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  1. #1
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    Haines AK Conditions 2015

    New season, new thread for Haines conditions, updates from people in the field and general stoke.



    Solid, deep snowpack at upper elevations: good for ski season

    February 19, 2015 | Volume 45 Issue 7 | View PDF

    Snow around town doesn’t look impressive, but at upper elevations where backcountry and heli-skiing occurs, conditions are the best they’ve been in several years, the director of the Haines Avalanche Information Center said during a presentation Monday at the Sheldon Museum.

    “There’s a solid, deep snowpack above timberline. There are no active, persistent, weak, deep layers. We had a couple of those last year and the year before. There’s nothing like that this year,” Erik Stevens said. “It’s a good sign, but things could change.”

    In January 2014, warm temperatures at high elevations melted back the snowpack, exposing crevasses and limiting the areas for good skiing, Stevens said.

    Consistent melt-freeze cycles are generally good and create a stable snowpack for spring skiing here, but too much rain at high elevations hardens surface snow, essentially ruining skiing conditions, Stevens said. “The best snow (for skiing) is light, dry powder, and that’s basically what forms avalanches.”

    Since 2010, Stevens and Jeffrey Moskowitz have operated the information center, a website that aims to provide information to backcountry users about avalanche hazards. The site receives some information from Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures and from some guides at Alaska Heliskiing, as well as from other users.

    Stevens and Moskowitz, who gave a broad presentation including tales of historic avalanches, told a crowd of about 12 local residents that predicting avalanches is a new, uncertain science, and that anticipating slides requires a “holistic” approach to appraising conditions.

    Digging snow pits to assess layers in snow is just one factor in determining a slope’s hazard, as the stability of layers can change within a few feet’s space. Additional factors skiers should consider include recent and winter-long snowfall and rain, wind, temperature, appearances and the frame of mind of other people in the party, Stevens said.

    No system of avalanche assessment is foolproof, Stevens said, because “you never have enough data. In the end, you use your intuition.” Even keeping a distance from a cornice can be tricky, he said. “It’s amazing how far back a cornice can break off if you’re at the wrong place at the right time.”

    Stevens recounted an April 2011 avalanche that he almost didn’t survive. It occurred in part because he and a fellow skier had pushed each other until late in the afternoon on a warm, spring day, a time when avalanches are most likely to occur. The pair had climbed a ravine near Mount Sinclair on the east side of the Lynn Canal.

    He and his friend were engaging in “group confidence,” a kind of faulty thinking that has led to accidents, he said.

    “Avalanches occur when people know conditions aren’t safe, but they decide to go anyway… We knew we were late in the day, but neither of us wanted to turn around. By the time we were on the top, we knew it was way too warm,” Stevens said.

    The pair skied about 1,000 feet down the ravine, his friend in front, when an avalanche swept up Stevens and carried him about 2,000 feet to its bottom. His friend, who was skiing below him, had skied into a safe zone. Stevens had just enough time to sink an ice axe into the snow beneath him, slowing his tumble.

    The axe gave him a little bit of control and he hung onto it, although the snow’s pull dislocated his shoulders as many as 10 times during the fall, sometimes simultaneously. Toward the end of what he estimates was 15 seconds of terror, he lost the axe and went into a “ragdoll tumble” he didn’t expect to survive.

    Fortunately, he landed on the surface of the snow, with injuries not much more serious than dislocated shoulders and a sprained ankle.

    Interestingly, the avalanche that caught him wasn’t one he and his friend triggered, but was a “natural” one that had dropped off a cliff above them. The slope they were on was stable, as were nearby ones they had been skiing on for several days. “We couldn’t even see the slope (the avalanche) came from. We couldn’t know it was coming.”

    Accidents due to avalanches aren’t uncommon, Stevens said. By his count, in the past four years, there have been eight serious accidents around the Chilkat Valley related to avalanches, and he’s heard of about a dozen more that weren’t reported.

    He’s hoping that backcountry users who experience avalanches will report them to the local avalanche center, to put that information to work for others. Reports can be provided anonymously, he said.

    “We’re not trying to judge people. We’re just trying to get information and trying to help others learn from our mistakes,” Stevens said.

    Stevens, who moved here from Colorado, said he’s been awed by the volumes of snow here and by places like Chilkat Lake where there are 5,000-foot-long avalanche chutes. “It’s amazing to think of the amount of snow that’s coming down the mountains around here.”

    The Haines Avalanche Information Center website is alaskasnow.org/haines. Stevens said his group is hoping to provide avalanche education workshops for snowmachiners.

  2. #2
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    Click image for larger version. 

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    Sitka today. Grass is turning green.

  3. #3
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    so many words, what does it say? Scale of 1 to 10 what are we looking at?

  4. #4
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    what I have read/heard in the last couple days: ~8 on stability, ~4 on snowpack. very warm winter so snow-line is at about 2K' but up high it's relatively deep and relatively bomber. just means shorter runs/higher pickups and a little less efficient with heli time. when are you headed up? I'll be there April 3 - 13

  5. #5
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    Mars 21 - April 5 here. We should get a beer.

  6. #6
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    instead of wating money at the new distillery think about investing in new skis. nice write up about a good company and some motivated skiers"It's always snowing somewhere"
    By Mary Catharine Martin | CAPITAL CITY WEEKLY
    A few years ago in a November blizzard, Ian Seward picked up Graham Kraft and Lindsay Johnson, his new neighbors, as they were hitchhiking into Haines. It was the first time they'd met, and they soon found they had a lot to talk about.
    Kraft grew up in British Columbia and is a former ski racer for the provincial team; he'd been making his own skis. Seward is a wood worker who'd been making boats, furniture and cabinets for years. In 2013, the two of them started Fairweather Ski Works, a company that hand-makes locally sourced, locally designed, sustainable skis.
    Kraft had been building skis for about five years before he met Seward, starting in his parents' carport in B.C.
    "It was pretty experimental," he said, laughing. "The first times were pretty crude (but) they worked great. It was a really cool experience to take the raw materials, and turn them into something that could work, and go out skiing on them and have great days."
    He moved to Anchorage to attend the University of Alaska, and "totally fell in love with the Alaska mountains," he said.
    Seward went to the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding before moving to Haines in 2003. He's also been skiing for around 20 years, he said, and had an interest in doing skis - especially once he moved to Haines.
    "Look in just about any ski magazine and Haines features pretty prominently," he said. "It's just so photogenic... it kind of presents a niche in time and location that was kind of unoccupied before."
    Kraft and Seward started out with a ski and split board building workshop for their friends, raising enough money to buy some materials and get a new ski press built. (A ski press presses all the materials into form.)
    "It was really fun and a great learning experience for them and me too, because I had to go through the process of teaching them as I was learning as well," Kraft said.
    They laminate the wood with fiberglass, a plastic running base, and metal edges, all of which is "squished into the press," Kraft said.
    Now that Kraft and Seward have perfected their process, they primarily use paper birch and Sitka spruce trees.
    "We laminate those two species together and it gives us a core that's really strong and yet lightweight enough for backcountry touring," Kraft said. "We played around with it quite a bit and those two species seemed like a really ideal combination... it's pretty cool to be able to work with such high quality wood that's grown right here."
    Much of the spruce has so far come from an old-growth tree that fell over in Kraft and Johnson's back yard.
    "We use a lot of salvaged timber, because we can. If you find one big old growth tree that's down in the last few years, you can get - the calculation was 900 skis worth of wood out of it," Kraft said. "It's a pretty economical use of wood, and it makes a value added product."
    They make split boards and downhill skis; they began making cross country skis this year. The skis are also good for long traverses - Kraft and several friends have been completing a series of trips "linking a route through the mountains from Haines to the Aleutians," which will eventually total 1200 miles - much of it on Fairweather Ski Works skis. They've done three multi-hundred mile legs so far; this spring, they'll traverse to Anchorage from McCarthy, over Mt. Marcus Baker, the highest mountain in the Chugach range. It's the second to last portion of the trip.
    Their biggest challenge, they said, has been getting used to the business end of things. They've spent a lot of this winter figuring that out: Fairweather Ski Works is one of the three (including the People's Choice Award) 2015 recipients of Haa Aani and the Nature Conservancy's Path to Prosperity business development competition, which earned them a $40,000 grant.
    "The business plan (written for the Path to Prosperity grant) was like giving birth," Seward said. 'That was so painful, but so useful, too."
    In the next year or two, Kraft and Seward hope to move some of their ski production in town, and to have a store front where they can do shop tours for skiers coming through town.
    Much of their work up until now has been custom made; they'll still do custom work in the future, but also want to provide pre-made skis with artwork from Haines artists John Svenson, Lindsay Johnson, Kevin Forster, and from Juneau artist Rico Worl. People will be able to choose from a variety of shapes, tree species, and designs, but they hope the increased efficiency will make it "a little more of a viable business venture," Seward said.
    They also hope to get "a really nice line of stock models" together.
    Though there's no snow in Haines right now, "above 3000 feet, it's better than we've had in years for the spring, which is really what Haines is known for," Kraft said. "With the snow this year, it's almost been good for us because we've been able to focus on all these other aspects of the business and yet we've still been pretty darn busy with skiing. It's always snowing somewhere."
    Find out more about Fairweather Ski Works at fairweatherskiworks.com
    off your knees Louie

  7. #7
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    1st heli arrived today here at Alaska Heliskiing. Explored the Four Winds zone. My pit below ridgeline ~4800ft showed very good stability with HS deeper then 440cm. Things are looking really good above 2500ft. Especially deep in the zone.
    Drive slow, homie.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by BFD View Post
    Find out more about Fairweather Ski Works at fairweatherskiworks.com
    They sure do craft some very fine looking skis and splitboards.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Z View Post
    [URL="https://www.tetongravity.com/images/ci-images/39469/1.jpg"]


    1st heli arrived today here at Alaska Heliskiing. Explored the Four Winds zone. My pit below ridgeline ~4800ft showed very good stability with HS deeper then 440cm. Things are looking really good above 2500ft. Especially deep in the zone.
    Nice, thanks for the update and pics Z. Keep em comin

  10. #10
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    All the updates are much appreciated. See you guys in a couple weeks.

  11. #11
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    Ramping up....
    Drive slow, homie.

  12. #12
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    Z-who's doing the helis and support for the Freeride tour?
    Life of a repo man is always intense.

  13. #13
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    So sick!

    Can't wait!

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by otto parts View Post
    Z-who's doing the helis and support for the Freeride tour?
    Seaba. The FWT wanted a venue close to town. From what i understand they have their own guides-setup crew-etc. Hopefuly everything goes smoothly, excited for this to come to town.

    We also have 200 landings in a BLM zone we havent skied in many years this year. Incredible terrain.

  15. #15
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    Still looking for a 4th for our semi private, details in Hook up.
    After this season in Tahoe, gotta be a mag looking to get some.
    Life of a repo man is always intense.

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by toast2266 View Post
    All the updates are much appreciated. See you guys in a couple weeks.
    Agreed. Toast - I'm going to be there on 3/21 what dates are you there?

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by rudy View Post
    Agreed. Toast - I'm going to be there on 3/21 what dates are you there?
    Same; 3/21 through 4/4. Flying with AK Heli for a few days, touring / drinking the rest of the time.

  18. #18
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    I want to go to there.

  19. #19
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    dayyyummm, I want to get back to Haines! looking pretty choice up there. if only we had good snow above 2500 ft here in Oregon!

  20. #20
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    We also have 200 landings in a BLM zone we havent skied in many years this year. Incredible terrain.
    Dude, you are totally blowing it, Bridger is all time, deep and getting deeper!
    "The skis just popped me up out of the snow and I went screaming down the hill on a high better than any heroin junkie." She Ra

  21. #21
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    Few days dodging clouds, looking toward a refresh for the next few days. Hopefully we get a fresh coat for the FWTs to tee off! Weather has kept us close to home recently, but hoping to get out deep here soon...

    Some pictures, apologies for the lack of action.





    Last edited by Z; 03-07-2015 at 09:52 PM.
    Drive slow, homie.

  22. #22
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    Awesome, thanks Z. Don't remember ever seeing that much brown out by 33mi. Looks like you guys are getting a nice reset

    Quote Originally Posted by Z View Post
    Few days dodging clouds, looking toward a refresh for the next few days. Hopefully we get a fresh coat for the FWTs to tee off! Weather has kept us close to home recently, but hoping to get out deep here soon...

    Some pictures, apologies for the lack of action.

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by sierraskier View Post
    Awesome, thanks Z. Don't remember ever seeing that much brown out by 33mi. Looks like you guys are getting a nice reset
    That shot looks down on Glacier Creek. Low elevation and close to base. Definitely thin below 2k - no secrets there.

    Filmers are inbound this week, hopefully be able to push out deeper and open up some new zones. A few storms have been moving through dropping 10-20cm with each wave - looking like the end of the week could bring big accumulations. Current snowpack will handle it well, bring it!
    Drive slow, homie.

  24. #24
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  25. #25
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    Haines AK Conditions 2015

    older article deleted
    Last edited by otto parts; 03-12-2015 at 12:25 PM.
    Life of a repo man is always intense.

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