Latest Conditions in the South-central AK

[Eilert Pilarm]

For those coming straight here and who may not have seen the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage's website, here are the links:

http://www.anchoragenordicski.com/Trails/groomingupdate.htm
this page is the NSAA trail grooming report. Trail updates are for the ANC-Eagle River-Chugiak trails. The Mat-Su valley trails are linked near the bottom of that page. I haven't skied the Mat-Su trails yet but look forward to soon.

http://www.crosscountryalaska.org/trails/
this is the local trail forum in which skiers (and road cyclists who put on skis in the winter, like me) give trail reports after skiing them

The trail phone hotlines and weather links are extremely useful as well.

And if you want info on summat else to load into your iPod other than the latest tunes, i.e. two or three of the funniest radio talk shows and podcasts in the free world, then I heartily can give out the links to those also. BTW these shows don't come out of Alaska. One comes out of Washington DC. The other comes from London. If you enjoy trying to ski and laugh at the same time......



And I hope those planning on coming up for the Tour of Anchorage this year can get some useful info off this forum. As a local in the ANC area I'll try to provide all the info I can. Last year the conditions for the TOA were really nice considering the warm days leading up to the TOA....so far the El Niño winter has brought us buckets of snow after a cold, dry, high-pressure-dominated November.

[Eilert Pilarm]

Snowing buckets in the Anchorage bowl area.

buckets and buckets.

groomers are heading out there as I type.

too much fun!

[Eilert Pilarm]

Trails all around the area are in near-perfect condition -- and more snow expected tonite.

If you nordic---there's about no better time to come up and ski the 100s of Km's of groomed trails.

El Niño winter been veddy-veddy guud to us. Wish it could always be like this--would like to just bottle it up.

[Eilert Pilarm]

Temps last week in the 40s and even 50s in places melted some snow but with temps back in the 20s and the groomers working their miracles, the trails in the Anchorage-Eagle River-Mat Su Valley area are back to excellent condition. Still plenty of base.

Tour of Anchorage less than a month away now--If we maintain the base and get even more good snow in February, the TOA should have excellent trail conditions.

Anyone from Outside flying up to race in the Tour of Anchorage?

[Eilert Pilarm]

Weatherchannel-dot-com changes our weekend outlook every day so I don't trust them

however

looks like maybe single digits at the start of the Tour of Anchorage this Sunday

Brrrr-inski

[Eilert Pilarm]

HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER THE CENTRAL INTERIOR OF ALASKA COUPLED
WITH AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL TIGHTEN THE
PRESSURE GRADIENT OVER SOUTHCENTRAL ALASKA FOR THE NEXT 2 TO 3 DAYS.
STRONG NORTH WINDS WILL DEVELOP ALONG THE SUSITNA VALLEY AND THROUGH
THE MOUNTAIN PASSES ALONG THE CHUGACH MOUNTAINS AND THE ALASKA RANGE.


NORTH WINDS IN THE ANCHORAGE BOWL ARE EXPECTED TO GUST BETWEEN 30 AND
45 MPH THURSDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THE GUSTS WILL BE ESPECIALLY STRONG
IN AREAS WHERE TALL BUILDINGS WILL CHANNEL THE WINDS, LIKE THE
DOWNTOWN AREA. THOUGH STRONG WINDS ARE FAIRLY COMMON IN THE ANCHORAGE
AREA, THESE ARE MOSTLY SOUTHEAST WINDS ALONG TURNAGAIN ARM AND THE
HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF THE HILLSIDE. STRONG NORTH WINDS ARE MORE
UNUSUAL FOR THE CITY. PEOPLE ARE ENCOURAGED TO SECURE ANY LOOSE
OBJECTS THAT COULD BE BLOWN AROUND OR DAMAGED BY THE WIND.

THE STRONG WINDS COUPLED WITH LOW TEMPERATURES AROUND ANCHORAGE WILL
CREATE WIND CHILL TEMPERATURE TO 30 BELOW DURING THE LATE NIGHT AND
EARLY MORNING HOURS FROM TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. HYPOTHERMIA AND
POSSIBLE FROST BITE COULD OCCUR FROM EXTENDED EXPOSURE TO LOW WIND
CHILL TEMPERATURES.

No new snow for a while now. Fortunately there's a thick, solid base for this weekend's Tour.

But if these winds DO come as forecast, what a friggin MESS

OY!

[Eilert Pilarm]

skied Hillside today for the first time since the TOA.

lots of snow hit it since they were groomed last night

feel like i'm skiing in heavy pudding or summat


just tired. really tired. i only came to life when this young lad was really hammering right in front of me. kept up with him barely for a few hundred meters then thankfully he took a different trail. damn that bastard was really flying--and then...i was spent. no lungs or legs left.

wtf is wrong with me...

perhaps the answer is here in my post on THIS THREAD:

http://www.xcskiforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=318&highlight=

[anchskier]

I definitely understand what you are saying. Our bodies need a break once in a while. Along with my skiing, I am avidly involved in triathlons, bike racing (road and mountain), cross country running, etc... triathlons being my main sport. I find that I don't give myself much of a break at all between seasons, often leading to a period of time when I feel really lethargic (spelling?). I just seem to always be tired. After a while of this, things will suddenly change, like flipping a switch, and I usually feel great. I know I need the break once in a while, but when you are trying to compete in 3 to 4 sports at the same time, how can you afford to miss that much training? It's mainly a mental thing for me.

My first triathon of the season is this Sunday (April 1st). It is the Homer Sea-to-Ski, consisting of a ~5km run, ~7km bike (hill climb mostly with some dirt/snow/ice road sections at the top), followed by a 5km ski. This should be the last event of the season involving skis, so I can start to transition to summer training. I would love to get out on the roads with the road bike one of these days, but am not seeing the opportunity too soon. I think I will stick with the mountain bike for a while. The multi use trails around Hillside have been great the last few weeks for regular tires.

[Eilert Pilarm]

i kind of knew it was all just the fact that i was trying to ski fast on trails with a couple inches of snow on top of grooming. and also maybe my skis are getting a bit tired too. havent had them hot waxed since....i forget. dec or jan i think.

i wipe them down every day with two grades of towels, one rough one smooth, then i just put a layer of f4 glide wax and rub that in after they sit ten minutes or so.

that's probably shite and i should wax them more often. cleaning the crap out an that...

i just try to rub off the oxidation every day before rewaxing.

then again, if they arent waxed all that great, i'm getting a harder workout??
:wink:

sea to ski triathlon sounds like a lot of fun

i'm still hitting the trails but timing it right is teaching me a lesson. with skate lanes getting a mix of sun and shade, I end up hitting fast spots and slow spots on the same kicks and that is tough to handle sometimes.

streets out here in ER got a sweeping today. and some short stretches are clear during the day

time to get back on the road bike. prepped mine today, moving the pedals off the spin trainer and back on the roadie

[anchskier]

I managed to sneak out on the road bike Wednesday evening. Did a version of a workout I call the "Hillside Hills" workout. Pretty much just biking up one road on the Anchorage Hillside and down another and then up the next. Ended up with three extended climbs and some level/rolling connectors. Felt good to be on the road bike outside, but things are still a bit dirty. I don't expect that they will have the brooms out for a while if there is still potential to freeze when they might have to add sand and completely undo their sweeping. Will just have to deal with the sane for a while now.

I see someone on the ski condition website was getting a little jealous of your available time to ski... Apparently, he doesn't understand that some people know how to enjoy themselves.

[Eilert Pilarm]

I managed to sneak out on the road bike Wednesday evening. Did a version of a workout I call the "Hillside Hills" workout. Pretty much just biking up one road on the Anchorage Hillside and down another and then up the next. Ended up with three extended climbs and some level/rolling connectors. Felt good to be on the road bike outside, but things are still a bit dirty. I don't expect that they will have the brooms out for a while if there is still potential to freeze when they might have to add sand and completely undo their sweeping. Will just have to deal with the sane for a while now.

I see someone on the ski condition website was getting a little jealous of your available time to ski... Apparently, he doesn't understand that some people know how to enjoy themselves.

yeah i saw that comment...it was probably 'Spandex Magnet' or 'Spanky Maggot' as I like to call him...

The intense ski season and my once-twice per week spin sessions indoors on the spin bike REALLy set my legs and lungs up nicely to get back on the bike

I had the chance to hit the Hillside roads as well this past weekend. LOVELY! I've ridden the Stewart Drive and Skyline Drive hill climbs so often this month that i'm almost tiring of them. I wasn't near this strong last year. scary almost. I need to climb the Hatcher Pass road soon---I only did that once last year at the end of the season and it was fantastic.

There's still too much crap and dust on the glenn highway bike trail. I guess they don't ever sweep that off--and some good rains are all that will clear it.

I just checked the trail forum and the diehards are STILL skiing!!!

amazing

[Eilert Pilarm]

Well, the 7-month outdoor cycling season is now over. dead and buried. the only cycling to be had will be on the spin-trainer

A late snow arrival here, but the grooming and skiing has begun!!!!

hitting the freshly groomed trails this weekend