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We left Anchorage on Friday morning and drove north for a weekend of spring skiing. We planned on doing the Oosik Classic ski race in Talkeetna, but that wasn't the only reason for the trip. We had heard that there was good skiing to be found on snowmob
Date: 03/18/2005
Views: 581
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First we checked out the snowmobile trails on the Petersville Road. We drove to the big snowmobile parking lot near Kroto Creek and parked there, along with about 40 snowmobilers. We explored a few trails off the Petersville Road, but most were wavy and
Date: 03/18/2005
Views: 996
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And yes, that big mountain in the background is Denali.
Date: 03/18/2005
Views: 582
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On Saturday, we did the Oosik. Sorry, no pictures from the Oosik, we were too busy skiing. Here's an Oosik article from the newspaper. It was a classic Oosik course: a narrow, scenic ...
Date: 03/21/2005
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On Sunday, a group of about 20 of us shuttled cars up to mile 132 of the Parks Highway and skied back down to Talkeetna on the Chulitna River.
Date: 03/20/2005
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The river only had a few open leads of water. Most of it was solid ice with a very firm snow crust on top. Beautiful skiing.
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 565
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The sun was out, the crust was firm, the pace was mellow, and we had a strong tailwind the entire way. A great day for a ski.
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 536
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Most sections of the river were smooth, but there were a lot of sections with bumps like this early on. It made for a great terrain park for some freestyle XC skiing.
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 525
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Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 520
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Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 522
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You might think these guys just have bad technique, but when you've got a stiff tailwind, this is actually very good technique. In some places we could just let the wind blow us downriver.
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 526
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Linda gets a free ride on the wind.
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 519
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That's me skiing in the foreground. What am I holding in my hand, you ask?
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 557
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Why it's my sail! I rigged up a jacket on my ski poles to harness the wind. It worked okay, but I really needed a bigger sail. It would be great to get one of those kites they use for kiteboarding and fly down a river on skis with it. 30 feet of open
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 556
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One of the many social stops along the way. Like I said, it was a leisurely trip.
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 605
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Crust cruising in the shadow of Denali.
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 439
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Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 408
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Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 434
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After 20 miles or so, we were back in Talkeetna. It was time to head home after a great weekend.
Date: 03/20/2005
Views: 526
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