Pre-Winter Eaglecrest Hiking!

Today was bright and sunny with hardly any clouds in the sky, so we decided to hike up Eaglecrest to the ridge to get some sightseeing in for our friends that are visiting. It was kinda chilly, around 32*, but once we started that ascent we warmed up very quick. The views were amazing as always. There was a nice coat of snow about halfway up the Black Bear chairlift... one whole INCH! At least it's something :) I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Gastineau Peak Hike

I apologize in advance for any typos or grammatical errors...

1- I'm posting from my phone since I'm still computerless, and autocorrect has a mind of its own sometimes

2- I'm tired and have the company of a bottle of whiskey beside me, so this post probably won't get proofread 

Here goes... 

A couple days ago, the sun was shining and I had no plans, so out into nature I went. I decided to hike Mt. Roberts trail since I've never done it before. It's pretty mellow... a few steeper parts but pretty easy overall. I made it to the top, to the Mt. Roberts Tramway in about 45 minutes. I still had plenty of time so I figured I'd hike on up to the cross. Once I got there, I figured what the hell, I might as well hike on up to Gastineau Peak since it was just another mile or so. This was definitely more challenging than the trail below the tramway. Steeper, more rocks, and some slippery wet spots. Overall a still fairly easy hike. 

Once I got away from the tourist section, which was about .5 miles past the tramway, I was pretty much by myself. I passed a few other hikers along the way but the trail was pretty deserted when I got higher up. 

Once I got the the top of Gastineau Peak, I just sat back at relaxed for a good 30 minutes. It was probably the most relaxed that I've felt in weeks. Nothing but me, the ravens and eagles flying above me, and the ptarmigans making their crazy sounds down in the rocky chutes below me. I did see a few marmot holes, and a couple mountain goats from a distance, but thankfully no bears, just the evidence of one in the form of a pile of poo along the trail. 

The way down was a breeze, and j was glad to see my car at the trailhead since I had some yummy fruit leathers that I forgot to put in my pack for a snack. 

This hike was probably one of my favorites since I've been here (which was a year ago on the 23rd!(: ) but next time, I'll keep on truckin up to Mt Roberts Peak, which is the next peak over. 

I'll now attempt post photos from my phone.. 

View of downtown Juneau from the trail

A bit further up, past the tramway and all the tourist nonsense

Low clouds in the distance hovering above the water 

A fork in the trail...

Almost there... Yay snow! 

Looking back at the beautiful ridge I just traversed

Wow what a view...

I made it! Woohoo. What a great hike! 

Soul Shred, Sunshine, and Fireworks*

We've been so busy at work, then in lazy mode when we get home that I've kinda slacked on the updates lately... Sorry about that, again! :) Let me tell you about the past week or so...

Saturday the 16th was the winter fireworks celebration at Eaglecrest. It was loads of fun... bonfire, fireworks, pizza, beer, friends... what an awesome night. The fireworks show was great. I'm not gonna lie, the best fireworks show I've ever witnessed was on the tip top of Beech Mountain, with views of the fiery colorful blasts for miles and miles... three states worth of fireworks shows to be exact... Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia. Looking down upon the nearly 360* view of fireworks shows will be hard to top, ever.

Here are a few photos from the fireworks show at Eaglecrest.

That next Tuesday was a slow, rainy day at work, so we had a fun day of hiking the park. Here are a few shots from our park session.

 

Me getting pressy on the small box.

Dustin getting technical with some one footers.

And here is a shot of me from our fun cornice spot :) Thanks Lisa for the shot and showing me and Susan where the goods were! What an epic powder filled morning with amazing shred ladies. Days like that is why I do what I do. It was definitely a soul shred morning. Lots of progression from everyone and we were all so stoked the entire time! Found lots of fun drops to try and get better at landing in the chopped up powder, and we occasionally found some untouched spots. I swear, every day here just keeps getting better and better.

And finally, some photos from yesterday's end of the day ridge hike shredventure. What a great way to end the day. It was GORGEOUS up there. Mountains for miles and miles in every direction. Sun was shining. Blue sky. Perfect.

Looking at the Ptarmigan chair, Juneau down low, and
beautiful snow capped mountains as far as the eye can see.

More mountains as far as the eye can see.

Pretty much the same shot as the first one, just from higher up on the ridge.

Dustin leading our hike to the ridge.

View of Stephens Passage and Admiralty Island from Pittman's Ridge.
What a gorgeous day!

Dustin playing on a wind lip. Natural features > park features!

During our decent from the ridge.
It was pretty tracked up from the days worth of heavy traffic
but still SUPER fun!

A Snowy Walk in the Wilderness

I know it's been a while since my last post. Sorry about that! I've been super busy at work and haven't been able to take many free runs, so I usually don't take my camera out unless I'm riding for a couple hours at a time. Now that the holidays are over, I should get to go out and ride a bit more, and hopefully have some awesome photos to share.

Yesterday was our first day off in what feels like forever. My plan was to sleep in, stay in my pj's all day, and not do a damn thing. But what happened? I was up, wide awake at 5:30AM, which is when I normally wake up for work. I tried to go back to sleep, but it just wasn't happening. Our friend Jake invited us to go on a hike, and since our original plan of having a lazy day wasn't really working, we figured we might as well do something in the great outdoors.

I've been fascinated by the Dan Moller cabin ever since I first learned about it. The hike up there was supposed to be pretty easy and only take a couple hours, so we decided to check it out. Well... that didn't exactly go as planned either! Even though the days are getting longer now, it still gets dark around 4PM, and we didn't get our feet on the trail until around 2PM. Instead, we just hiked as far as we could with the daylight we had to work with, but it was still a gorgeous stroll in the snow.

The snow was pretty deep, but the trail was decently packed down. Occasionally I wouldn't be paying attention and step off the trail, making me sink down way past my knees in the snow. We almost brought snowshoes but decided not to at the last minute. After a few minutes up the trail we were all wishing we had them. 

A guy on a snowmobile passed us, which just made me want a sled really bad all over again. Those things look like so much fun! We ended up only about a mile away from the Dan Moller cabin when we decided to turn back. We had flashlights, but being out in the Alaskan wilderness without a gun after dark wasn't a very comforting feeling. 

Next week when we are off work, I definitely want to hike the entire trail and check out the cabin. I've heard it stays rented out pretty steadily during the winter, but hopefully we'll catch it on a day when nobody is there and we can check it out. 

Here are a few photos from our short little snowy walk...

Power to the Powder

Today we hiked up Eaglecrest and got some turns in again. This time, on actual POWDER boards. Dustin was on a Capita Charlie Slasher 158 and I was on the same board but in a 154. Thanks to Spenser for letting us borrow these boards, we got some amazing turns in! 

We hiked to the top of the ridge and the view was more than amazing. Snow covered mountain ranges in all directions, and birds eye view of the Inside Passage around us, not to mention a few ravens that kept making an appearance. Although the sun wasn't completely out, we could see that strange ball of energy through the overcast and a lovely 'halo' was surrounding it. I've seen this several times back home, but being on top of a mountain with these views, deep snow, and a sun halo to top it off was just epic. 

The hike was pretty tiring. It snowed a significant amount since the last time we hiked up, and without snowshoes or splits, it was quite a workout. Not that I'm complaining... it's well worth the sweat and burning legs to get to the top of that ridge and see what we saw today. 

Oh yeah, the ride down was pretty fun too! The snow was still nice and fluffy from the past snowfall and since we were on bigger boards, staying afloat and making awesome turns was effortless. I'm still a little weary of attempting any significant drop since I'm not used to riding actual powder, plus being on a board I wasn't really used to riding. I certainly don't want to attempt a drop with my Smokin' board, mainly because it's just too damn short for that kind of riding. Park boards and powder drops don't mix very well :)

Next time I'm going to give my Burton Feelgood a try. It's only a 149, but it's a bit stiffer and has more of a nose so hopefully it will be powder friendly. After today, I've decided I want to stick around a 154 or slightly smaller for my next board purchase... and hopefully that purchase will be a split! 

Here are a few photos (and a video!)

Looking up towards the top of Black Bear chair

The sun halo was so beautiful

Looking back on Douglas and a view of part of Juneau through the valley

Awesome trees :)

Once we got closer to the top, we were easily sinking knee deep

Looking towards Admiralty Island 

Mountains, snow, water... what could be more beautiful?!

Note: This video was still 'processing' when I posted this, so if it's still not ready to view, please check back later! :)