Chasing Bears and Powder in Alaska

Alaska. My friend TJ was surprised that I would fly as far as Alaska to do a side tour on my round the world business trip. I told him that from my perspective, Alaska is close by if I'm already stopping in California. But as I was sitting for sixth hour in the Alaska Airlines plane bound for Anchorage it started to dawn on my that TJ may have had a point. Alaska is far away.

But the moment I stepped out from the airplane I felt like home. The air outside tasted frosty, snow made everything beautiful, the cars were making the same noise as they traveled over frozen ice contours in the road. And the same dark emptiness, not many people around. All this is like Finland. No, I take it back. This is how Finland should be. Better than home! None of those global warming signs. Realiable snow for Christmas. Reliable snow for November. The Christmas part seems exceptionally important, as I am writing this blog couple of days before Christmas and its noon, it is dark, and it is raining heavily in Kauniainen, Finland.

An evening view to the valley from Alyeska mountain

No, Alaska is better. I did not change my mind about this even when another friend told me that Alaska is the redneck capital of the world. I felt I fit in nicely. What was his problem? The state is known for intelligent educators who can simply complex topics such as history or the Internet ("series of tubes") for the common man.

I was not going to feed myself the bears

Night skiing in Alyeska

Alyeska

But back to skiing. I was destined for Alyeska, the top ski resort in the state. No, make that the only ski resort in the state, at least if you only count large ones. There are a few small ski areas, but Alyeska is the only large commercial operation. Then there are of course countless mountains to take on your own or with the assistance of helicopters, snow cats, snow mobiles, or dog sleds. My long business trip had made me too tired to even consider such extreme activities so I was headed to Alyeska instead. Actually, to be honest, I did ask but all such operations were still closed at that time of the year.

Ski area entrance at night

Alyeska sits on the famous Chugach mountain range, an hour's drive from the Anchorage airport. The village is close to sea level but next to Mount Alyeska. It has 760 meters of lift-served vertical. A kilometer if you are ready to hike to the Headwall. Alyeska gets over 16 meters of snow on the average, per year. 

This snowfall was very visible on my visit. It was the opening day for the ski area, and I was worried they might delay the opening. But there was plenty of snow, including half a meter of powder that had just arrived. On subsequent days we got a daily dose 20 centimeters of fresh, dry powder snow.

Gondola at Alyeska

Alyeska has one gondola from the base on the Alyeska hotel side to almost to the top of the mountain, only Chair 6 runs higher. This is a good for the first-lift-of-the-powder-day or for bad weather days, but otherwise the chair lifts are a faster way to get up the mountain. There are altogether only six chair lifts and two magic carpets, but the lifts still lead to over 70 different runs.

My love for Alaska took a big hit when I saw one of the lifts, the "Finnland" magic carpet. They named the kids lift according to my country, and with two n's to boot. You could argue that the small lift was roughly the size of the biggest ski hills in Finland, but still. I'm expecting the diplomatic ties between Finland and Alaska to be broken any day now for this. Or maybe a quick military invasion? Alaska is kind of disconnected from the rest of the US anyway, and together Finland and Alaska could form the strongest nation of rednecks in the world. And be much smarter about naming our ski lifts.

The root cause of the diplomatic incident between Finland and Alaska

Traveling up the "Finnland"

Skiing

The ski area consists of the upper and lower bowl areas where a majority of the ski runs are, and the headwall and north face areas where most of the interesting extreme skiing is at. Unfortunately, the latter two areas were not yet open on the early days of the season. The direct runs on the north face seemed skiable and I did consider skiing them on my last day, just to limit the damage from that eventual pulling of my lift ticket if the snow patrol would catch me. But I decided against it, mostly because I was alone, and because route finding through the woods seemed challenging. And because of the bears. The sign at the base warned against skiing closer than 300 meters to bears. I did not want to hit a bumb on that run and wake up a bear sleeping underneath.

Even so, the open areas provided some excellent skiing as well. The lower bowl is mostly traditional ski slopes cut through the woods, although there are a couple of areas where you can ski through the wooded areas as well. Good skiing, excellent snow, but nothing special. The upper bowl, on the other hand, offered very interesting skiing through the cliffs and steep bush areas around Chair 6. Oddly enough, there are plenty of short, marked couloir black diamond runs in the area that is marked as blue in the ski area map. This is an area where the powder stayed on for the longest time. But it also challenges both your skiing and route finding abilities.

One of the many black diamond runs in the upper bowl

Route finding was made more difficult due to the sometimes cloudy weather. Strangely, the area was easiest to ski in the evening, when artificial lightning lit up the slopes. Skiing in Alyeska reminded me of skiing high up north in Finland. It is very cold and dark. The first lift runs at 10 AM when it is becoming lighter and warmer, but they run all the way to 6 PM on artificial light. 

This is as high as the sun gets in Alaska

A view from the North Face side of the mountain

Ski patrol hut in the dusk (2PM)

Chilly ski lifts

Evening ski lift ride

My kind of ski area

I skied through this slope on the next run

Important Parameters

The base elevation at Alyeska is only 76 meters. The highest ski lift, Chair 6, takes you to 840 meters.

There are only a few accommodation options in the village. For convenience and to relax after arduous meetings, I chose to stay at the main hotel, Hotel Alyeska. This is a great location, as you can walk straight to the gondola from the hotel and the main restaurants and bars are inside. However, it is also very expensive. But it is a five star facility, my room was better than almost any other hotel room I've been at in the western world. Maybe from that perspective 140$ per night was not that excessive. Luckily I stayed only a couple of nights. For comparison, I am going soon to Les 3 Vallees with friends from work, and we are paying roughly the same sum for the accommodation per week as I was paying here per night.

It is comfortable at Alyeska hotel, even sitting outside

Transport from the airport to the ski area is not very convenient, because of the long way and because the only available options are rental cars and taxis. One way taxi fare to Alyeska is 90$.

There seemed to be an excessive number of accidents in the ski area. Almost every time I got out of the ski lift, the patrol was taking yet another rescue sled into use. This seemed to be mostly some people who did not know to ski at all, perhaps the opening days and the thanksgiving weekend had something to do with. And despite a relatively small number of people on the mountain, there were a few bottlenecks where reckless speeding had caused accidents. Hopefully no one was seriously injured, however. And the patrol was taking their job very seriously, one one of the bottlenecks they had several people checking skier speeds and warning the ones that were skiing too fast. I wish more ski areas did that.

 

Yet another ambulance

In the winter months Chugach Powder Guides runs a heliskiing service around Alyeska. Similarly, there are organized snowcat tours. These services can be week-long dedicated trips, or day trips where you stay at the resort otherwise. As is usual in North America, the prices for these services are exorbitant. You have to be rich to afford to pay 5 000$ to 10 000$ for a week of heliskiing, or 1000+$ for a day trip. Read my future blog entry to find out where to go in the world to do the same at a fraction of this cost.

Afterski

Alcohol freezes beyond this point?

Verdict

I rate Alyeska as one of the great ski destinations in North America. Not at the same level as Whistler-Blackcomb or Jackson Hole, but certainly comparable to Snowbird, Squaw Valley, Breckendridge and many other well known places. The long travel is an obvious downside. And Alyeska is only one lone area. If you get bored in Snowbird (but why would you?) you could drop by neighboring Alta. There is no such option in Alyeska. And based on my experience with skiing in Northern Finland, it is probably similarly cold in the middle of winter in the Alyeska.

It is cold and dark in Alaska. Very cold.

But the good things about Alyeska are:

• Plenty of snow, through three seasons.
• Enough challenging terrain, and easy access to double black runs.
• Also plenty of intermediate and beginner ski runs.
• The best snow cat, ski touring, and heliskiing options in Northern America.
• Lifts, hotels and other facilities that are of excellent quality, second to no one else on this continent.
• The weather, nature, and feeling in this place is different from most other places in North America. You really feel you are far in the north.

Still, as I was visiting Alyeska I only met Alaska locals. I did not even meet anyone out of state, let alone anyone from some other country. Alyeska is the undiscovered gem of North American skiing. Do visit it some day.

Sarah Palin paper dolls. Recommended souvenir from the Anchorage airport.

Alaska. They have humor, too.

Photo credits (c) 2011 by Jari Arkko

Skiing the Garbage Hill

Getting high in Helsinki

Janne and I skied the Garbage Hill today. Garbage Hill (jätemäki), or Malminkartanon huippu as it is officially called is the highest point in Helsinki, 90 meters above the sea level. The city's longest stairs, 426 steps took us to the top. The reason for the hill's name is that it is completely man-made. It has been the dumping ground for excess dirt since the 1970s.

It started snowing today, and by now the snow depth is about two inches. Not enough to ski the steep forested parts of the hill, but enough to slide through the walking path. The winds at the top were fierce, however.

Skiing here can be quite good if the conditions are right. Think one meter of powder on a good year (but we just had two, need to wait a couple of decades for the next ones).

Obviously our visit to Garbage Hill today was not that great skiing, but okay for an evening's outdoors exercise. Plus I needed to test my new camera.

I have some ideas for further trips near Helsinki that are perhaps more interesting. Contact me if you want to join.

Cool boot fitting exercise at the top

Stairway to heaven

Photo Credits (c) 2012 by Jari Arkko

Bono, Have You Been to Africa?

Lesotho

 

During the Christmas time, the radio stations keep playing the old charity song "Do They Know It Is Christmas Time". Bono sings:

"And there won't be any snow in Africa this Christmas time."

Well, duh. First off, there isn't much of a winter anyway when much of the continent is near the equator. But more interestingly, a big part of the continent is on the southern hemisphere. Winter lasts from June to August. Even in areas on the equator, like Kenya, the warmest time is February-March and coolest July-August. It is only far up in the north end where winter comings at the same time as in Europe.

So, dude, there is no snow in Africa because you have the wrong time of the year. And its a damn warm place anyway, you'll find snow only at the far ends or at the highest mountain tops.

There. I feel better now.





Photo credits (c) 2011 by Jari Arkko and Tero Kivinen. Video credits by YouTube and Mercury Records Limited

Frost Is Enough

Holiday season decorations at family Arkko

First and Last and Always is not just an album from Sisters of Mercy, but also my approach to skiing on the local hill. In May, I was the last person to ski there. Now I am about to be the first one to ski it this winter. The plan was great: we walked through the slope on the previous evening, and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. An inch of snow on the ground, all plants covered by frost, bright artificial lights lighting up the scene. All I need is grass and some frost. The slope should be skiable

Except that the as we arrived to the hill the next day, the frost was gone. The snow was also disappearing fast, given the rain and the warm temperature. Oh well, the slope would probably still be skiable, even if it was not as pretty as it had been on the previous day.

Janne

Janne and I started climbing. Janne, 9 years, wants to lead, and wants to be the first one to ski the hill down this winter. Who does he get those crazy ideas from?

A view of the ski hill in Kauniainen

As we reach the top, it turns that the skiing is not easy. There is too little snow. Hidden in the grass there are recently cut stumps of small trees and bushes. Not to mention rocks, abandoned flower pots, and water lines for snow making. Turning is not easy. And where there is enough snow from the snow cannons, it has formed crusty shapes that are not easy to ski either.

Skiing the grass and everything it hides

We do make it down, however, and return to the top a couple of times.

My friend Jarmo also shows up, not with his skis but to take a few of the pictures in this blog. (He is acting like any responsible ski owner. No sane person would take his own skis to this slope.)

My traditional Christmas skiing session is complete. And my skis are still relatively unscathed. All is well, I'm ready for Christmas and there is still couple of hours left of December 23rd to do all that Christmas shopping.

The lesson? When the conditions are perfect, drop everything else and go skiing. The next day rain or some other reason may make it impossible.

Climbing up

There was more snow near the snow cannons

Photo credits (c) 2011 by Jari Arkko, Jarmo Ruuth, Janne Arkko, and Olli Arkko

The Snow Machine

The tube that brings the snow

My plan was to go to Nagano, the area for premier ski resorts in Japan, but the webcams looked depressing. A call to a hotel in the area confirmed that there was no skiing, despite claims otherwise on their websites. But my flights were set, so I was to stay the weekend in Japan, snow or no snow. I knew there were several indoor ski halls, but I had already gotten enough from indoor skiing recently in Beijing, Peer, Neuss, and Hong Kong. Desperation sets in. Could I fly to Hokkaido? Are there are any other open ski areas in Japan?

Fortunately, my friend Itsuma came to the rescue. He pointed out a small ski area of Karuizawa, 200 kilometers from Tokyo and 80 kilometers from Nagano. It is open. For real. I make the decision to go.

Of course, going was not that easy. I am carrying almost 70 kilos of luggage, I have no clue about the language, and the trip involves buying tickets, making seat reservations, and changing trains. But Itsuma comes to the rescue again. He prepares a slide set to guide me through the journey, complete with relevant excerpts from timetables, suggested routes through the central station, and pictures. (Thank you!) This is yet another example how nice people are in Japan. Always willing to help and always smiling. What a nice country to visit!

Armed with a printout of the slides and some local currency I find my way through the system and after a few hours arrive at the Karuizawa train station. It is raining, but I can already see the ski slopes!

Karuizawa ski slope

Karuizawa

When I manage to carry my heavy load out of the station, I spot Karuizawa Prince Hotel's minivan. Perfect. They can take me to the hotel. I end up using these small cars six or seven times during my visit, usually carrying just me, leaving in a couple of minutes after I ask for a ride, costing nothing, and the guys even carry my skis from the lift to the parking lot. I guess these services are part of my stay at this expensive hotel at 250€/night. Oh well, this is probably still less than I would have paid if I had stayed in a hotel near Tokyo. And I'm glad I'm here only for one night.

Strangely enough, the hotel and town are full of people. And they do not appear to be dressed for sports. It turns out that Karuizawa's main attraction is not skiing but shopping. The town center is one big shopping area, apparently specializing on fashion.

Narrow a course

The Ski Area

The ski area has two chair lifts and two runs open, but the rest of the mountain is completely free of snow. No wonder, given that it is +15 Celsius and raining heavily. But how did they manage to open the two slopes, then? The answer is in the snow machines. Karuizawa does not employ usual snow cannons that require freezing temperatures to operate. They employ gigantic ice machines that manufacture snow no matter what the temperature is outside. The machines are placed in containers around the mountain.

Snow spray

I was not able to determine what was inside the containers, but various cooling and vacuum techniques have been used elsewhere in the world. The vacuum ice maker technology is particularly interesting. It works by exposing cold water to vacuum, forcing some of the water to evaporate and the remaining part to partially froze. The resulting frozen slush can be separated to cold water that can be fed back into the process, while the ice particles can be blown out to the slopes through long tubes.

More tubes

Karuizawa is able to keep two slopes open with this technology. The slopes are small, just 40 meters of altitude difference. Both slopes are served by a chair lift.

I think I understand what they are trying to say

In the winter Karuizawa is a more reasonable ski area, with a 215 meter altitude difference and 11 different slopes. The longest slope is one kilometer, and the steepest slope goes up to 30 degrees inclination.

Sunny day at Karuizawa

More snow

Skiing

Given that the two open slopes are small, the skiing is not very interesting. But it still feels good to ski outside. The snow making system provides some additional entertainment, as it tends to generate high snow dunes where the tube ends. These forms are fun bases for jumps.

In good weather and during weekends there are long lift lines. When it is raining cats and dogs... not so many lines.

Snow is piling up

A couple of kilometers from the ski area resides the mighty 2568-meter Mt. Asama. This is an active volcano, last erupted in 2009. It would be a tempting ski descent destination for volcano skiers, but can only be done in the winter, if at all. There seems to be very little information about skiing this mountain in the Internet.

Lift lines at Karuizawa

Important Parameters

It feels like spring outside the hotel

As far as I was able to determine, the Karuizawa Prince Hotel is the only accommodation next to the slopes. The hotel exists in two parts, the East and West hotel. The East one is closer to the small slopes that were open and also houses the local spa. I did not visit the East one, but I liked the West one.

The main building at the base of the Karuizawa ski area

On-slope food is available in the restaurant next to the base building. Interestingly, while the kitchen is staffed with waitresses that bring the food out, the ordering process takes place through a machine. A soup costs 500-600 Yen, or 5-6 €.

Press here for food

Two items of ancient technology appeared from the darkness

You can take the high-speed Shinkansen train from Tokyo main station to Karuizawa, the trip takes roughly an hour and is very comfortable.

My train has a bigger nose than yours

Helpful signs make it easy to choose the right style nose for your train

Ski Destination Japan

Japan would be great ski destination, except that I am here too early for the season. The most interesting skiing is around Nagano, the site of the 1998 winter olympics. The area that I wanted to visit in Nagano was Happo One. Alternative, there is good skiing on the island of Hokkaido in the north.

Afterski

Really. I had a lot of fun in the afterski at the Marron bar at the Karuizawa Prince West Hotel. However, I was all alone. Not recommended. It is possible that there would have been more interesting bars in the shopping center, however. By the time that I realized there is no one in the bar, I was too tired to walk back to the shopping center. Sleeping is good way to spend your evenings, too.

Busy bar scene

Epilogue

I have now skied in 38 different countries or states. As I am writing this, I'm sitting in the Haneida airport in Japan, waiting for a flight that takes me to North America for business and a new state to be conquered on skis. Incidentally, I looked at my itinerary two minutes after Narita Express had closed its doors, and ended up on the wrong airport. Luckily I had enough time for the extra two hour detour by bus.

My transport back to the right airport

One of the many sunrises on this trip

Photo credits (c) 2011 by Jari Arkko