Ragged Bowl Ski

1/20/25, 1/22/25

January 2025 in Alaska is likely going to be one referenced for years to come due to the irregular weather we were treated to for nearly the whole month. Generally the month provides clear skies and cold air temps, but this year things looked a little different. In Anchorage, the days below freezing could be counted on one hand, and the days without rain were just as uncommon. Although the perpetual rain brought the mood down at sea level, the mountains were receiving a dumping of snow day after day. The trick to getting this snow in good condition was going to be finding a window of clear skies to capitalize on.

Our opportunity to sneak a few turns in between the weather opened up on the 20th of the month, so I headed to Girdwood and assembled a group of fellow Alyeska employees–Caroline, Bryce, and Jackson– to try to score above town. Jackson lives up Crow Creek Road, so it only made sense that we started our tour from nearby his house. Last year, Caroline and I skied Ragged Bowl and had a blast doing it so it seemed like the perfect place to go with the other two who had never skied it.

We started our tour by missing the main skin track which led us to a delightful bushwhack through the low elevation spruce forest, but after an hour on our own up track, we ended up finding the common skinner. From there movement became easy and the snow became deep. Before we knew it the spruce were thinning out and the snow was getting colder. As we were nearing the main knoll of the bowl, we watched two skiers enjoy their ride down and knew we were in for a treat.

We climbed the south rim of the bowl and upon reaching the ridge found spectacular views of the Girdwood Valley. From there I put my drone in the sky and the rest of the group climbed a bit higher to earn a few more turns. I watched from the sky as they each skied the mellow ridge back to me, and due to a combination of a late start, lengthy bushwhack of an approach, and cold weather we agreed to not climb any higher but instead ski back to our cars. I ripped my skins and joined my partners in downhill mode. 

We continued to follow the untracked ridge until it rolled over into a steeper panel. The turns I found on this panel are up there for the best turns of the season. Steep and scary can be fun, but there might not be anything better than 38 degree powder. The combination of perfect pitch and some of the best snow I’ve skied all year pinned a smile on my face for the rest of the day. Beyond this pitch, we found more great snow but it started to get thinner and thinner as we neared the road, eventually mandating us to take our skis off and hike out the last one hundred feet. 

Upon reaching the cars, we were all giddy with the day we just had; this motivated me to try and nail the next clear window available. 

This window opened up sooner than I had expected, and just two days later I found myself driving back to Girdwood ready to score again with a slightly different crew.

Bryce, Jordan, and I met early in the morning and began driving up Crow Pass. We avoided the blunder of missing the trail, saving plenty of time on the uphill. Our stoke was high as we found over a foot of fresh snow resting on top of the settled pow that we skied a couple days prior. 

With uncertainty in the air as to how the snowpack was responding to the new load, we elected to dig a pit at the knoll in the center of the bowl. We found some stubborn instabilities between storm layers which informed our decision to avoid complex terrain. 

Our first lap took us down mellow terrain through an obvious weakness in the trees and we were pleased to find the snow just as good as earlier in the week. Ready for more, we transitioned and began back uphill to get more of the goods. As we passed our line, we laughed at the ambiguity of which tracks belonged to me, the only skier out of the trio. My 125mm underfoot skis have a way of disguising my tracks as snowboard tracks. 

Our second lap didn’t take us as low as the first, but it delivered in the fact that we didn’t venture into any avalanche terrain, inviting us to party lap the run. Wel enjoyed our hippy turns together and found ourselves transitioning for thirds.

For our third lap, we chose to head to a steeper but short face of the bowl. We quickly climbed back up to our previous launching point and continued a bit higher. We followed the ridge of the bowl, sure to stomp the cornice as much as we could, until we were satisfied with our entry point to the face. 

Bryce and Jordan skied first, hooting and hollering their way down. I followed and quickly understood what they were so excited about. The snow was marvelous and the extra bit of pitch made for memorable turns. We regrouped at the bottom of the face and made our plan to exit. We skied a common avalanche path that had ripped huge not too long before, leaving boulder sized debris chunks in its wake. Luckily, the boulders and ice-hard base of the slide path was covered with feet of snow and we were treated to lovely pillow popping and boulder dropping off of the debris chunks. From the toe of the debris, we were very close to the road; a few more turns in a shallowing snowpack led us to the road where we took our skis off our feel and happily walked a few minutes back to the car.

After two successful days in the same zone, Bryce and I made a pact to not return to the spot for at least a month as there are endless options in this beautiful state. It was a good thing we made this pact because four days later a humongous slide came down and ran far enough to damage some of the properties that exist on the lower slopes of Ragged Top.