The Can

Yesterday i was trying to round up people to go skiing but wasn't having much luck so today I was going to try and meet up with people at Tincan and just hike with them. When I pulled into the parking lot Jordan was waiting as his climbing partner had bailed on their trip today. We had a great day and the clouds and snow abated right as we shed the skins and rode down. There was a group of guys using dogs to pull them up the hill, sort of like skijoring uphill, needless to say, it looked like a disaster. I took some photo's of the bindings we use today since the light was pretty bad for anything else. They telescope at the toe for skinning uphill and there is also a piece of plastic that clicks up in the back to aid on steeper slopes. That same piece of plastic locks the heel down for a normal alpine descent.
cheers,
josh

Shortest Day

Sometimes you just get lucky. I went for a quick shakedown flight today to confirm that a few things were still askew with my avionics equipment. I climbed out of Soldotna and dialed in a route on the GPS to Mike's cabin across the inlet. As I passed through 2000 feet I could tell that my radio and electrical problems were still an issue so I decided on a shorter flight out to a friends house in Nikiski rather than over the inlet. The sun was hidden behind some high clouds acting as a filter and there was a layer of fog about halfway across the inlet that looked like it would shoot pretty well so I took a few photo's looking south/southeast toward the alaska peninsula/Iliamna.
cheers,
josh

Lips

Travis, Zack, Jordan and I hiked Lips peak today. The weather was marginal, but the snow was super good and we had a great time. The lighting was terrible but a few pictures came out alright. On these crappy light days I end up taking about 60 pictures and come out with around 6 good ones..... Lips is on the right as you enter Turnagain pass and most people overlook it because the parking lot is on the left side of the road. Hopefully heading up again tomorrow,

cheers,

josh

First Day Off

I had a rediculous morning... I woke up to the phone ringing, answered it, and there was a beeping noise on the other end. The phone rang like this non-stop for an hour. Finally I called the phone company and of course the calls stopped coming. Luckily the beeps were left on my answering machine so I shared a few beeps with the ACS guys... Anyway, jordan, travis, jessica and I made a go of it on Tincan today, getting to the mountain around 12:30, a late start. We topped out around 3:30 and it was starting get dark so we took a break, geared up, and took off. These pictures are great, i really enjoy shooting in the mountians in the evening. While i try to avoid heavy editing, some of these really popped after a little dose of Picasa. It was a crisp, dry cold, probably around 10 degrees and the snow was way good. Pictured are Travis Haskin, Jessica Summer, and Jordan Jenckes. The group determined after a few turns that jessica has quickly surpassed jordan as far as ski abilities go. All she lacks is the gear. We picked an easy route down and rode the last part in the last little bits of sunlight with darkness catching us at the car. Gear to Car > People to Car > Car to China Sea Buffet for a great dinner with good friends. Every one of these trips brings more great stories and new acquaintances. What a day, can't wait for more more more.
cheers and Enjoy the pictures from Tincan today

Roll to Slide

Uneventful week on the snow with the poor (warm) conditions early in my week off so a couple days ago I put the plane in the hanger and started swapping it over to skis and getting it ready for shawn to annual it. Once a year, every year, a certified mechanic has to go through the plane and engine to ensure that everything is up to snuff. Back to work tonight!
cheers,
josh

More snow

Start

Middle
End (Nam Flashback)

I was up in Anchorage yesterday at a doctor's appointment and on the way back through the pass it was starting to snow pretty good so I was pretty pumped for today because Jordan and I were supposed to head up Tincan again. So this is how it usually works: I wake up to my cell phone alarm, roll over and look out the window to see if it's cloudy. I always forget that it's going to be dark probably when i look out the window, so my next move is to call Jordan. "Dude, is it cloudy up there?" He lives in anchorage. "I don't know, it's dark" Me, "ohh yeah, it's dark here too". Luckily radar doesn't mind if it's dark or not, so i'll usually tell Jordan i'll call him back in a minute after I check the weather online. Something Ive learned over the years is to never make a decision about wether to go or not within 45 minutes of waking up, especially during the winter months. It's way to easy to just blow it off and roll back into a nice warm bed, but once your up and moving, things start to look better. So despite crappy conditions in Soldotna, the snowpack has been stabilizing in the pass and the radar looked good so we met up at the Tincan parking lot at noon because Jordan had a class till 11. We had a great day in fresh snow and the weather only got better throughout. We skied down under an early moon and had some great views from the parking lot. We are really lucky to live in such a great place
cheers,
josh