lots of trash talking going on for sure. A fun night.

April 17

Friday. A really tough day in the Chugach. Since we drank it Blue the night before, I decided to wear my lucky vintage 1979 Harlem Globetrotters Hat. Now I now have a new nickname, "Meadowlark" given to me by Todd and the Alaska Rendez-Vous guides. Yes, the hat is dope! By about noon the sun was really baking the snow. The newer snow didn't bond well to a hoar frost layer about 20cm down. We were concerned about slides. On Ice Cube, Jessica went out and ski cut it. Todd skied down unaffected. Brad went next and released a class 2 slide that Todd and Jessica had to brace for. It slowed right in front of them and the slough went flying over their heads and over the cliffs to their backs. Brad stayed above the release point and was safe. Jessica sent Todd down to safe zone and stayed in the danger zone to keep guiding. I followed skier's tracks as instructed. I heard on Miller's radio what happened and he stayed super calm. It was reassuring but I knew what was up. I skied out cautiously looking for safe zones. I made one turn on the face and saw a crack spread skier's right. I stayed left and then on my next turn, it all ripped out. Another class 2. I stayed high and augered my fists into the snow. The slide tore through the rocks below me moving skier's left of Jessica. Cool, I didn't bury her. I skied the slide bed down to safety. Next came Miller and he also ripped out a big slab and this one was the biggest of the day. Check out the photo of Miller's slide barreling towards Jessica. After we all were down we breathed a sigh of relief. Our collective calm helped us out. We all knew what was going on and the severity of the situation. The Miller and the Baker together are super solid. Brad put together another superstar team like last week and today it showed. We were lucky. We had a great day and some really great runs and ramps. Reindeer Sausage and Billy North to close out the set was perfect. But it was unstable out there. Our prayers are with Eric Henderson, the French guy's family and the snowmobilers familes too. 

April16

Another down day and it was a beautiful morning to fly. Mechanical problems and delays and the weather changed. Todd and I roped Jessica into touring with us. But little did we know that she had a secret mission instore for us. We toured up the Tsaina river and then she showed us The Key To Lisa. It's awesome!!! A tight fissure with spring snow and snow rotted holes to the river below. We skinned and then boot hiked up. It is so deep and narrow. We crested the ridge at the alder brush and had a great view of the valley-abouta 1000ft of vertical was waiting. it was a wild non stop down this technical gash of a run. Such a thrill! The best gully skiing I've done since I was a kid in the gullies behind my house in New Hampshire. Everything is just bigger in AK.

April 15

A full down day. Todd and I went for a tour in the afternoon up Stuart Creek. Everything is always moving here in the Chugach. The canyon walls had little rock slides going. The isothermic snow cracked and made wild swishing sounds. The dog that followed us turned around after the 5 day old bear tracks went into a cave. I built a snow bench and we sat and enjoyed a beer. Then it was the ski out that was a fun downhill down the creak zig zagging over the river on snow bridges. Jessica invited us to the beach party on the other side of campus. A big bonfire and then in for dinner with Kreamer joining us.

April 14 - Lucky Seven

We had seven perfect runs.While the other heli outfits were shut down due to weather, we followed the blue hole around AR territory. We had some fun on Enjoyabowl and then  we ate our vegetables in the broccoli and cauliflower chutes. A little yellow fever shot was just right to cure me. King Tut skied well and phat. And we ended the day bringing down some glacial ice for glacial cocktails and a glacial coke. Kreamer joined us and hung out. Another good day of skiing and a fun night.