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so university of alaska in anchorage, how's this school for skiing? I know that it is about an hour from Alyeska, what else is it near, what's the skiing like in this area... mainly the resort skiing, i know the heli and cat stuff is dank... any feedback would help a ton
I've lived in Anchorage since September and have put in 16 days at Alyeska so far (many, many more to come). Here are my impressions:
*Aly is a sweet powder and in-bounds big mountain resort. It's got plenty of steeps, chutes, cliffs, and trees. It's also already gotten 368" of snowfall this season. No resort, as far as I know, has gotten more this winter. Every day I've skied since Christmas I've gotten sweet face shots.
*At least so far, Aly's park features kinda suck. They have a number of rails and a few smallish jumps. So far no halfpipe.
*Aly rarely has lift lines (although it sometimes has smelly tram lines).
*I don't think you'll find better backcountry skiing anywhere else in the world. (Although I hear good things about Utah.) There are literally hundreds of places between 20 and 90 minutes away. If you come here, be prepared to invest in a good beacon, skins, trackers, etc.
*There are a couple resorts closer to Anchorage, but they seem boring compared to Aly. They may have better parks though. I've got a pass to Aly, so I probably won't find out.
there are alot of skiing opportunities there, alyeska is about 40 minutes away and AKdiv pretty much hit it on the head, the place is amazing. in anchorage itself there is a small hill called hilltop wich will cover your park needs as much as possible and its very easy to poach. the surrounding areas are insane. hatchers pass thompson pass and turnigain have the best places ever to build back country jumps (alyeska shits a brick if you build a kicker) those 3 places are relativly close to town. alot of my firends go to the university down there and they love it. its a fun place you'll have a blast. just stay away from small half breed asians and kids named garrett. they will do you no good.
well ok, alyeska is the only real resort up here. but theres hilltop(a actual hill), alpenglow is pretty sick too and u can go up to hatchers or turnagain to make a booter. message cab3, he went there last year so yeah.
alyeska is sick, it has lots of natrual hits but no park, well we have one but its fuckin terrible
but i would say go for it. wee need some new skiers up here
alyeskas park will always suck balls but noone cares because of the first part of your information. in my entire 15 year career skiing at alyekas not once have they had a good park. but we dont care.and the pipe is a waste of snow, they make it terrible so people rarley use it. there are times when the lift lines are really long. they wernt tobad over christmas bvreak but they can be much worse. and when north face is open on a pow day expect a LONG ass trma line, maybe like 120-140 people. there are not over 100 places to ski within 90 minutes of anchorage. there, alyeska,turnagain,hatchers,hilltop,alpenglow and heli skiing that im aware of. that comes to a total of 6. yes you will want skins and a beacon for mid winter and spring booters at hatchers and tunry. and hilltop has a better park in my opinion and there fuckin dumba nd never check for passes so my 4 times there this year i have skiied for free.
I grew up skiing Tahoe (Kirkwood mainly), and have skied all the big resorts in Utah, Mammoth, Vail, Taos, Hood, and Whistler/Blackcomb, among other ski resorts. Alyeska may not be better than all of those places, but it's at least worthy of comparison. Trust me, pound for pound, Aly holds its own.
Also, Anchorage and Girdwood generally aren't that cold, especially compared with Fairbanks. The January average is around the mid-20's, which I've found comfortable enough. There's not a ton of light in December, but things change quickly. By March, we're getting nearly 12 hours of sunlight. That makes for a very long ski day. My friends tell me they go backcountry skiing after work in March and April, when there's light until 9 p.m.
I'd generally agree about the park. The steeps and pow more than make up for it. Still, it'd be nice to have a nice park and pipe for night skiing and in the spring.
I've had to wait 15 minutes for the smelly tram. But that's rare. And even the biggest tram lines and chair 6 lines don't compare to, say, a crowded day at a popular CA resort like Heavenly.
You'll meet all the friends you need in college. One of the best things I ever did was get away from my hometown for college. It'll still be there when you're done, and all your friends and family will want to visit you because you live in Alaska.
Of course, the one thing that Alaska won't provide is a proper city life. Anchorage is the most uncosmopolitan city I've even lived in. But it has it's redeeming virtues as well.
garrett there are tons of places to ski. hatchers and turnagin and thompson all have so many places to ski arround, and there is summit and cantwell. and then there is your little school jumps that you are always verbally masturbating about.
the rent in girdwood is pretty expensive but if you live in anchorage then its not to bad.
I plan on working up in AK this summer. Doing some research of the area I stumbled upon this site... http://www.alsap.org/
any of the locals recognize those places? it says there are over 100 old (most abandoned) ski resorts and lists them all.
we moved here because m father was offered a job as a refuge manager for one of the national wildlife refuges. i honestly don't know why alot of people live here. but they all say they love it and never want to leave (older people). in the summer time its so nice if you can get used to sleeping with the sun up becasue it never goes down. it gets really warm too. the iwnter though, shit it blows i remember one new years we were shooting off fire works at -65F. alot of tourists come in the winter time for the northern lights and the hot springs. its a fun place to live. not too big not too small. i enjoy it except for 4 hours of light at most in the winter thats kinda a drag.