Spring Has Sprung

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend felt like mid-winter. This weekend feels like mid-summer. 

Yesterday was the last race of the year. At Alyeska Resort. Short and sweet. Only 3.7 kilometers. But the finish line was 619 meters higher than the start line.  It was a day for the climbers.  I had other obligations that morning, but fortunately Blog Intern Kevin Donley was on scene to memorialize the day in pictures:

Magnum. At around the halfway point.

Derek.  Also at around the halfway point.

Karly

The reason I couldn't be at the uphill race was because Tour Guide Toomas invited Toby Schwoerer  and me out skiing at one of his favorite spots, and that was something I didn't want to miss.

In the Placer River Valley

Toomas is buying this house.

Spencer Glacier

Toby (notice the bear spray in his pack). Toby's no novice. 

There's plenty of snow.

Skookum Valley rated 10 out of a possible 10

Toomas. Leading the way.

Planning future routes.

It was as good as it gets.

A bunch of Skiwolves had been out to Spencer Glacier the day prior. That's Astrid in the foreground.

Friends invited me back for more the next day.  It's not every day of the year that you can go crust skiing. So you have to go when the going's good.

Springtime in Alaska