Saturday, December 5, 2009

Snowshoeing in Girdwood

During yet another return trip to Anchorage this past week, I escaped for a few hours to Girdwood, AK. Girdwood is home to the Alyeska Ski Resort, gorgeous meadows, groomed trails, and back country snowshoeing. On the way there, I photographed the late afternoon sun over Turnagain Arm and fell in love with the blue-ish hue it bestowed upon the neighboring peaks.

My camera's battery died shortly afterwards, but not before I caught this shot of my friend, Chris, capturing the inlet's viewshed.


My partner in crime was a new rock climbing friend, Chris, who donned his snowshoes and showed me a fantastic trail that starts just behind the tram [that runs up the mountain]. Not even a 1/4 mile in I had to shed layers. In Kodiak, Brad, Tok, and I snowshoe in an area where are susceptible lots of wind (um, yeah, it's Kodiak). Typically, I wear lots of layers and wind blocking gear. Covered from the elements along the tree lined trail, I trudged along in my base layer and HardWear. The Winner Creek Trail trail varied in terrain, moving along the streams, over bridges, up icy hills, with intermittent glimpses of the mountain from the trail. Occasionally, we stopped to listen to the streams trickle underneath bridges and to behold fungi's ability to live in the winter, as evidenced by a shot I took with his camera:

I am stoked to have learned a new trail as Brad and I make plans to spend Christmas at Alyeska.

No comments: