31 March 2007 Talkeetna Lakes Tour

What kind of wax you got on those skis, Deb?

At the end of March I headed up to Talkeetna alone when Paul got an invitation to snow-machine in the Katmai backcountry. Friends Deb, Jeff, Ellen, Joe, and Peggy were as eager as I to take advantage of the warm spring days and go for a long ski. We didn't start especially early, but with the long days and skew of our time zone, we reasoned that starting at 11:00 was really like starting at 9:00 solar time.

The conditions were perfect for those of us with waxless skis and a little more challenging for those trying to wax. We skied from lake to wetland to hill to bluff to frozen creek. The changing moisture content and temperature of the snow meant the waxers were either sticking, slipping, or every so often getting perfect kick and glide. I was glad once again that I had finally purchased waxless skis two springs ago, mostly for days just like this.

During the six-hour tour we traversed country that only a few people see in a year, skied on a frozen subdivision road, saw one of the best views of the Alaska Range, and ran into a homesteader mad that we had trespassed without knowing it. All in all, a fairly typical outing in rural Alaska.