Trip Report
Hell must have froze over because I finally made it up to Haines, Alaska.
It was early April of the year 2017 when Jamison Blair and I traveled up north from California in search of the elusive winter coated AK spines. Year after year, I get the annual invite but for some reason the wife and I keep having kids and scheduling a trip was next to impossible. However, when you turn four decades old, a heli-skiing trip seems rather appropriate.
Upon arrival in Juneau, the drenching rain, lost luggage and bad sushi definitely did not provide that solid stoke we were after. But hey, the next morning we were off to Haines to do some heli skiing!
After an easy flight up to Haines, we rolled over to SEABA to check in with the crew and get settled. Stoke level was extremely high until we checked the weather. With a forecast showing heavy snow in the mountains the next few days, we had to start planning for the daily wait and see scenario. Luckily for us, SEABA just installed a new bar for the perfect hangout zone on down days and a night cap…or three. Down day activities included eating, runs along the Chilkat Inlet, hours of Shovel Knight on PSVita, drinking whiskey and talking skiing with ski folk. Hell, on Day 3 we even geared up and sat on the deck in the sun, but the terrain was still socked in with low visibility.
However, we finally got up in the heli around mid-day on Day 4 and skied run after run of dry powder until sunset. With pro guige Tom Wayes, photographer Will Wissman, Cameron from Tahoe, and us in the first group, we tiptoed to steeper terrain as conditions permitted. Runs included some spines, high speed open powder fields, pow turns between glacial seracs and some steep faces that didn’t seem to mind me rolling a 16 DIN. Of course, after we departed, the following two weeks were ideal for the steep couloirs and spines…terrain that we dreamed about before arriving but I’m not complaining.
The trip began in a commercial jet airplane…
By the 3rd flight, glacial flows met the sea…
Upon arrival in Haines, the weather report created some depression knowing we would not be skiing for a few days…
Haines, AK has a sign when entering the town…here’s proof I was there.
On the down days, it was best to get outside as much as possible…
The coffee machine in the lodge got some heavy use…
Did I say espresso? Oh, I meant beer…
The building boom is leaning towards the retro look…
Cultural carvings scatter the town…
Are the clouds starting to clear?…
What’s this? Day 3 and we are told to get ready…
The author is ready and caffeinated…
SKUNKED! Oh well…at least it felt like we may get up there.
Decided to go for a run and found the perfect spot…
Mandatory Alaskan Bald Eagle photograph…
The next we were told to get dressed and head to the airport…Tom was ready and waiting.
Finally in the air and got a great perspective of my running location…
Let’s do this…
The scenery alone was well worth the trip…
Landing zone for run numero uno…
Sure, this will do…
Skiing sure is fun…
Did I mention the scenery?…
After 3 feet of new snow, we slowly got into new terrain…
Even deeper in the range, the GNAR shows itself…
On day one, we farmed cold smoke pow…
Mountains upon mountains…
Day one complete and so is the shot-ski…
Day two began a bit late as we waited for the weather to clear…but it was totally worth it.
One of those runs where you turn off your GoPro when you thought you turned it on…
Cold smoke steep face session…
The snow continued to be decent below…
Tom continued to monitor the next best zone…
And this one worked well for pow skiing…
Chris extended his trip another week just to make this turn…
And he continued to make more lovely turns in lovely snow…
We continued to roam around the zone…
As the sun lowered in the sky, the visuals improved…
Jamie Blair rides the ridge…
The lower apron was sheer perfection…
Next, Tom sent us over to small spine zone…
Oh boy, that was quite enjoyable…
Chris continues to revel in his decision to stay longer…
The aftermath of spine starving skiers…
With lots of sunlight, we continue to fly…
Sadly, we still were not crossing any tracks…
That time the snow was deep and fast at the same time…
Why not session it some more? …
Sunset pow laps and no complaints…
After a long day in the mountains, its sure nice to come home to a proper meal…
At the SEABA HQ, the nightly scene looked this this…
The following day, the strong visuals and favorable weather continued…
Not a bad first run if I may say so…
The run continued onward into a heavy glaciated area…
It was a stellar day to go deeper into the range…
The snow remained quite fantastic for making turns on skis…
We ventured off into different aspects as we hit new zones…
One of our best runs was called Pineapple Express and the views from the summit were adequate…
Tom did some roped-up stomping before shredding the line to the safe zone…
Steep, stable, fast and one hell of a run…
You know its good when your can feel your skis flex…
The views continued to be sub-par…
Still not crossing any tracks…
We then started to get artsy…
Our mode of transport delivering us our quad coconut lattes…
At this point we headed back in for the day…
The following day, flat-light moved in and therefore time to go home, albeit stoked on life…
And just like that, you are flying right over your house…
