The End of an Era

Steffi (Hiemer) Schauer, Jaime Bronga, Laura Rombach

Farewell Steffi and Laura

Steffi and Laura are moving back to Germany tomorrow.  We went on a farewell ski tour today.  The group consisted of Laura, Andrew, Raphael, Steffi's parents, Steffi, and me.  It was great skiing, but sad to say goodbye to Steffi and Laura.

Here's where a big, slow wet-snow avalanche ended up:

And here's the track it made as it slid slowly downhill:

Who put peanut butter in my chocolate!?!?!

There are few things I enjoy more than riding motorcycles.  But crust skiing might be one of those things.  The conditions were so good today, I had to go skiing.  But I wanted to ride my motorcycle, too.  Fortunately someone, somewhere, invented bungee cords, allowing me to ride my motorcycle to where the best skiing is: Turnagain Pass.  Some things truly are worth more than the sum of their parts!

Lasse and Lukas:  I'm sorry if this makes you cry, but I didn't make you leave.  Just think of all the flowers that will grow after all the rain you're getting...

Steffi and Karl are Married

UAA Ski Team members Steffi Hiemer (2008 - 2012) and Karl Schauer (2006-2010) were married this weekend in Girdwood.  They are moving to Bavaria at the end of this week.  Their first adventure together as a married couple will be a summer spent working together at a mountain hostel at 2,400 meters elevation on the south side of the Zugspitze.  Congratulations Steffi and Karl!

William Ritekwiang and Marko Cheseto

Here's a video and story about William and Marko from ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/7920276/otl-university-alaska-anchorage-runner-marko-cheseto-most-tragic-run-espn-magazine

Seawolf Start Camp

The Boys went to Davis' house in Palmer for a 3-day Hatcher Pass on-snow mini-camp this week.







I don't know why Lucky is wearing a Kaufland bag, but there's probably a reason...




The report from Lasse is that Davis' mom is keeping the boys from going hungry:

A Day at Hatcher Pass

Danielle and I went to Hatcher Pass for an afternoon ski on Sunday:

Michael Powell had the same plan:

Lasse and Lukas at Hatcher Pass

Lasse and Lukas finished their final exams yesterday, so they decided to celebrate this morning by driving one hour north of Anchorage to go skiing at Hatcher Pass.  The conditions were so good that they skied for three hours.  Lasse described it as "winter conditions", and his pictures prove that he's no liar:

Lukas and Lasse got so excited about the skiing conditions at Hatcher today that they've decided to spend part of next week in "training camp" at Davis' house near Hatcher Pass so they can get three solid days of on-snow training.  Looks like the training season for next year's NCAA Championships in Middlebury, Vermont has officially begun!

Center Ridge Reconnaissance Mission

I have some advice for people coming to Alaska for Steffi and Karl's wedding next week:  Bring your ski boots.

(If you click on the pictures, they get way bigger and way better.)

This morning, I drove an hour south of Anchorage to see what kind of crust skiing conditions exist at Turnagain Pass.  I couldn't have been more pleased with what I found:

The snow was silky smooth, hard as a rock, and I found no tracks from any other skiers...

The lowest point on the ridge in the back-center of this photo was my ultimate destination.

My attempt at a self-picture:

 After skiing to the back of the valley and climbing the headwall, I was able to stand on the ridge after two hours of skiing and look down in to Placer Valley on the other side.  In the center is Spencer Glacier, the Alaska Railroad tracks, and the Placer River.

Anchorage Skiing

We went skiing at the Hillside trails yesterday and I think it was my last time skiing in in the city until next fall.  'Twas a good winter of snow - the best ever - but it's melting fast and there were a lot of mud patches on the trails.  Here are a few pictures of the best, snowiest sections of the Spencer Loop:

From now on, I guess we'll have to drive outside the city to ski.