Avid skier and TetonAT blogger, "RandoSteve" Romeo, and Chris Onufer were killed in avalanche near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In his blog, "Teton AT Live to Ski", Mr. Romeo expressed an energetic exhuberence for backcountry skiing with a proliferation like few others. It was impossible for me to align with Romeo's politics, but the passing of Romeo and Onufer was a very sad loss for our community.
The freedom of backcountry skiing is one of the main attractions for many of us. But, the freedom to ski to extraordinarily beautiful mountains carries the risk of avalanche. The avalanche that killed ultra-experienced Steve Romeo and Chris Onufer is another sad reminder of the very real risks and potentially fatal consequences of skiing in avalanche country.
March 10, 2012
February 19, 2012
Spectrum of Skiing - Fischer S-Bound 98
From inch-wide skate skis to ultrawide reverse camber powder planks, and everything in between, the spectrum of skiing is evident in the varied conditions we ski and the ingenuity of ski designers to make all these conditions enjoyable. The freedom of sliding on snow can be found in cross country, downhill, back country, side country, snowboard, touring, alpine touring, nordic touring, metal-edged touring, split board, skate, classic, big mountain, slalom, reverse camber, you name it. Meadow skipping-to-powder bowls is Anchorage front range skiing - free heel, self propelled, mellow to steep with substantial approach to the steeper terrain.
Needing a stiffer system for the steeps, but light and fast for the long, rolling approaches, the Fischer S-Bound 98 fit the need. The Fischer S-Bound 98 has a 98/68/88 mm sidecut, and it has significantly less camber, and with a waxless base, has a much slower glide than the waxbase Fischer Outtabounds 88/68/78 mm I've been using for the past 5 seasons. But, the waxless base ascends better than an optimally waxed 88 (Outtabounds waxbase has not been available for a couple of seasons). Fischer touts a "nordic rocker" on the 98 which performed very well breaking trail uphill. The 189 cm 98 turns with longer radius than the 179 cm 88. But, the system stiffness of the S-Bound 98 with some old Riva 2 bindings and a Scarpa T2 (coincidentally about a '98 vintage) boots is clearly more powerful on the descent than the 88 with the nnn-BC (Salomon SNS Raid) and Salomon X-ADV 8 boots. For pure powder pleaure, the verdict must wait for the next storm, but first impressions of Fischer's 98 were positive.
Fischer's S-Bound 98 combined with Riva 2/Scarp T2 boots may fill the bandwidth for steep slopes with a fairly long, rolling approach. I don't think I would choose this system for Arctic-to-Indian (24 mile) traverse due to the slow glide, but it has potential application on front range mountains such as Tikishla, Knoya, and Kanchee Peaks of the front range.
Needing a stiffer system for the steeps, but light and fast for the long, rolling approaches, the Fischer S-Bound 98 fit the need. The Fischer S-Bound 98 has a 98/68/88 mm sidecut, and it has significantly less camber, and with a waxless base, has a much slower glide than the waxbase Fischer Outtabounds 88/68/78 mm I've been using for the past 5 seasons. But, the waxless base ascends better than an optimally waxed 88 (Outtabounds waxbase has not been available for a couple of seasons). Fischer touts a "nordic rocker" on the 98 which performed very well breaking trail uphill. The 189 cm 98 turns with longer radius than the 179 cm 88. But, the system stiffness of the S-Bound 98 with some old Riva 2 bindings and a Scarpa T2 (coincidentally about a '98 vintage) boots is clearly more powerful on the descent than the 88 with the nnn-BC (Salomon SNS Raid) and Salomon X-ADV 8 boots. For pure powder pleaure, the verdict must wait for the next storm, but first impressions of Fischer's 98 were positive.
Fischer's S-Bound 98 combined with Riva 2/Scarp T2 boots may fill the bandwidth for steep slopes with a fairly long, rolling approach. I don't think I would choose this system for Arctic-to-Indian (24 mile) traverse due to the slow glide, but it has potential application on front range mountains such as Tikishla, Knoya, and Kanchee Peaks of the front range.
February 18, 2012
Midwinter Journeys
With Anchorage midwinter snowfall about double the average, this has been a front range season (I only have 3 core shots). The large amount of snowfall and a few wind events have transformed the topography. From megadrifts on normally flat trails to smooth snow bridges over normally ski-breaking creek beds, the snowscape is lacks familiarity, but the snowpack is thick and sweet with a few exceptions.
Yours truly discovered the exception on lower Wolverine Peak ridge yesterday. Where last week we enjoyed fabulous powder turns on a mellow grade, this week I found wind blown tundra with a few patches of snow. Below the mountain hemlocks of Wolverine, the snowpack is sweet, but the snow near the trees was hideous. The top 20% of Sam's Secret was wind hammered, but the lower 80% was too much fun.
Fun was the order for today's tour with Eruk and Lucy.
We skinned up the now defunct military ski area at Arctic Valley and traversed into the southerly bowls below the present day lifts. Eruk and I had both eyed these bowls from Arctic Valley lifts, but never skied them. Near the ridge top, we carefully traversed across superhard wind pack toward the powdery bowls where we found a great line that dropped 1500 powdery, vertical feet down to Ship Creek. We skinned back up the Ship Creek Trail to the Arctic Valley Road to finish the tour with a long slog.
Our high traverse was a little sketchy, but the reward of the sweet snow in the bowls made it worthwhile. There is great low angle skiing down the creek we followed with no bushwhacking, unlike some other direct fall line routes to the Ship Creek Trail - this season's exceptional snowpack may have something to do with the lack of bushwhacking. We also checked out the South Fork-to-Ship Creek route I've dreamed about for years. The eastern edge of the the map above shows the saddle above the South Fork trailhead (section 9, east of sec. 8).
We saw dozens of rabbit tracks on our return slog up the Ship Creek Trail. And we saw numerous lynx, coyote, and possibly wolverine tracks, too. Also on the return leg, viewing a moose, spruce hen, ptarmigan, and raptor further enriched our experience. Lucy was dragging her tongue and showing signs of deep fatigue in the powder, but when she got a whiff of all that game on the Ship Creek Trail, she perked right up and hunted rabbits, grouse and other scents the whole way back to the car.
Yours truly discovered the exception on lower Wolverine Peak ridge yesterday. Where last week we enjoyed fabulous powder turns on a mellow grade, this week I found wind blown tundra with a few patches of snow. Below the mountain hemlocks of Wolverine, the snowpack is sweet, but the snow near the trees was hideous. The top 20% of Sam's Secret was wind hammered, but the lower 80% was too much fun.
Fun was the order for today's tour with Eruk and Lucy.
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| Uberdog Lucy |
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| Arctic Valley South Bowl |
We saw dozens of rabbit tracks on our return slog up the Ship Creek Trail. And we saw numerous lynx, coyote, and possibly wolverine tracks, too. Also on the return leg, viewing a moose, spruce hen, ptarmigan, and raptor further enriched our experience. Lucy was dragging her tongue and showing signs of deep fatigue in the powder, but when she got a whiff of all that game on the Ship Creek Trail, she perked right up and hunted rabbits, grouse and other scents the whole way back to the car.
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