Norwegian Invasion

We have had house guests the last week and a half. I promised Kikkan I would not act like too much of a groupie, as one of the guests is a former Norwegian national ski team member. I promise I didn't ask her if she knew Marit. Ella Gjømle and Øyvind Berg came to visit with dreams of epic Alaskan backcountry skiing and, epic American burgers (well, Øyvind anyway).

I was lucky enough to get to tag along for a couple of backcountry, and food outings. I even practiced a few words på norsk (men, eg har glemt nesten alle de ordene...). Below are a few pictures from a day of skiing up Hiland Valley in Eagle River. Overall the weather was sunny and the skiing was quite good. Kikkan and Jeff jetted off to Hawaii and the Norwegians back to Oslo-- so now the house is empty and there's nothing left for me but dishes, laundry and my last two written exams.

Øyvind, Ella and Lars headed up the valley.

It was a beautiful day to be in the mountains.

Spring Crust

Even though I am usually exhausted by the time April rolls around, and this year is no exception, it is the best time to ski. On Wednesday, Judy, Trooper (misbehaving brown dog) and I drove out to Portage Lake to get in on what we had heard was perfect crust. We met up at 8am, meaning that we were headed across the lake by 9am. The crust was rock solid and fast as could be. In less than an hour, including dinking around taking pictures, we were overlooking Whittier. We zipped back down and checked out the glacier, before skiing back to the car, and back to town in plenty of time to get some homework in and head to my afternoon class. A glorious Alaska morning!


Portage Lake.


A perfect day for crust skiing.


At the top of the pass with Trooper.


Delightfully fast crust.


Future AMH calendar shot.