Snowbird Hut Perfection

Not long after I moved to Alaska, I became disheartened at how bad the weather could be. My first few weeks were actually glorious with perfectly clear spring weather following one of the best winters on record. I skied a lot of cool lines those first days, especially for a guy who just blew into town. But the summer dulldrums soon followed and I became overwhelmed at times by the incessant rain. A few wind events followed and I wondered what the hell I was doing here. I think I even cried a few times. 

More than one person familiar with my ailment said that, to be happy in Alaska, you have to have a short weather memory. Indeed. Over the last 3 years I've cultivated such a thing and it's served me well. I brush off the bad and look forward to the good. It comes eventually. And when it does, I wallow in it like a pig in shit. 

Last week was one of those times. I had a week off scheduled during Spring Break. My partner, Mat, and I had been scheming about what to do. We've both been wanting to go give Thompson Pass a serious shake out and had loose plans to do so, weather permitting. A big storm rolled across the state the weekend before promising a renewal of sorts. Avy danger was high in the Talkeetnas but Valdez got some love, too. Unfortunately, the wind was looking to make a mess of it after the fact so we bailed on the long drive there for unpredictable fun.

Instead, we opted for Plan B, the Bomber Traverse out at Hatcher Pass. There's a number of ways to skin this classic hut to hut outing in the Talkeetna Mountains with Lane, Snowbird, Mint, Bomber and Moose Creek huts all on the menu. The Lane hut is a mouse infested shack not really worthy of an overnight stay, at least, not by this old bastard. It needs some serious love. The Mint and Bomber huts are both Alaska Mountaineering Club huts and are in reasonable condition for a handful of people each night. The Snowbird Hut is the queen of them all, sponsored by the better funded American Alpine Club. It even has a kerosene heater. 

The weather looked to be clearing nicely after the weekend storm so Mat and I headed into the Snowbird Hut with 3 days of food and loose plans to traverse or not. With heavy-ish packs, we made it to the hut in 2:40. The track was in and the weather, if not a little cold, was perfect and calm. There looked to be an interesting mix of residents with what seemed to be 6 others sleeping there. All of them were out for the day skiing on the glaciers around the hut. 

We dropped our stuff, refueled a bit and headed back out to make the most of the longer days that March always brings. Unlike the Hatcher Pass area that got hit hard by the wind during the storm, the snow seemed lighter and less problematic in this zone. There were some natural slides that went, probably during the storm but our initial probings indicated that things were stabilizing nicely. We didn't push the boat out too far that first day but were excited about what we found, nonetheless. After a winter of pretty marginal days, we seemed to have stepped into a perfect combination of days off, cold temps, clear skis and light snow.

The Snowbird Glacier has something for everyone in terms of terrain and most conditions can be managed by slope and aspect selection. Everything from wide open mellow glacier skipping to steep rock walled couloirs can be found a short distance from the hut. It's an amazing area, for sure. We left few slopes in the area unmolested. Each day, we pushed it out just a little further, digging a few pits along the way and generally confirming our suspicions that most of it was good to go. We back off one or two lines that seemed a bit hollow and poorly positioned but encountered only one surprise settlement and no slides. Even the sloughs were chill.

The weather never changed. It was freaking COLD the whole time with our final morning coming in at -18F. Burrr. But without any wind, the ridgetops were delicious, bathed in bright sun with stunning views all around. Hut life was simple, if not a little restless with the snoring and perhaps too much warmth from the heater screwing up our sleep.

It was manageable and the conversations were typically lively. We thought about heading to the Bomber where less people was almost guaranteed but shied away from the below zero living in an unheated hut. I'm admittedly getting soft in my old age. 

After plucking some more plum lines on our last morning, we opted to head out over the Commando Pass toward the Lane Hut as a way of exploring other terrain on our exit. It didn't disappoint. The climb up the Snowbird Glacier to the pass went quickly. It was fantastic stepping into the sun at the ridge and enjoying the evening light as we skied down the couloir. The top was oddly slide for life hard which made for some thoughtful descending with a heavier than normal pack. But after a couple of hundred feet we found more soft goodness which continued to the base and onto the snow machine hammered track back to Archangel Road.

The road sucked the life out of me as usual, being an odd grade that favored no combination of ski options, being skins on/off, heels locked/unlocked. I tried them all and they were equally annoying. Still, we were back at the car in 2 hours after what was arguably the best 3 days of the year.   

Comments

[Trentl]

Fantastic post with unreal photographs. Thank you.

[Brian]

Thanks for reading Trent