Originally Posted by mtwarden
Originally Posted by cwh2
Been doing a little cross country skiing in all the warm weather. Did about 3/4 of a mile on snowshoes in the copper river valley sugar powder a few weeks back. Postholing up to the nuts 90% of the time and hating life. Was wishing I had my skis the whole time.

I need to look into fat/short skis with skins. I think that could be pretty cool.



I can relate. My last snowshoe outing there was with about an inch ice crust and sugar snow underneath (1-3' depending on where I was at). The inch crust wouldn't keep you afloat at all and it was like stepping on thin ice on a lake- cracking in large chunks. Then you would sink deeply in that crap snow and when you lifted your leg you had to fight both the snow and the crust layer each time- sucked!!!!

I have a pair (actually two, one for my wife) of Altai Hoks- wide, have a long length of skin and universal bindings (use any boots) much more flotation and quicker generally. The drawback for me is descending steeper terrain- I need to get some lessons on slowing/stopping and turning laugh. The skins help a little slowing you down on descents, but I can still pick up too much speed. They climb pretty well, but if really steep (and or icy) snowshoes do much better.



A few years back I drew an archery moose tag on JBER, the combined Army/Air Force base that borders town. Good tag, but I managed to shoot a bull 2 miles from the truck in December. I called a few people and they called a few people. Base reps usually show up and take a tissue sample, etc. They saw where I was and just bailed. Can't blame them there. I butchered the thing solo, but I could hear people approaching. First guy that showed up was a total stranger to me. He was a friend of a friend and wanted to help. On skis with skins, and I have been interested since. He beat people there by 20 minutes. We put a shoulder in his pack and off he went, right around dark. The trail was icy and downright dangerous without spikes. Saw multiple places on the hike out where he had wiped out and tumbled into the alders. That had me reconsidering skis. Got to the truck and the shoulder is in my truck bed and he's gone. Pretty funny.