Skyscraper Peak

2/9/24

My alarm clock rings loudly, it’s 6:30am, and only four hours ago I was in Anchorage picking up a friend from the airport. That friend, Cam, only had four days in Alaska before he flew back to Colorado, so the clock was ticking the moment his flight got canceled by an hour. Remarkably, we both woke up off of few hours of sleep quickly and put our ski gear on, ready to head up to Hatcher Pass since Girdwood was showing signs of rain over 1,000 feet and heavy snow falling on a layer of January facets.

We hit the road early, and I was sure to point out all of the ski locations between Girdwood and Hatcher. Poor Cam, I probably didn’t shut up about the skiing for the whole two hours. Stopping at the Three Bears in Gateway provided some cultural surprise to Cam, coming straight from Denver, but he enjoyed seeing something a little different than Anchorage. We headed into Hatcher Pass and were both thrilled to see partially cloudy skies with no major wind or precipitation. We were going to have a solid day of skiing on a safer day for avalanches! The breaks in the clouds provided amazing visibility, but when the clouds closed in everything turned into a ping pong ball.

We worked our way up to the end of the road and parked our cars. It was a warm day with temps sitting around freezing, and the crowds were out to enjoy the pleasant weather. We talked to some others in the parking lot, and the stoke was high all around. As we headed to the skin track, I knew we made the right choice by leaving town to come ski up North.

We began up the steep skin track that leads into Eldorado Bowl underneath Skyscraper Peak. When the light reached the bowl, it looked like a dream factory, and this was a line we had discussed the night before. Cam appreciated the easy access to the alpine and the panoramic views Hatcher Pass was providing him with, and I enjoyed staying dry without wearing a Gore-Tex layer.

The Alaskan terrain was something new for someone from the Rockies, and Cam loved watching the first skiers come down and ski avalanche terrain, something that was rarely happening in the Colorado backcountry at the time due to conditions. We reached a highpoint and decided we still wanted to ski Eldorado Bowl, so we began along the ridge to pick our drop in.

At this point, visibility was atrocious, but I pushed Cam and I higher onto the bowl hoping we’d get a clearing in the clouds. This did not happen, and we ended up skiing the bowl in disorienting conditions. We both agreed it was an experience, and not one we needed to have again.

This lack of visibility led to our decision at the bottom of the bowl to head back up and ski the front side of Skyscraper. We had some rocky chutes and other outcroppings to provide us with contrast, and a more direct sun angle to give us some light through the clouds.

As we approached the highpoint on our second climb, we were greeted by a large opening in the skies. After a quick bite, we seized the opportunity to see where we were skiing, and headed off our high point. We pitched the skiing out, looking for a chute we saw from beneath. After we identified it, I offered it up to Cam. He swiftly made his way into the chute and skied the whole thing top to bottom, always in my sight. Reaching the bottom, I witnessed a heroic fist pump and heard the scream of a satisfied skier. 

I saw a panel above the chute that looked hardly skied, so when it was my turn to drop in, I surprised cam and skied across the whole chute and stayed high. Working my way around the top of the chute led to a bit of technical skiing and eventually opened up into glorious, wide open, face skiing. I had the whole panel to myself, and laid down wide open turns, feeling the energy of the snow build up to its fullest beneath my skis in between each turn.

Below the chute was low angle powder begging to be party lapped back to the car, and that is exactly what we did. A few man made kickers stood out, and we enjoyed a bit of air beneath our feet before reaching the road. We made our way back to my car, and Cam admitted it was one of the best lines of his life. I think I sold him on skiing in Alaska, but what did I really do? This place will sell itself.