TR: Doubling Down on Demming (May 3)

[Lindahl]

TR: Doubling Down on Demming (May 3)

Heading towards Anchorage over a socked-in Thompson Pass, all four of us had our thoughts on being home in Colorado. With winter in Alaska ending early, and spending the last 10 days skiing mostly dust on crust, or wasting away cloudy hours down in the harbor town of Valdez, we were all ready to ski some powder.

Things had gotten wierd. Shitter's full!

photo: yeah, that's me in the photo...

The fact that Colorado was in the process of receiving multiple feet of snow only made us more anxious to return. My flight arrived late Sunday night and on Monday, Dave (iskibc) sent me a text asking if I wanted to ski the next day. I reminded him I had spent nearly the past 3 weeks at sea level - a beach vacation prior to Alaska - but aside from that, it was perfect timing. I was itching to ski some soft snow. He suggested West Demming. I had known Dave previously, but back in March, I ran into him at the Gore Creek trailhead after doing a deep recon mission.

The goal being to see what West Demming's north side offered (amongst other options along the drainage).

photo: me

Dave then suggested Brennan (KansasBoarder) as the third member of the group. I had neither skied with Dave nor Brennan, but I had talked to each of them previously about getting out together. With a great group, and a great plan put together, we met at the North Ten Mile trailhead, drove over Vail Pass and began the trek through the forest with a direct line to West Demming's summit.

As the trees dissipated, we began chasing the sunline across the flat windswept canvas.

photo: Dave Bourassa

Two weeks at sea level will definitely make you suck wind, especially chasing Dave and Brennan in the high alpine. They had plenty of time to capture the scenery in the morning sunlight.


photo: Dave Bourassa


photo: Dave Bourassa


photo: Brennan Metzler

I had finally reached the summit, and we were all looking forward to ripping skins and getting to the fun part. We discussed options of skiing the east face, but it didn't appear to be warming up very quickly, and perhaps never would. With the still-cold powder on the north side of the peak, it was time to drop in.

Slashing a turn at the entrance.

photo: Brennan Metzler

Coming through the choke.

photo: Dave Bourassa

Brennan playing with the terrain lower down in the chute.

photo: Dave Bourassa

Dave enjoying the snow.

photo: Brennan Metzler

Before long, we were at the bottom. Smiles were big and high fives were had, but no moment lasts forever - Dave had spotted another line on the northeast side of the peak.

[Lindahl]

Once again, I was left in the dust.

photo: Dave Bourassa

But the scenery was awesome, and the vibes, positive.

photo: Dave Bourassa

The seldom skied west side of Peaks 1, 2 (Tenmile) and 3.

photo: Dave Bourassa

When I reached the top, we discussed options and all agreed that the northeast side would hold perfect snow.

Skins were ripped.

photo: Dave Bourassa

And Brennan drops in first.

photo: Dave Bourassa

The chute makes an interesting dogleg, with a cool wind feature, but we weren't sure if it went.

photo: Dave Bourassa

It does.

photo: Dave Bourassa

Dave leaving his signature on a blank canvas.

photo: Brennan Metzler

With 3000' of steep powder skied, it was time to call it a day.

photo: me

Once again, I was sucking wind behind a couple speed demons.

photo: me

The route back down through sloppy snow in the trees wasn't as bad as we were anticipating. It wasn't completely isothermal slush, just slightly slow corn. Dave took off to take care of some stuff back at home, and before long Brennan and I were celebrating the day with margaritas on the patio outside the Rio in Frisco.

[Lindahl]

Not sure what happened, but the photos were correctly rotated on my computer, but uploaded 90-degrees rotated. Ugh. Also, the 10 attachment limit per post sucks. Especially since you can't remove photos and re-upload new ones for it.

[AKbruin]

^^^That is a pretty skin track. Nice photos!

[NW_SKIER]

Agreed on the 10 photo per post sucking. Who cares if the pics are sideways.

Fucking awesome report. And definitely a beauty of a skintrack. Thanks for posting the stoke.

[DBdude]

nice tr - thank you

[whatsupdoc]

Killer photos & TR.

[Norseman]

woo! beautiful terrain and photos. thanks!

[Name Redacted]

Nice work gents!

[MakersTeleMark]

Bumps.

[undertow2]

Hellz to the yeah...! Nicely done and totally dig that terrain...!

[adrenalated]

Nice!

I've never toured with KansasBoarder but iskibc is a fast sonuvabitch for sure.

[hatchgreenchile]

photo: Brennan Metzler
.

You sure this is in Colorado?
Quality work and way to get after it.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Strong work and thanks for the TR. The Gore always delivers...something. We need some cold clear nights to keep this going. The coverage up high is as good as I can remember is 20yrs., with some more favorable weather, it will be ON! Right now I'm that jaded fuck that is a little sick of skiing powder.

[adrenalated]

Strong work and thanks for the TR. The Gore always delivers...something. We need some cold clear nights to keep this going. The coverage up high is as good as I can remember is 20yrs., with some more favorable weather, it will be ON! Right now I'm that jaded fuck that is a little sick of skiing powder.

I'm about to have wrist surgery so you should be getting good hard freezes and perfect sunny days and smooth corn for the next 6 weeks. After 6 weeks it will turn to bottomless goo and everything will wetslide.

[Lindahl]

Thanks guys. Yeah, its been great lately. Hoping for some solid freezes too. Thinking about Landry on Sun.

[Mofro261]

drool. May pow ftw.

[Mike_Records]

Nice! TRs are what make this forum fun, keep em coming

As for Alaska, isn't it an emotional roller coaster? Sometimes it seems like it just goes down.

[hutash]

Great photos, and looked like great condition, but I am not sure I would want partners that left me that far behind in some pretty serious avi terrain.

[Cruiser]

Thanks guys. Yeah, its been great lately. Hoping for some solid freezes too. Thinking about Landry on Sun.

Jeebus! That's some serious stuff to go saying so casually. I hope it works out for you as well this trip did and I hope the pics come out looking just as good!

[tone capone]

Pretty sweet man, wish we had conditions like that here right now.

[galibier_numero_un]

Nice job!

... Thom

[grinch]

I miss pow days . Thanks for reminding me. Well done. Nice looking terrain

[Danno]

nice TR, thanks!

[Danno]

Also, the 10 attachment limit per post sucks. Especially since you can't remove photos and re-upload new ones for it.

FYI, I think that's been changed. So don't be discouraged from posting more killer TRs.