where to ski in Alaska?

I had never considered Alaska as a possibility for a week long cross country
vacation....mostly rec. touring on prepared track. I am looking for
feedback or recommendations. It seems that Alaska might be favored by the
weather gods this year....while other areas look iffy. Where would I find
good groomed trail systems?

Mark

Mark Eastman wrote
It seems that Alaska might be favored by the
weather gods this year

"gods" might be what Alaskan skiers should wish for this year.
The probability distributions I'm looking at for Alaska are skewed
significantly toward above-normal temperatures -- see
http://iri.columbia.edu/climate/forecast/net_asmt
(under Dec-Jan-Feb, in the North America row, click on Temp.)
or can also try:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/90day

Which probabilities are the gods using this year? Have they put them up on
the Web yet?

The "favored" region in North America for this winter is New York and New
England, with probability distributions for Temperature and Precipitation
looking like a normal winter. (Note recent "on the ground" confirmation from
Gary's and Rob's reports under "Shawangunk". I got an Email from somebody
who was out skiing on Saturday in the Hudson Valley in NY)

In Europe, many XC ski regions are looking at normal-year winter probability
distributions for Dec-Jan-Feb-Mar: including Austria and the Jura of France.
(But for Norway the probabilitie maps show some different colors not
favorable for skiers)

But that's all just probabilities and complicated computer models.

Ken

Mark,

I'm sure that some of the Alaskans that read this can do better, but
here is the scoop on Anchorage and Fairbanks:

Kincaid Park in Anchorage is a great place and you are so close to the
ocean that you can practically ski on the beach. There is also a smaller
track system called Hillside (?) that has some nice groomed trails. There
are a few other miscellaneous trails that are groomed throughout the city as
well and the Tour of Anchorage is a 50km point-to-point race that traverses
across the city. Hatcher Pass is nearby in case the Chinooks blow through
and melt all of the snow (as happened a few winters ago). It seems that the
bad winters (read "warm") of the past 10 years have really messed with
Anchorage, though. Last winter was a normal one and they had good snow, but
I think that the 2 winters prior to that were dismal. They had to cancel a
lot of racing, and Masters Nationals was run on something like a 100m out
and back. (I'm exaggerating)

Fairbanks has two trail systems, one called Birch Hill, which has a nice
~30km trail system of varying difficulty, and one at the University that is
smaller, maybe 10-15km. I believe they also have some other trails that
they groom for their spring marathon, but I have never done that, so I don't
know.

Unfortunately, no place in the world seems to be safe from the warm
winters of late. It seems that every year we read about more and more race
cancellations and events that we have always considered "safe" have scraped
by in the past few years.

-Nathan
www.nsavage.com


"Mark Eastman" wrote in message
hlink.net...
I had never considered Alaska as a possibility for a week long cross
country
vacation....mostly rec. touring on prepared track. I am looking for
feedback or recommendations. It seems that Alaska might be favored by the
weather gods this year....while other areas look iffy. Where would I find
good groomed trail systems?

Mark

You are right....unfortunately about the disappearing winters. I know it is
not really winter yet, but the snow is thin even up above the Arctic Circle
in Finland. Of course, I think last year was a very good one in the
interior Northwest and B.C.....and also New England. This year, seems to be
off to a slow start....apart from some early season teasers.

Mark
"Nathan Schultz" wrote in message
...
Mark,

I'm sure that some of the Alaskans that read this can do better, but
here is the scoop on Anchorage and Fairbanks:

Kincaid Park in Anchorage is a great place and you are so close to the
ocean that you can practically ski on the beach. There is also a smaller
track system called Hillside (?) that has some nice groomed trails. There
are a few other miscellaneous trails that are groomed throughout the city
as
well and the Tour of Anchorage is a 50km point-to-point race that
traverses
across the city. Hatcher Pass is nearby in case the Chinooks blow through
and melt all of the snow (as happened a few winters ago). It seems that
the
bad winters (read "warm") of the past 10 years have really messed with
Anchorage, though. Last winter was a normal one and they had good snow,
but
I think that the 2 winters prior to that were dismal. They had to cancel
a
lot of racing, and Masters Nationals was run on something like a 100m out
and back. (I'm exaggerating)

Fairbanks has two trail systems, one called Birch Hill, which has a
nice
~30km trail system of varying difficulty, and one at the University that
is
smaller, maybe 10-15km. I believe they also have some other trails that
they groom for their spring marathon, but I have never done that, so I
don't
know.

Unfortunately, no place in the world seems to be safe from the warm
winters of late. It seems that every year we read about more and more
race
cancellations and events that we have always considered "safe" have
scraped
by in the past few years.

-Nathan
www.nsavage.com


"Mark Eastman" wrote in message
hlink.net...
I had never considered Alaska as a possibility for a week long cross
country
vacation....mostly rec. touring on prepared track. I am looking for
feedback or recommendations. It seems that Alaska might be favored by
the
weather gods this year....while other areas look iffy. Where would I
find
good groomed trail systems?

Mark

"Mark Eastman" wrote in message
hlink.net...
I had never considered Alaska as a possibility for a week long cross
country
vacation....mostly rec. touring on prepared track. I am looking for
feedback or recommendations. It seems that Alaska might be favored by the
weather gods this year....while other areas look iffy. Where would I find
good groomed trail systems?

Mark

I heard that skiing in Anchorage was good a couple of weeks ago, but crapped
out recently due to warm weather?

Fairbanks is having a great, almost perfect winter so far. They've been
skiing on a good base with excellent tracks for almost a month now (since
mid-late Oct). Temps have been mild (+10 to 20 F). Current conditions
appear to be "excellent".

Juneau has some nordic trails, but I'm not at all familiar with them, or the
city.

The season in Fairbanks generally goes through mid-April with nirvana-like
spring skiing during the month of March almost a sure thing. Although
mountain skiing around Anchorage could be more consistent late in the
season, skiing in the Anchorage area would be a crap shoot due to weather
issues.

Both have excellent late season marathons: the well known Tour of Anchorage
and the Sonot Kkaazoot in Fairbanks. Both are well run and a lot of fun.
Both approximately 50 km with shorter and classic alternatives. Both
welcome slower skiiers, just like the Birkie.

If I were to chose a ski vacation in Anchorage, I'd chose late Feb- early
March. Conditions could be great and the Fur Rondy is going on with
carnival activities and a great sled dog race mostly called "The Rondy" by
mushers. The Tour of Anchorage might fit into this schedule as well.

I'd chose later in March for Fairbanks. March in Fairbanks has mild temps,
lots of daylight, but still dark at night. There is peak Aurora Borealis
viewing at night in March, and other activities such as the world ice
sculpture competition and another great sled dog race, the North American
Open. You could combine with the Sonot Kkaazoot race.

The trails in both Anchorage and Fairbanks are very, very nicely designed
and maintained. I would say "world class". Both have excellent lit trails
for night skiing (which is important in AK!). Anchorage tends to milder
weather, but Fairbanks has the nod in terms of more consistent conditions -
it's very rare to have a winter thaw in Fairbanks.. Temps are milder in
Anchorage, but it is right on the ocean and therefore tends to be more humid
and windier. The dryer, calmer climate in Fairbanks mitigates the lower
temps quite a bit. So the functional difference in skiing in the two towns
is not as great as you'd expect from the air temps that you read about.
Cold and dry is often more comfortable than not-as-cold, but moist.

The two town's flagship trails - Kincaide Park in Anchorage and Birch Hill
Recreation Area in Fairbanks - both have world class facilities. In
Fairbanks, this includes public waxing areas, including irons! The other
trail systems in both towns (some that I've heard of: Hillside in Anchorage
and the university, Two Rivers and Salcha trails in Fairbanks) are also
excellent trails, but with less facilities.

Outside of the cities, there's a couple of really nice places to tour on
prepared tracks as well as backcountry, and have neat lodges. Two that I
think of right off hand are the Hatcher Pass area and the Sheep Mountain
area. Both are beautiful places to visit, especially Hatcher.

These sites have all info including trail conditions, event schedules.
Nordic Ski Club of Fairbanks: http://www.nscfairbanks.org - even a web
cam!
Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage: http://www.anchoragenordicski.com/

Both cities offer pretty accessible back country skiing and a lot of it,
especially if you don't mind skiing on snowmobile trails. There's plenty of
places you can go to break your own trails.

Both organizations host pretty much weekly touring groups, and many citizen
races and other events.

Hope this helps.

Cam

Wow ... Cam sure covered Alaska well.

I'd like to add a bit about the Anchorage area. The good thing about
Anchorage is that there is always skiing somewhere nearby. Even if a
Chinook rages in and nukes the main venue trails, you can always drive
a bit and find snow at higher elevations. We saw this for the Masters
Nationals in 2003. Sea level skiing was shot, but the ski club brought
the piston bully up to the Chugach State Park at 2500 feet on the edge
of town and set a 14 km loop that provided powder skiing into April,
and crust skiing into early June.

If you drive north, there's Hatcher Pass (with plenty of nearby
accomodations). It's extremely rare that there isn't skiing here from
early October to late June.

And if you need a summer fix ... there's nearby glaciers. Check out
Cory Smith's Eagle Glacier pictures on fasterskier.com for an example.

Recently we got Chin-nuke'd for a couple of days. But we are back
skiing on piston bully groomed trails at Hillside and don't need our
higher altitude backups.

So the bottom line is ... If you come to Anchorage for a week long
vacation and it looks like the skiing is shot ... call the Nordic Ski
Club hotline or check Cory Smith's trail report web site. And soon you
will likely be skiing.

TK