It finally went blue a few days ago, sending us into the hills from
dawn till dusk.
This is what it is all about. Wide open, few to no tracks and an
unlimited canvas. Here Dennis Nazari takes his Powder Surfer for a spin.
Nick was tempted to mount up his 190cm Summit board for the pow. That
is the original board that Steve Link made for Nick to ride in AK in
the early 90s.
Sledding up here offers unbelievable access to unreal mountains. We
did a bunch of laps up Nicks and were rewarded with 3 foot deep powder.
Nick takes a slash down low on his namesake. The experience puts
resort riding to shame. With nearly 4000' of powder blanketed
vertical, snowmobiles offer access to more terrain than any resort in
North America.
To really get the goods, or if you have an unlimited budget, heli is
the way to go. You get more laps and ride more vertical, but it comes
at a price.
Using a heli is the only way to reach some of the big mountains. One
night we got a late bump up to Diamond, one of the crown jewels of the
Chugach. This is the tallest peak in any direction, begging us to take
in the view for a few nervous minutes.
Looking back up at the run we just did - Gun Barrels on Diamond. These
runs are 3000' chutes that spill out onto the glacier after a small
bergstrom. Then another 3000' run to the bottom. This is why we come
up here and this time the Chugach delivered, big time.
After, the crew hung out for a few cold Alaskan Ambers.