I skied at Alyeska.

Hike to the monies.

New Year's Chute.

The headwall.

Alyeska has a lot to offer.

The North Face. L to R: the Monies, New Year's Chute, Christmas Chute, the Knuckles.

And the views at Alyeska are hard to beat.

I skied at Turnagain Pass.

We skied 2 laps on Sunburst and 2 more on Magnum. The powder was milky as can be!

Guess which tracks are mine. :wink:

While on Turnagain Pass, this peak (Kickstep) became my new obsession.

I skied 8 miles in to the Juneau Lake cabin and stayed the night there.

I visited the town of Whittier.

For those of you who haven't heard of Whittier you should read these links:
Whittier Tunnel
Whittier

Let's just say this town is certainly "unique".

To get to Whittier from Anchorage, you have to go through a tunnel. But, this is no ordinary tunnel. The tunnel is over two miles long and only allows passage in one direction. The tunnel is a single lane for cars AND railroad. When you drive through it on a car, you are actually driving on the railroad tracks themselves. When driving through this tunnel I learned that railroad tracks are actually quite slippery! Because of the need for sharing the tunnel for both cars and trains in both directions, you can only go through the tunnel once every hour. The tunnel actually has a schedule, like a bus or a ferry. The cost is $12.

I enjoyed stunning views.

And I had some adventures with Kellie

As I said previously, Kellie "is filled with positive energy which bubbles over, everywhere she goes. Her smile brightens an entire room. And her motivation is far greater than most anyone. And her generosity is never-ending. We all know, too, that she pretty much kicks ass. She'll leave boys in the dust with the things she likes to climb and ski."

Kellie was a major highlight of my trip. Because of scheduling conflicts she and I were unable to ski together except for one day. But she made sure to get me in contact with several of her friends so that I could ski with them. Many of these people were mentioned above.

Kellie is an inspiring person on so many levels: in skiing, in life, in work, in personality... she has it all together. I think she and I would become a dangerous pair if we were able to spend more time together :) One night we went out to enjoy the Telepalooze festivities. Telepalooza was happening that night. The theme for the night was Pirates. Of course, I had no idea beforehand, so no pirate costume. But, Kellie insisted that I somehow dress like a pirate. Enter Heather. She's got this red mini skirt which I wore, and a torn gold dress which she tore up for me to wear on my head and as a belt. Kellie lent me the heals and tank top. The night lasted past 2 am and I was reminded why I hate high heals :wink:

The next morning we woke up and were hoping for better weather, but it was worse than the day before. This means our original ambitious plans of hitting a nice couloir were shut down. Nevertheless, we rallied and headed down toward Summit Lakes.

Kellie and me.

We thought about going over and playing on some of this.

But, then the weather sometimes turned to this:

So we skied this instead.

We enjoyed 3 laps of milky new snow that day. It was a good time :)

A friend of mine emailed me yesterday and said something very appropriate, "damn i miss ALASKA. once that place gets in you--- its hard to live with out it, its really sort of like crack. a one week bender is enough to make you wonder why you're doing the things you're doing?" It really hit home!

I had a FANTASTIC time in Alaska. I can't wait to get back again. I eyed several peaks and lines that I would love to go back and ski someday. Maybe next year! :)