AK Day Five
Posted by Neil Hartmann on April 6, 2008
The contest was “called” today. Canceled due to the storm that has come in to the Chugach range. We are getting a lot of snow today. The temp is colder and it is snowing to the village. Shinya, Tsukasa and I went riding and shooting for a few hours in the afternoon and we found some good pockets of wind blown powder to ride. The main basin was getting hit with some strong winds so it was crusty in some areas, but good pow in others. We challenged ourselves with a run down the Christmas chute on the north face. This chute is steep man, the entrance and first 100 meters is the steepest terrain I have ever ridden at a ski resort for sure. Moguls at the top and then skier tracked snow the rest of the way down. They have over 800 inches of snow at Alyeska this year so the bottom half is really filled in. I think it was actually steeper the last time I rode it two years ago.
This morning did a few short interviews with judge Julie Zell and rider Rob Kingwill who is in second place now.
That was about all the work for the contest we did today, so it was the most relaxed day of the trip so far. Of course a few runs in the storm and a challenging Christmas chute is not really a relaxing day. More like a serious work out.
Last night the party and concert by the Photonzs was great. The locals were all there showing support for the band. Great people here in Girdwood, no bad vibes at all.
Everybody was dancing and having a blast until about 2am. They do it all again tonight at the same place. The Alaskans have a lot of powder and stamina. This State will raise a tough man or woman I must say that.
Here is a shot of the meeting yesterday afternoon. The organizer of the race is announcing the schedule for the finals. When the names of the riders who made it into the finals were announced everybody was yelling and cheering, especially for the local riders who made it into the finals.
Check out how light it is right now, I am posting this at 9pm Alaskan time.
So keep your fingers crossed for good weather tomorrow so we can get the final done! Thanks.
If you want to watch some of the contest highlights they are here on the North Face Masters site.
