100th Post; Boxing Day Ski Film

My parents were way to generous as usual with Christmas presents and Santa delivered a nice Canon FS200 digital video camcorder... 4 hours skiing at Hatchers, 3 hours in the studio with a beer, and this ski film is the result; enjoy!

1st XC Day at Hatchers

First day cross country skiing at Hatchers Pass; 24+ inches of snow with 40 mph winds made for interesting conditions on the hills, but great nordic conditions on Archangel Road.
Jacks ready to Ski Jour

Prince Jasper enjoying rolling in the pow

Jack mid-stride

Pack Raft Adventure Number Two; Winner Creek Trail to 20 Mile River

Another early start time from Girdwood, Alaska down the Winner Creek Trail.
We stepped off in light misty rain and low hanging clouds, occasionaly the precip would stop and a few clouds would lift revealing glaciers and peaks around the valley.

Fireweed still in bloom

Winner Creek Trail 7 miles to the Pass, plus 2 additional miles bushwacking to the 20 Mile River while dropping 2000ft elevation

Waterfall coming from unknown glacier above

More Fireweed

Almost to the pass

Winner Creek Pass, very interesting, several little ponds were on the pass, with creeks trickling in both directions North and South flowing

Just before the bushwhacking begins, this is the part where we saw several Black Bear paw prints going in all directions with an unidentified animal scat across the trail

Finally, after 2+ hours of bushwhacking we met up with the 20 mile River

Stream we'd been "hand railing" downhill that intersected with the River

Ready to paddle

45 minutes of Class 2 whitewater led to 2+ hours of casual "lazy" river floating in a typical Alaskan swift current

AK R&R Whistle Stop Train

Finally, the Seward Hwy, and we only missed dinner by 4 hours.....

Crow Pass Crossing; via Foot & PackRaft

In hopes of salvaging a gorgeous summer with some adventure, we decided to embark on our first trek/packraft adventure. After borrowing some "Alpacka" packrafts from our good buddy Marc we embarked on this single day adventure from the Crow Pass trailhead in Girdwood, Alaska.
Fireweed in bloom, clouds burning off, blue sky shining through, its gonna be a good day!

We each roughly carried 30-35lbs packs

Packraft (6-8lbs empty) folds to about the size of a small sleeping bag

We also carried collapsible paddles, life preservers, air pumps, dry suits, dry bags, paddling gloves and booties, water, food, dry clothes, and bear spray

Crow Pass trail looking back towards Girdwood

High water conditions on the Eagle River, clear blue skies, warm air temperatures brought out several expeditions of packrafters making the same trek as us

Matt heading over the pass

Token crow pass photograph, raven glacier looking stunner in the background

I'm very happy with how the Raven Glacier photographs turned out and will probably create a separate blog entry because I took so many

Starting the descent from Crow Pass towards the Eagle River

More Raven Glacier

Bull Moose (shot take with Olympus point and shoot, not zoomed in, he really was that close)

Shoulder high Fireweed

The Eagle Glacier source of the Eagle River, and part two of today's adventure

Full kit donned and ready to rip!

This may have been our first time packrafting, but we sure looked like professionals!

Totally stoked with the whitewater!

Matt doing his best "tubing" impression, looking for his Coors Light

Low water in some spots required a short portage across gravel bars

My rig

Mission complete, before returning to the patrol base we stopped by our favorite watering home for a Pizza Man Special (extra large) and 32oz Schooner of the best local micro brew

Beginning of the END of Summer...

On Monday, May 25th, Memorial Day, at approximately 1245hrs two cars decided to drag race down Hatchers Pass; I was traveling into Hatchers Pass with Gretchen, Maggi, Travis, Jack & Jasper; the teenager drag racers struck us head on at around 75mph, I was traveling 30mph. The explosion of steel on steel caused mass chaos followed by air bag deployment and twisted metal.

Gretchen fractured 4 bones in her back, leaving her in brace for 8-12 weeks; Maggi was medevac'ed in a helicopter due to a contusion on her forehead and memory loss from what actually happened; Travis was put on a stretcher with neck brace due to pains in his back; I walked away unscathed physically minus a few abrasions on my knees and hands; Jack & Jasper both flew through the vehicle, leaping out of the nearest exit and running nearly a mile away from the accident site before being rescued by a kind good Samaritan bystander with aching Travis following leashs in hand.

Pray for the innocent, pray for the guilty, pray for forgiveness, pray for choices made to shadow self doubt, pray for decisions of the future.

Thanks for your prayers and support during this time of trial.

Peace be with you.

~Samuel