Backcountry Snowboarding with Ben in Alaska

  I did not see this adventure coming. The cruise ships (at least the little US flagged ones) are starting to run again up in Alaska, just in time for the summer season. I flew up in late May to meet the Safari Quest, a 22 passenger expedition ship that I have worked on since 2018 as an expedition leader. Due to some last minute schedule changes the vessel was dockside for the first week of my arrival. Not only did this mean that I could dust some of the rust off after missing the entire last season due to the pandemic closures, but I could catch up with my buddy Ben who has been living in Juneau full time.

  This winter happened to be an epic snow event, dropping feet upon feet here in Juneau. The towering mountains that surround the town are still snow capped now in late May. But I was pretty surprised when Ben suggested we try some split boarding with skins up to some backcountry ski destinations. I told him I was working on various boat projects until around 5pm and he said, 'perfect, that still gives us about 5 hours of daylight.' Good ol' Alaska. 

  So after borrowing some snowboard boots from a friend, and packing up his split board, regular board, snowshoes, and safety bag, Ben swooped by the dock to pick me up. We drove up to the ski resort on Douglas Island called Eagle Crest. We saw six or seven other cars in the parking lot, so we weren't the only ones with this idea in mind. 

  It was pretty amazing seeing a snowboard that can be unclipped, turning into two skiis. A special carpet material called skins were attached to the bottom so you would slip backwards and off we went. Ben gave me the split board and took the harder job of wearing snowshoes on his feet and his snowboard on his back. It felt pretty weird at first but I got the hang of it and up, up, up we went. He kept pointing to different mountain peaks and ridgelines way up in the clouds that we could go to...which seemed pretty crazy at the time. But sure enough, we got higher and higher and pretty soon we were leaving the top lift of the resort behind and continuing to climb higher. 

  We finally got to the top of one ridge, with a huge bowl spreading out underneath us. He said the view would be magnificent out across the channel and mountain tops from here if we weren't encased in a cloud. I think it added a bit of adventure and danger to the feeling. Then we clipped my board back together, packed his snowshoes in his pack, and eased over the lip of the ridge. 

  It was great spring skiing conditions on the way down. After bombing down the bowl we chose to stop and climb back up for another go. Ben ended up taking us straight up a black diamond which was the hardest part of the adventure, but we had some good laughs on the way up. Then we took another run down, headed onto little trails through the trees, ended up having to go down one steep section, and then rode all the way down to the lodge until the snow finally gave way to gravel near the parking lot. 

  Who would have thought that you could be having an adventure like this at this time of year. A huge thanks to Ben for making this happen. Now I'm already pumped up for the snow to start coming back to Vermont...