Eddie's Peak

Last Wednesday ranks as one of my very best ski days ever. I still have this wonderful feeling of awe and inspiration every time I think about it.

Ben and I left Anchorage yesterday with snow dumping... by the time we arrived to Turnagain Pass the snow had stopped and patches of blue sky had started to show through. As we began our skin ascent of Eddie's peak the clouds burned off completely, revealing absolutely spectacular views.

We arrived at a bench right below the peak at around 3 p.m... just as the alpenglow was starting to hit the distant mountains. Our two hour descent, on a mountain we had all to ourselves, was filled with super light powder, a moon overhead and a gorgeous forest.

Using the truck to get the skis on in the morning.

Behind Ben is the mountain (Eddie's Peak) that we're about to ski.

Beautiful views on the ski up... blue sky, the moon overhead...

Me on top of Eddie's peak.

Ben in the distance... stopped for lunch and happy with views...

A little video I've entitled "I'd climb for it."

Gorgeous!

What a spectacular view!

Lunch Yum!

Even better when my sandwhiches looks like that!

It's a little video I like to call "Teleing in fresh pow-WOW!"

Look at those tracks! And the moon!

Recent publications: muzzleloading

Check out the most recent edition of my monthly column called Outside the Ordinary...

http://alaskastar.com/stories/010308/new_20080103018.shtml

It's about a day of muzzleloading with the Mount McKinley Mountainmen Muzzle Loading Rifle Club. Also for a pretty cool multi-media slideshow of the day that Joshua and I put together go to...

http://www.jjbphoto.com/Muzzleloader.html

Couchsurfing.com

Once upon a time if you were a traveler and wanted to avoid paying the big bucks for a night in a hotel you could spend hours at a bar trying to sweet talk someone into letting you spend the night on his/her couch.

Not anymore. Now it's a matter of ten minutes.

While visiting my family in Colorado, Joshua and I decided to head to Steamboat Springs for a couple of nights... we just had to taste some of that world-famous champagne powder!

After asking around to no avail to see if anyone knew anyone who lived in Steamboat... and may let us stay... I turned to couchsurfing.com.

I first learned about this Web site when I was traveling in South America. I met a few people who were surfing the continent with a click of a button.

After filling out my own profile, I began "surfing." The search words "Steamboat Springs" brought up 10 people offering up a place to stay. As far as I could tell all of them seemed like good, decent people. I messaged two of them -- both with similar interests to my own -- and then waited.

Responses came within a couple of days... both offered Joshua and I a place to sleep.

We somewhat randomly picked one of them. Her name was Amy also! And I soon learned she's great! She's a snowboard instructor on the mountain and full of good energy.

Not only did we score a free place to sleep out of the deal, but we got to see a bit of the town through the eyes of locals. The first night Amy made us dinner. The second night we took her out to a favorite Mexican spot. Afterwards we sipped beers, played some pool and chatted the night away.

Long story short... how cool to have a Web site that connects people with people... a Web site that's built on the premise that the majority of people in the world are good and decent... a Web site that's ultimately a forum for travelers like myself!