Observation by Mike Brubaker:
This has been a huge snow year in Southcentral Alaska. Just today Alaska Public Media reported that Anchorage tied the record for snowfall over 11 feet of snow measured. We still have a lot of snow in the Chugach Mountains. This week with the great spring weather many skiers are thinking about "crust skiing", that is skiing on top of the frozen crust in the morning or late evening. Crust snow occurs when you have had a week or more of warm days and cold nights, which creates a smooth, hard, crust snow surface. Kind of like the conditions for getting the sap to run in the birch trees. Crust skiing in the spring is sort of like the wild ice skaing in the early winter. There is a short window when it happens, and if you miss it (like I did the skating) you are kicking yourself for the rest of the winter. Incidentally, the ice conditions in the Chugach this early winter are now legend, as a result of early cold and late snow. Anyway, every Spring morning when I walk out to pick up my newspaper, I check the snow to see if it is crusty. On a cold clear morning (like today) it is pretty much a given. Sure enough this morning was blue sky, 27 degrees F, and a nice crust on the snow. My dog happily running about over the 4' in my yard. Grabbed the skis and off we went to Glen Alps for an early ski. Low and behold no crust snow, just nice dry powder. Wrong skis, no crust. I am wondering if others are finding these conditions a little odd, and maybe some of the snow scientists can educate me on crust snow, elevation, microclimates, weird winters and the like.
Comment by Lars Flora on 4/16
While driving to Whittier we saw many skiers parked at end of Turnagain arm along Portage Glacier Road skiing out to Skookum on our way to backcountry ski. Our plan was to search for soft cold north facing snow higher up in the mountains. We got turned around due to high winds, blowing snow and loaded slopes. We skied powder in Eagle River Saturday and high north face Turnagain powder on Sunday. At end of day on Sunday at 6 pm Turnagain pass near the road was crust with dust on our way back from BC. On a midweek surprise I crust skied across Campbell Airstrip on my normal skijor loop. Other areas around South Central and Homer just turned to solid crust out.
Observations/thoughts on early season crust. Early April storms left lots of new snow in the mountains with limited high pressure. Still cold up high with limited melt freeze cycles. Sea level is seeing good melt freeze cycles.
Comment by Lars Flora on 5/16
Two days of high pressure and clear skies produced exceptional late season crust from Hatcher Pass to Glen Alps. Reports came in from back side of Hatcher Pass on the Willow side with all snow machine tracks melting out and producing ideal conditions. 6 am crust seekers woke up early for maybe the last week of crust at Glen Alps.
Comment by Rick Thoman
Anchorage Airport as of May 18th, the 2023-24 seasonal snowfall is 133.3 inches, 1.2 inches shy of the record of 134.5 set in 2011-12. From the NRCS snow survey report for, snowpack was highest above normal in the Anchorage and immediate Chugach as well as the Copper River Basin, while snowpack was near or even a bit below normal by May 1st in the lower Susitna basin. Snowpack was above normal but not dramatically so in the Turnagain Arm area in April and then was near normal as of May 1.
Season Review by Lars Flora
Crust Ski Alaska on Facebook saw a long season that started around first week of April with most skiers. Reports during first week mainly came in from sea level on Turnagain Arm, McNeil in Homer, Talkeetna, and Eklutna. Defintily also saw many reports with breakable crust in certain areas. By mid April Skookum, Eklutna, and Nancy Lake were great crust. Higher elevations like Hatcher Pass, Glen Alps and Denali Highway were still seeing cold snow with soft snow in most places. By the last week of April crust season was in full swing. Reports were coming in from Byers lake, Willow, Prince William Sound, Glen Alps, and Williwaw lakes. One of the more adventurous crust seekers reported in from Great Slave and Teslin Lake. Even reported some ptarmigan on Great Slave that were very bold. By the end of April Hatcher Pass and Broad Pass started to see superb conditions as well. May saw many cloudy days in South Central but if you were willing to wake up early on a clear night crust continued to be enjoyed. Outside of the normal popular Alaska crust areas, a point to point ski/hike trip by local Nome residents was reported via FB to be successful. Skiing on hard wind blown crust and walking on Tundra seemed to be the main mode of transportation. How long will the crust last and how long will your motivation to seek the crust last?
If you have any pictures or reports from around Alaska and the Arctic that are uncommon to the everyday crust seeker we would enjoy to hear from you.
