We drove up on Saturday so that we would be there bright and early for Sunday crust. We weren't sure if we would ski at Broad Pass or along the Denali National Park road near Teklanika. As you can see from the map, we ended up skiing at Broad Pass, which

On Saturday afternoon, we drove 30 miles into Denali NP to look for snow.
Bill: "Scott, I don't see any snow here. What are we going to do?"
Scott: "I guess we'll have to go to plan B."

"Brilliant plan, Scott."

We camped that night, and woke up on Sunday morning at 5 AM. We were skiing before 6 AM, just as the sunlight was starting to hit Denali. In all of these pictures it is easy to spot Denali - she's the only mountain that has a few light clouds hanging ove

There were a lot of snowmobilers camped in the Broad Pass area as well, but none of them were up at 6, so we had the place to ourselves. The first few miles near the road were very rutted and chopped up from the machines, but after that the ruts weren't

There must be some wide-open crust around here somewhere...if I could only find it.

As you can see from this picture, the crust was not super-smooth. It was pretty bumpy from wind and melting. But it was definitely skiable, and the terrain and scenery were so amazing, we really couldn't complain about the bumps.

Another expanse of crust. We figured it would take about a week, at least, to explore all the crust that is accessible from the road at Broad Pass.

Goin' up...

...coming down.

Simply a spectacular day!

We weren't the only ones enjoying the crust. Apparently, this Marmot took some time off from making quality outdoor clothing to get in an early morning jog.