TR: 3 Day Storm followed by 7 days Bluebird+Private Heli+Strong Crew+Chugach=??
The question often comes up regarding what it takes to have a great AK heli trip. Every season one is helpfully reminded by the providers of ski porn that AK (in its prime) is hard to top for big lines with good snow and that the best way to get on these is with a helicopter. On the other hand, there is no shortage of examples of people who have booked their ‘trip of a lifetime’ and come back to some degree disappointed. In some cases from the terrain they were able to access, in others from the snow quality (not always perfect blower or widespread instability) or finally, and most commonly, from the number of down days.
Over many years living in and doing trips to AK I’ve experienced all of these issues. I’ve been there when (due to a widespread buried surface hoar layer) stability was so bad that approaching an LZ began to feel like riding a landing craft in to Omaha beach. I have seen a wind event convert two feet of new snow into a horrific mine field of variable snow, so bad that I had to break trail for snowboaders in the group who were getting stuck under the crust. I’ve ended up with people in a group who were so far in over their heads that only really mellow terrain could be accessed. Finally, I’ve even had a week where the only flying done was in a flight simulator. (Mags Vailcat, Spanky and BadSki were along for some of these misadventures and can attest to all the fun).
In spite of having seen not only the good, but the bad and the ugly as well, I keep going back. Why?
I’ve been lucky enough over the last few years to worm my in with a crew that regularly does a private at VHSG. At the center of this swirling constellation of odd characters is organizer John Belkin from Crested Butte. John has managed for many years to collect a group that is sufficiently strong and reliable (no cowboys) so that when weather and stability permitted one could immediately go big game hunting. Although not completely accurate, this group has been described (by a significant other) as the “Losers with No Families”. Covering a range of ages, backgrounds, geographic locations and personality types, about the only things all have in common are:
-Ability to ski/ride big, steep, exposed lines without stopping or scaring the guide.
-Ability to take endless abuse for any misfortune encountered.
-A (still) functional liver.
As such, the risk of not getting onto terrain with this group because of a weak link is minimal. Being a private, even if only one day of good weather and stability is available in a week, one can still tag a number of significant lines.
So the question is: What happens if you let it snow for three days prior to the start of a private heli week, then have it go blue for every single day that week with this year’s iteration of the Belkin crew?
The answer to this question is the subject of this TR.
Losers with No Families, April 8-14 2012
This year’s version of the Belkin crew consisted of John himself, Rob (Whistler), Steve (JH), Ken (the windy city), me (NM) and two guys from the Tokyo based PoachNinja crowd, Pinky and Jimmy. StuntCok, another Ninja, was supposed to be along but had managed to trash a knee in the park just before the start of the trip. (What he was doing messing around taking risks in the park right before an AK trip was (and is) the subject of some speculation).
The only FNG in this group was Jimmy, who StuntCok and I were vouching for. (Other than taking an absurd amount of time to get his gear organized he was as ‘solid’ as we’d promised).
John, Rob, Steve and Ken had already been there a week before together with BadSki who overlapped a couple of days with the rest of us and filled StuntCok’s seat on one of them. The rest of the time the seat was filled by either Jeff (the owner of the new Tsarina Lodge) or his son Jake, both superb snowboarders.
I’d been in town for five days prior to the start of the heli week hiking for turns. The highlight of this is described in the TR: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...-AK?highlight=
As such, the only fully fresh legs in the group were on Jimmy and Pinky (somewhat detuned by horrible jet lag).
Day one:
The first day was fairly mellow as the guides assessed the stability of the new snow. This gave all of us a chance to practice our sluff management for bigger targets ahead.
Away we go.
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...off850x638.jpg
The new Tsaina Lodge viewed from the air.
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...air850x638.jpg
Not everybody was completely fresh the first day.
Jake, Rob, Pinky (Rob and Pinky looking like they’re being taken to prison).
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...nky850x638.jpg
John practicing sluff management.
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...nt3850x638.jpg
Snow assessment of various sorts went on throughout the day.
Don tests stability using chunks of cornice.
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...top638x850.jpg
The next test used a meat bomb (big Don skiing).
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...ng6850x638.jpg
Looks good to me…
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...ng8850x638.jpg
Rob appears to agree.
http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...ng2850x638.jpg
TBC
