Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Sheep Mountain Heli Trip!

Sorry for the late post for this, but it's been a busy busy few days. Last Friday, Dustin and I had the opportunity to go heli boarding! Did we pass it up? Hell no! It was the most epic thing I've done since I've been in AK... well, one of the most epic things. There have been so many awesome moments up here it's hard to put one on the top compared to other events. But it was so amazing. Seeing that helicopter land and knowing I was going to climb in and it take me to the top of a peak was super exciting. The stoke level was almost too much.

We loaded our boards and packs, then all climbed in. I think there were 18 total for the trip, which broke down to 3 loads in the heli. We were in the last load, and there were 6 of us in the heli for that trip. We didn't load at Coastal, but instead the heli landed on a beach out Thane Rd and we loaded up there since it was a straighter shot to the mountain. Up up and away the little yellow birdie went. The view was awesome. We saw some black bears and mountain goats from the air. It was so cool to see Juneau from the air, then once we got more into the mountains the town faded away and it was just peaks and peaks everywhere.

I still couldn't believe it was really happening! Happy late birthday to me, and early birthday to Dustin. This trip was definitely meant to be.


We landed on the peak of Sheep Mountain. Everyone climbed out, we got our gear out, the heli lifted off, and there we were... on an awesome snowy peak in late MAY with 3000 ft of vertical ahead of us to slash around and play on.

The ride was fun. The snow was soft and not too sticky. The terrain was pretty mellow. I was kinda hoping for some steep stuff to play on, but it was great regardless! We followed Bill Glude through the snow fields and gulleys and eventually ended up on the Perseverance trail, which was still covered in snow. We hiked the flats in the snow with our boots still on, then eventually changed to shorts, t-shirts, and my Chacos once we were out of the snow. It was pretty toasty on the trail.

We hiked and hiked until we finally made it to the Perseverance trailhead, where some of the people had left cars to shuttle others back to Thane.

Wow what a trip. Now I'm a heli addict, and I am saving up a heli fund for next spring! Thanks to Bill Glude for the invite and dropping some awesome knowledge on us.

Here are a few pics from the trip. I am working on a video, but have a ton of footage so it's taking me a bit longer than planned, but I promise I'll drop a video on here soon! :)


Hello there beautiful bird.


Stoke level at this point = to the moon.


Up up and away!



View from the choppa
Unloading at the peak of Sheep Mtn
Unloading our gear
Goodbye to our little yellow cab
View from the peak
In heaven
Dustin
Dustin and Lisa taking a quick break
Stooooked!
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
In the white room.
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Minor water crossing.
Photo Copyright Bill Glude

After the clothing change. All packed up and ready to hike out
Love this pic of us :)
I love this shred lady, Lisa!
Hiking out
Hiking out
Our crew
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Photo Copyright Bill Glude
Cheers to a fantastic day!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Snow, Orcas, Sunsets, and Sitka!

Wowzers, it's been a while since my last update. I've been super busy but have had a TON of fun the past few weeks. My friend and I decided to go hike Eaglecrest Monday afternoon since our tour was cancelled due to 8 ft high seas. It was amazing... we hiked and hiked in the sunshine, finally making it to the Nest at the top. After a quick break and snack, we strapped in and had some magical turns down the mountain. The snow was perfect... soft enough to have some fun, but firm enough to grip and rip. Here are a couple pics from shreddin'...



After that adventure, well, actually during that adventure, I found out I would be going to Sitka with my crew to work a couple tours. I was excited to be going somewhere I've never been on my birthday, but kinda bummed that I couldn't spend it with Dustin. We had a 6:30 crew time Tuesday morning, which was my birthday, and wouldn't return until Wednesday night. Sitka was a 6ish hour boat ride from Juneau. We had one tour Tuesday morning in Juneau, then as soon as the passengers departed we were on our way. We were on the St. Aquilina, which is a slightly larger than our normal boat we work on, and it's a good thing because the seas were intense the first couple hours. It literally felt like a carnival ride... the seas were super rough and it was hard to walk anywhere on the boat without flying all over the place. Eventually the waters calmed down and we just enjoyed the ride. The scenery was absolutely stunning the entire trip. Southeast Alaska has got to be the most beautiful place on the planet. After what felt like forever, we finally made it to Sitka around 8:30pm.

After a few birthday drinks we all crashed out since we had another 6:30 crew time in the morning. Woke up, did two tours, seeing all sorts of awesome wildlife. Sea otters, LOTS of sea otters, humpbacks, eagles, sea lions, and even brown bear and her two cubs on a beach were among the critters we saw. After working those two tours, we got the boat ready to head back to Juneau. We didn't end up leaving Sitka till 4:30, so it was 11pm before we got back to Juneau. The trip back was so awesome! The views were just as stunning as before, and we got to see an amazing sunset as we got closer to Juneau. We came across of pod of orcas and we stopped to watch them for a while. We all went out on the bow of the boat and got some good pictures of them. I still can't believe how beautiful it all was... cruise ships in the sunset, orcas swimming all around us, the moon was so bright and beautiful. Wow. It was amazing. Simply amazing. I took a ton of pics on the trip, and you can see them all by clicking HERE, but I will post my best ones below :)



Tomorrow holds another adventure that will be EPIC! It involves a helicopter and my snowboard. :) I will post about that trip tomorrow night. 

Peace.