Snowfall brings optimism — and caution

WASILLA — Winter arrived with a whiteout this week in the Mat-Su, where heavy snowfall sent snow-deprived skiers and snowboarders racing to local trails in search of fresh powder.

Nearly two feet of fresh snow reportedly fell high in Hatcher Pass, with lower elevations getting far less. At the Government Peak Recreation Area, about a foot of snow blanketed trails — more than enough to groom both skate and classic trails.

“We groomed it Monday night and it set up pretty good,” said Mark Strabel of the Mat-Su Ski Club.

Strabel said delays with road plowing slowed grooming efforts at Independence Mine in Hatcher Pass, but said he expected those trails would likely be groomed by the weekend.

Strabel said the snow that fell had a good moisture content for building a base of about four inches on the trails at Government Peak, which can be accessed by taking Palmer-Fishhook Road to Edgerton-Parks Road and following the signs to the parking lot.

He said forecast low temperatures near zero should help the trails “set up” nicely.

On Monday, skier Phil Straub hit the Government Peak trails and pronounced them in great shape for the early season.

“I just wanted to come out and get some exercise and enjoy the snow,” he said, his dog Brownie trailing along as Straub made fresh tracks in the snow.

Straub and his fiancé are getting married at the Government Peak chalet this summer, so he said he figured he might as well get the lay of the land.

“I thought I’d come out and see what it looks like in winter,” he said.

Skiers expressed optimism about the snow, especially after enduring a 2014-15 winter that saw warm, snowless conditions wreak havoc on local trails.

“Hopefully it’s better than last year,” said skier Greg Scully.

Scully agreed with Strabel’s assessment of the snow, and said it should make for good conditions at Government Peak as long as the weather stays cold.

“It’ll pack down real nice,” he said.

Fun and danger in the pass

Up at Hatcher Pass, heavy snow was both a boon and a cause for concern for backcountry skiers and riders. Bernard Federspiel, who works as the winter caretaker at the Independence Mine State Historical Park, said about 17 inches of snow accumulated at the mine between Sunday and Monday. Federspiel pronounced the conditions “variable,” but skiable.

“With the winds that we’ve had it’s pushed it around into pocketed areas so that’s where you’ll find a little deeper snow,” he said.

On Tuesday, a number of snowboarders were doing “road runs,” by getting rides up the road to a parking lot, where they began their runs back down. Others ventured onto nearby slopes, hiking uphill to find powder.

Palmer’s Nathaniel Tolbert said the allure of fresh powder was simply too much for he and his friends to pass up on Tuesday.

“Well, we saw that it was cakin’ so we wanted to come shred the gnar, man,” Tolbert said.

However, while all that gnar might be tempting to shred, Federspiel said skiers and snowboarders should use extreme caution when venturing into the mountains. He described watching one man get swept down Hatch Peak earlier this month in a slide.

“The snow propagated a long avalanche and it sucked him into it and knocked him down the mountain,” he said.

Although the skier was okay, Federspiel said the incident was a reminder why it’s important to be wary of avalanche conditions.

“You can’t forget about that, those dangers are still out here,” he said.

With early season skiing there’s also the danger of hitting exposed rocks and terrain. On Tuesday, crews from Palmer Fire and Rescue had to retrieve a snowboarder with an injured leg from the pass.

Snowboarder Eric Behrens said he fell while making a run down from the mile 16 parking lot and had to be rescued. Due to the conditions, rescuers couldn't get him off the mountain for several hours, during which time he said he got extremely cold. Behrens said his fellow snowboarders and rescue personnel lent him jackets and kept him company while he waited to eventually be rescued by a helicopter. He even took to Facebook to find one Good Samaritan, a girl named Daisy who lent him a winter coat.

"I owe her more than my life," he wrote.

On Thursday, Behrens said he had found Daisy and was waiting to hear back from her to return the jacket.

"It was a crazy ordeal," he said.

He suffered a bad concussion and a possible ligament tear in his knee during in the fall. Behrens — who moved to Alaska this fall — said the fateful trip was the first run he'd taken in 10 years.

"I clipped a couple rocks and just started tumbling," he said.

Behrens said he couldn't be more grateful to the people who stopped to wait with him as he drifted in and out of consciousness.

"Those guys were awesome," he said.

Pending the result of an MRI on his knee, Behrens said he won't let the accident keep him down too long.

"Depending on what the MRI says I'm heading back as soon as I can," he said.

Weekend warning

On Wednesday, the Alaska Avalanche Information Center issued a special bulletin for Hatcher Pass after as many as 15 human-caused avalanches were observed in the pass. One person was swept away by one such slide, but deployed an airbag and was unhurt.

The avalanche center warned that, due to high winds, avalanches are likely to continue in the area, and advised using extreme caution.

“When traveling in avalanche terrain, remember the fastest rescue is conducted by your partners, so travel one at a time through avalanche terrain to increase your safety!” reads the bulletin, which can be found at hatcherpassavalanchecenter.org. “The weekend is coming, better visibility is on its way, but the avalanche problem will remain.”

Alaska State Parks has yet to open the pass to snowmachines. For more information about Hatcher Pass openings and avalanche safety, visit Alaska State Parks at dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/hatcherpass.html. For more information on grooming on local trails, visit the Mat-Su Ski Club at matsuski.org.

This story has been corrected from its original version, which misstated the name of the Alaska Avalanche Information Center.

Contact Frontiersman editor Matt Tunseth at 352-2268 or email news@frontiersman.com