Trifecta of the Anchorage Day Trip Powderquest

Anchorage backcountry skiing day trip trifecta:  Hatcher Pass, Summit Lake, and Turnagain Pass.  Notable absences of the Anchorage Front Range, South Fork, and Girdwood could stir a small controversy, but based on reliable snow, proximity to Anchorage and ease of access, the true trifecta of the Anchorage day trip to the untracked experience must be Turnagain, Summit and Hatcher.  Sentimentality may play some role in my powder trifecta because these places were the stuff of my first backcountry ski trips.

Harkening back to 1982 when I found myself at Summit Lake, Turnagain Pass, and Hatcher Pass as a rookie in the Alaska backcountry, we thought leather boots were cool and skis with 80 mm tips were wide.  Still, now in 2013, I return to these places.  Skiing Turnagain, Summit and Hatcher in succession over the past three days took me back to a bygone that still lives on:  the never ending quest for the untracked experience.