Spencer demonstrating the powders depth. (Yes, he is standing up)

Strategy Session.

Just another boring day in Alaska. The crew spent the day trying out some fresh powder in Hatcher Pass. Everyone had their own way of showing off.

 
Opa getting settled into an Alaska Lifestyle.    Didn't take long to jump on a snow machine and get into the swing of things.

Opas arrival.   Northwest Flight 393 from Minneapolis arrived 15 minutes early and Spencer was waiting at the airport to meet him.   

 

Another winter event in Alaska. Connor and I went to watch the start of the Tesoro Iron Dog Snowmachine race. This is considered to be the longest, toughest snowmachine race in the world. The racers cover 2,000 miles in 6 days covering all types of terrain while riding both day and night. Anyway, Connor seems to have the bug and wants to run the novice division when he turns 16.

As the racers would leave the starting line, they had a 2 mile run across the lake before they hit the trail. Connor would wait at the end of the starting slot and race them to the trail-head. His machine indicated a maximum speed of 78 miles per hour. That's pretty fast on a snow machine.

The track on the right is standard equipment for the Iron Dog Snow Machines, Connor will be asking for one next Christmas. Notice the metal spikes?

With the recent warm spell melting the snow, Connor has been chomping at the bit to get out and run his snowmachine. We took the sleds to the Kenai Peninsula today and let Connor try his stuff. A friend of ours, Jim Psiones, went to show us the new spot and he and Connor had a blast marking some hills and practing some jumping. Hope you enjoy the photos. As Jim said, "Just another boring day in Alaska".

Look real close and you can see Spencer's little helmut over my handle bars. Yes he is setting up straight.

Sorry for the lack of posting but there hasn't been a whole lot to report. We had a uncommon run of warm weather (40 - 50 degrees) and it has all but melted the snow. The boys are going nuts and want some snow so they can get back on their skis and snowboards. Today, there prayers were answered as you can see from the photos. What a difference a few days make.

January 29th (50 degrees)

January 30th (18 degrees)