Bone Ridge Snow Machine

3/24/24

Spending time in quiet Alaskan towns in the off seasons always seems to pay off. Being in Cooper Landing had introduced us to some serious sled heads and they invited us out for a day to get a taste of their world. As a devout human power skier, it felt like betrayal to go snow machine, but we agreed to use the tools to get us into new terrain and then we would tour from there.

We headed up Snug Harbor road, 6 of us on 4 machines. I ended up sharing a machine with a more experienced rider, otherwise it would have been a day of digging out my sled. After cruising across rainbow lake, we found bad winds deep in the drainages we planned on exploring. Instead of pushing it with inexperienced riders (myself), we decided to ski Bone Benchmark.

The owners of the sleds put in an uptrack, and began bumping us newbies up to the high point that we could double to. It was here we threw the skin on and climbed maybe another 1000 feet to the ridge line. The snow was stable up top, but not the most inspiring. Good news was you could get an edge in. It was better than the wet snow that waited for us at lower elevations.

After a quick climb, we found ourselves ready to get our turns in. The four of us who climbed took turns dropping in, and while it was not the money pitch of the season, it was incredible to ski above all the alpine lakes that exist in that area: Upper Russian, Cooper, Rainbow, and Kenai lakes all within view. 

After enjoying our ski, the sled heads tossed up a few high marks, and we began our way out. All in all, it was amazing to get a taste of how the dark side lives, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in exploring the sport of snow machining more.