Back Country Skiing

Hi everyone. So I know it's been a while, but it's not because there is nothing going on up here, believe me. I just struggle with time and when the time is there, I struggle with finding the energy, but I know that I have a band of people eagerly waiting to hear my next adventure, struggle, experience, or conundrum up here in Alaska.

Well I went out skiing with Kevin, a friend of mine here in the village and his dog, Foster. It was a beautiful day and we skied up the snow machine trails to the top of the hill where the stone people or little people live. We got a nice view of Tununak on the other side of the hill and then headed back down on the back side of the mountain where there are not any snow machine trails, which means the snow is very inconsistent and difficult to ski. Picture a wind blown field with areas of ice, areas of 2 - 3 foot drifts of snow, the whole thing randomly dotted with chunks of ice to manuever around. It was a little sketchy to say the least. We made it down eventually and I only suffered a couple of bruises, including my ego, and some sore muscles. I almost bent one of my poles from falling on it so hard.

It was a great day on the mountain, very rare in deed. There was no wind blowing on the top, which is unheard of here in the village. Skiing along the coast is nice also. There is more protection from the wind and there is nice snow that sweeps over the bluff to climb and make a couple of turns on the way down. I did not have my camera with me for that trip, so you will just have to believe me that we came within about 70 feet of a red fox that was checking us out. Pretty amazing.

Thanks for reading.
Dirk