Tincan Trees

12/18/23

With the snow absolutely firing in Alaska, but forgetting about the Lower 48 all together at the beginning of the 23/24 winter, I began to see people making their way up to the Last Frontier to try to snipe some early season powder. While I don’t love seeing more pressure on the snow I love so much to ski, I was okay with the right people being up here. Those people are the hardcore powder hounds, the people who just like me are not afraid to make big sacrifices in hopes of finding great skiing. As I was concluding a day of work, a friend of mine told me he met a group of skiers from Snoqualmie who were exactly that.

My buddy Mitch ended up snowboarding some laps with them at Alyeska, and spoke highly of their downhill abilities. In their time riding with Mitch, the group was asking about getting out into Turnagain Pass to do some touring. When Mitch told me about this, I saw the perfect opportunity to share this place with worthy riders who had spent the last of their money just to get some Alaskan turns in, so on our next day off, Mitch and I agreed to take the group out to Tincan where we could find some fun drops and largely stay out of any serious terrain. 

The six of us headed out into Turnagain Pass with hopes that the rain we were experiencing on the Seward Highway was snow at higher elevations. In classic Turnagain fashion, we rose into the pass and the winter wonderland opened up in front of us. Scattered snow showers claimed the pass with clear blue skies peaking between the clouds. The Snoqualmie crew had to pick their jaws up off the floor when we got our first look up into the Eddie’s spines; this was when they realized what a playground this place is.

The snow looked amazing, and our stoke was high. Heading from the second Tincan lot heading away from Anchorage, we made the plan to just ski the trees and get a lot of laps in.

Scattered showers helped us decide to not head above the treeline as well. We quickly geared up and began out to the nearly immediate uphill that the Tincan skin track is, ah the joys of skiing in Alaska. I was eager to show them some drops and fun jumps within the trees. This group was all about getting good footage of each other, so my job became finding the most aesthetic spots for them to ride. I say this because somehow after a day of shopping lines for the team, I only ended up with one video of me skiing. Oh well, the moment was magical and that is what matters.

We took 4 laps throughout the day, exploring the area and testing spots for each other as we leapfrogged from one hit to the next. After plenty of small boulder drops with stomped out landings, we called it a day and exited back to the car.

While not the most elaborate day in the backcountry, it was amazing to show people what we have here in Alaska. The abundance of snow and skiing in South Central is unlike anywhere I have seen, and that is what I see keeping me around Alaska in the winters.