Our local Vanguard newspaper quoted local Lynn Crystal of the National Weather Service Wednesday, December 29. "As of Tuesday morning, 69 inches of snow had fallen since December 18. A record 4.35 inches of mostly rain followed the first 50 inches in 24 hours. Then 6 hours later another 4.16 inches of rain in 24-hours. The two downpours occurred December 20-23. The previous 24-hour modern day record was 3.96 inches in October 1993. What it amounts to is this: the two wettest 24-hour periods in Valdez occurred in a 3-day period. Had the rain been snow, more than 100 inches of snow would have fallen in 3 days and at the higher elevations it did." Check this out.

All the numbers above can be doubled at the 6,000 elevation totaling 28 feet; not including the 16 feet that accumulated up high during the two rain events totaling 44 feet. The skiing and snow machining was phenomenal. I had parked my Dodge truck and was riding my Polaris RMK 700 long track snowmobile with 3-inch paddles for all my transportation needs. I guess it's pretty obvious I dig it. To the store, airport, bar, Mineral Creek, Valdez Glacier, the kicker Joe Buck and I built on Hogback Mountain, and to access some awesome ski tours. Imagine being on a pair of fat skis on top of a 3,000 vertical foot face with 44 feet of snow beneath you and it is only December 30. Dropping in on an AK slope with a pair of fat skis with this much powder is like flying. Every contour and shape in the slope feels so smooth leaving you weightless. Carving a turn on this much snow at high speed feels like the wind on a wing. The pressure on the skis is so minimal while Gs are so impressive, and still you continue to feel so stable on the big platforms.

The big skis offer a huge resource of leverage with an anytime you want it limited slip factor. You can scrub speed easily offering a nice comfort zone for safety. After skiing a big face with this much snow a life has and or will change. No matter how you feel about it. The advancements in the technology are launching a whole new library of technique in all aspects and disciplines of skiing. With big mountain skiing demanding a whole new set of rules including sluff management. Sluff management is the snow off of your turn's sluffing down picking up the powder below it. The technique is to make 5-10-20 turns, depending on the slope, cutting right or left respecting its fall line, and what's below you. The goal when skiing a wicked line with a difficult problem to solve is making sure that you either ski fast staying out in front of the snow, or letting your sluff run ahead of you by using safe zones, or skiing slower behind it. Understanding fall lines, speeds of the sluff, and how it's going to react with different terrain features in its trajectory is crucial.

Route selection tools including Polaroid and digital cameras, topography maps, and video reviews can really help you memorize landmarks and hidden terrain traps. When you are dealing with 2,000 - 5,000 foot lines; judging scale and steepness plays a huge role in your timing, and finding your entrances and exits. However, understanding snow pack is the most important. Without it the rest is a joke. It's an ever changing arena out there that makes time stand still. The only thing you see and feel is the moment and this place seems to put you there all the time.

A person doesn't have come ski the sickest lines to experience these feelings. Fifty percent of the terrain here is moderate but huge. The combination of powder with dense snow pack underneath lets you to steer your skis easily allowing you to open it up. With 80 feet of snow, and the young geology of interconnected ridges here there is quite a bit of big open terrain. But know this, Valdez demands extra days for the goods. With skiing like this you need to put a buffer on the weather. A lot of people come up and nail 6x6 blue bird days. Don't fool yourself with this kind of skiing. January came on even stronger. By the time we began our heli season February 19th, we had accumulated 29 feet at sea level and 74 feet in the range. I had already experienced six storms bigger than I have ever seen before. It's insane what Alaska maritime snow can do. When temperatures are just right flakes fall as big as your fists. It's nearly impossible to catch them in your mouth with out getting a wet face. The integrity in the snow is incredible. Watching 3 feet of snow creeping off a pitched roof sagging down eight feet before braking says a lot of about what angles it can stick to. We had broken many monthly records, but by no means was this the biggest snow year. March 80 feet in the range, April 82 feet in the range, and May 82 feet in the range. To the contrary it only balanced out a bit above average. This is the capital of big mountain skiing. It is the best place to access big mountains with more snow than any other place in the world. With snow soaked mountains as far as the eye can see them.

Skiing is Life!

Dean Cummings

Visit AK and Ski with H20
www.H2Oguides.com