The Alyeska web cam showed severe clear bluebird conditions like a promotional picture. Was it real? It took a third look to be convinced that real sunshine was really shining on the Kenai Mountains. Believing there was powder and sunshine on Pastoral, like a video played in fast forward I got food in my belly, food and water in my pack, and skis, etc. in my car.
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| Pastoral View from Summit Basin |
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| Spencer Glacier |
In spite of a so-so weather service forecast, an inkling the night before foretold the good weather, but after five calls and no takers, a solo trip seemed like the right thing. Pastoral's northerly slope and almost 4800 ft summit elevation preserved boot top powder and exceptional May skiing.
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| Some Lines Remain on Lookers' Left with Uptrack |
Temperature was 50F at the Sunburst parking lot at 6 p.m., and the corn snow was supportable except for a few odd spots on non-southerly aspects. Southerly aspects looked rotten, I avoided them and didn't actually ski it down low. The snow on the east side of the Taylor Creek saddle turned rotten by my return trip at about 5:30 p.m.
2 comments:
Hi Jack - shoot me your email at wfinley (at) akmountain.com and I'll send you a pic I took of you from Sunburst. We argued over how many people it was... I believe my comment was "no way - that's 2 people. 1 person couldn't do that many runs so fast!"
Not fast, just steady.
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