A Weekend in Valdez

11/21/23-11/23/23

As with many of these other early blog posts, I am writing about a trip that is now far in the past, so the three days spent in Valdez will likely not get the breakdown they properly deserve.

After going backcountry skiing for the first time of the season with friends I made this summer, I had earned their trust. I was invited on a three day trip out to Valdez. Part of the mission was to scout out the zone, and part of the mission was to avoid the rain that was about to fall on the five feet of snow the Anchorage area saw in November. 

We took off down the road in the morning, and got glorious views of the Western Wrangell mountains. Glennallen is always an amazing town to roll into when the skies are clear for this reason. Eventually we turned off towards Thompson Pass and started our slow but beautiful climb through the Chugach mountains. We decided to drive the whole pass and decide where to ski after seeing it all. After scoping our options, we decided for a quick half day run up Crudbuster to look at the snow.

We did just that, and after walking around with no apparent goal, we decided to head down and get to Valdez where we were going to meet our lovely host for the trip. A friend allowed the four of us to sleep in her living room and be general ski bums, which is one of the most sincere gestures you can make if you ask me. We got a few turns on our exit, but largely were just happy to be exploring.

A home cooked dinner of mac and cheese, dino nuggets, and hot dogs fed us well for our travel day and light ski day. The next day was slated to be our biggest day.

We woke up the next morning with the idea of skiing Lower Staircase. There was not close to enough snow to make going onto the glacier a viable option, so we were largely limited to lower elevation skiing. After doing an amazing lap down Lower Staircase, we all decided we were not in ski shape yet, and we’d rather end the day with an ice climb than to go for another lap. 

Earlier in the day we had seen that most of the ice in Keystone Canyon was hardly in, but there were flows in Thompson Pass that were in. Instead of complicating things too much, we picked a short flow that went at WI3-4 right off the side of the highway. With the help of my friend Tessa belaying me, I led the pitch and put a rope up for the other three. Everyone got a lap on the ice, and we all called it a good trip that checked many of the boxes Valdez presents. 

We headed back to Valdez and went out for dinner at Mike’s Palace, one of the few places open the day before Thanksgiving. After heading back and getting a good night’s rest with the quiet of fresh snowfall in the air, we were rudely awakened to the noise of heavy rainfall. It seemed the rain line worked its way quite a bit up overnight, and as we left town into the pass to ski one more day, we found out just how high it worked.

We drove through the pass, seeing the same rain that had hit Girdwood and the greater Anchorage area a couple days prior, and never once did we consider stopping. At the end of the pass, it seemed we had silently reached an agreement, no skiing today. This was alright with us because we had a friend in the Butte who had invited us to a Thanksgiving dinner.

We headed there, and all had a cheerful night filled with laughs of old stories and promises of new stories to come. It was the first night meeting many of the folk at the dinner, and I appreciate the friends who have taken me in and made me feel so welcome up here in Alaska.