Spring Break - week 1

     March in Alaska is when things really start to fall into place.  With daylight savings coming to an end, long days are back and suddenly, it's light well past bed time - land of extremes!  And a perfect time for spring break.  It's really more accurate to call it "late winter break".  After a few days skiing town trails, we crammed the car full of gear:  skis, snowshoes, sleds, clothes and spare clothes and headed to Hatcher Pass.  The temperatures were a bit more tolerable this time around and the snow was perfect - "hero" snow.  We started taking powder runs down the mellower slopes where the kids could manage the speed and make turns.

We stayed the night in a small cabin - part of the Hatcher Pass Lodge that's been there since 1967.  In 1963 "Hap" Wurlitzer squatted on the property and years later paid $10 to file the paperwork and claim the 600 acres as his own.  He now runs the Lodge and enjoys his back yard!  

The next day dawned clear and as the sun came up, the sky deepened to an incredible blue.  A long uphill ski brought us up into the Gold Cord Bowl above the Independence Mine.  Here we met Dan Renshaw - part owner of the privately owned Gold Cord Mine.  The mine is no longer in operation other than summer forays into its depth to pick over old tailings.  Dan has lived to some degree in a small cabin perched on the mountain side since he was a child.  He invited us for a cup of tea and was extremely interesting to chat with - welcomed us back at any time for another visit.

A great powder run down followed through the Independence Mine State Historic site and then all the way back down to the lodge.  

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OK - deep breath!  Back to Anchorage for a rest day, then off to Alyeska Resort for a little alpine skiing.  Our kids have skied cross-country for years but had yet to ride the lifts and excitement was high as we got settled into rental gear and dusted off the old tele gear.  Again blessed by clear skies, we progressed from the smaller slopes to the lifts and larger runs.  The younguns took to it like maple syrup on pancakes and were off and running.

There were many "last runs" and we finally limped back to the car about 5 pm.  From here, we continued south to the small town of Hope, Ak.  The Nordic Ski Assoc. of Anchorage owns a small hut in Hope and rents it cheap to club members.  By the time we settled in, made some dinner, play a rousing game of Yahtzee, it was past 10:00 and we collapsed into the loft.  The next morning was "camp time" with a pop-tarts in bed followed by a long breakfast, more games, reading and recovering. At one point, Harriet said, "Dad, you've been driving us hard!"  So, I conceded and only made them go on a short hike out of Hope.  

All this activity has got the beard growing long!  

Several Sparkle Stories took us home where we were greeted at our front door by a friend!