2 weeks of winter in Alaska. Our itinerary.

Snowboarding in Alaska was a dream of mine! I went for 2 weeks with my friend Amanda to celebrate my 30th birthday. We loved the people, the wilderness, snowboarding, and dog sledding!

When is the best time for a ski trip to Alaska:

This was a big question that I was looking into. Basically the heli-skiing operates from around 25th February until 25th April. And of course that is when you would also want to aim for the ski-fields. We were there 27th March until 9th April. As it always is with snow, you never know what you are going to get. Alaska had a huge amount of snow early in the season but the first snowfall in March was when we arrived at the end of the month. So we were bloody stoked with our timing!

Getting to Alaska:

From Auckland we flew to San Francisco with United Airlines and scored very cheap flights. We enjoyed 2 nights in San Francisco which was a great chance to adjust to the time difference. From there we flew with Delta, to Seattle, to Anchorage. I must admit when we were coming into Anchorage and I could see the snow and ice in the sea I was so overwhelmed with happiness that I cried. Even that was a dream come true and the rest did not disappoint!

Don’t forget good insurance, World Nomads offers great cover for winter sports and heli-skiing.

http://www.worldnomads.co.nz/

Anchorage. 1 night:

We stayed in Anchorage our first night, in the old part of the city which I like. From the airport it was $20USD for a taxi to The Voyager Inn. Affordable older style hotel but we were happy there, comfy bed, friendly staff and breakfast included.

We checked out at 9 am and we’re picked up for husky dog sledding with Salmon Berry Tours. We drove 1 hour to Wasilla to pick up big wraps, chips and drinks for lunch which was all included. 1 more hour to Willow, where we went to Dallas Seavey’s home. He won the Iditarod race in 2012,2014,2015 and 2016. Everyone said how it was a warm day, high temperature of -1C. So dress very warm! They provided feet and hand warmers. Dog sledding is a fun activity, you don’t need to be fit. We had turns at either sitting on a seat up front or standing behind the sled, keeping your knees bent and moving with the terrain. The dogs were going 10 MPH max so it’s not scary fast. Afterwards you get to play with all the dogs and we met the wee puppies.

https://www.salmonberrytours.com/

http://thevoyagerinn.com/

Alyeska Resort. 6 nights:

We got a private transfer from Anchorage to Alyeska with Four Seasons, it’s about an hour each way. We paid $100 USD each way for 2 of us. That worked for us so we could be picked up at 6 pm after dog sledding and they had lots of room for our board bags. The drive on the Seward Highway is stunning, with big mountains dropping into the icy waters of Turnagain arm.

If you want to ski or board at Alyeska you could look at accommodation in the small town Girdwood. There is a free local bus to and from Girdwood and Alyeska all day. We stayed at Alyeska Resort, if you book direct you get ski passes much cheaper than if you book via a different website or agent but you pay a bit more per night for accommodation. As we were there in spring we got 2 ski free passes for mid week each and paid about $40 for our lift passes on the other days.

20170330_055116 — The view from our window when we woke up!

The following day we woke up to so much snow! 22 inches (55cm) on the upper Mountain! We always jump in the Aerial Tram which goes from our hotel straight up the mountain which is free in your lift pass, it carries 60 people at one time. I just love that Alyeska is at such a low elevation, I felt really fit on my snowboard. That was the deepest powder I’ve ever been in, unbelievably deep! Speed was our friend, just don’t stop and she’ll be right. Great terrain, natural half-pipes, trees and steeps on the North-face.

At the end of every day snowboarding we went to the hotels free pool and hot tub. The hotel offers a free wake up service if you can see the Aurora Borealis, we set that for each night but as the clouds never lifted during our stay we did not see the lights. We can’t complain because those could were full of snow. There are gigs each week at the Sitzmark, we saw North Mississippi Allstars on the Thursday night as it was free for ladies.

We had fantastic fresh snow on the upper mountain ever single day, later in the week it rained on the lower mountain but you don’t need to use the lower lifts. I honestly enjoyed the slushy lower mountain as well. Sometimes visibility was challenging and I only ever used low light lenses that week at Alyeska.

The small town of Girdwood is worth exploring. Thriftwood is their newest addition, they sell second hand items, local art and it is a dispensary for weed as it is now decriminalized Alaska. The Grind is a fantastic cafe, I had the best chai latte and the lady was very friendly. The mercharnt is a handy wee grocery store. Silver Tip is a great spot for dinner and a drink, they have live music and although I was nervous about going into a locals pub, it is where you meet the friendly bearded locals. Chair 5 is another restaurant, we only came here for drinks, there is a lot on the walls to keep you entertained, lots of license plates and trophy heads. The Tourist Trap gift shop is out on the Seward highway but the free bus goes out there, Donna was such a lovely woman that we chatted for an hour and I missed the first bus so waited another 40 mins and got all of my gift shopping done.

You can take the Aerial Tram up to Seven Glaciers mountain top restaurant for dinner, too pricey for us. We did splash out on dinner at Jack Sprat, I had Rock fish and it was hands down the best fish dish I’ve had. They served it with a creamy tomato sauce, roasted cauliflower, squash, radish and shredded potato. WOW. The flavors went together so well it melted in your mouth. Best to make a reservation there as we were lucky to get a seat at the bar. Another must try is Baked Alyeska back at the hotels restaurant for dessert, strawberry and chocolate mousse covered in meringue!

http://www.alyeskaresort.com/hotel

https://www.akshuttle.com/

http://www.jacksprat.net/

Valdez. 4 nights:

We used Four Seasons again to get back to Anchorage, our driver was a bearded man who looked intimidating for a moment but of course was friendly and chatty. We picked up a hire car with Thrifty for 5 days. It was a nice 4wd and it had all season tyres which drive impressively on snow. We drove the 5 hours to Valdez, the highway was clear of snow. We saw eagles and moose, lots of mountains, rivers and glaciers. We stopped in a couple of very small towns where people really enjoyed talking to us and telling us how they ended up living somewhere so remote and how much they enjoy it. It almost seemed like this road was built just to get from mountain to glacier to river and there just happens to be a couple of small towns on the way.

You can also fly with Ravn Alaska and it is only 45 minutes. Or we would have loved to take the car on the 6 hour ferry to or from Whittier (nearer Alyeska) to Valdez across the Prince William Sound but as it was only operating weekly during April it did not work out.

Valdez is a gorgeous port town of 4,000 people. On the Prince William Sound and surrounded by the Chugach Mountains. I’d love to see it in summer also! We stayed at the Best Western Valdez Harbour Inn. Again it was an old hotel but very friendly staff, comfy bed, good restaurant, bar and free breakfast. A great treat at this point in the trip was the laundry room for only $1 washer/ dryer. This was the only hotel that had no means to charge our electronics so we bought a $7 adapter from the Radio Shack, bargain.

We emailed H2O Heliguides who operate out of the hotel we were staying in . They had 2 seats available for a one day Heli-boarding trip. We booked 1 hour of blade time for $1432 USD each. Their training on safety was very informative and they provided us with shovel, probe, beacon and backpack. Most of the other clients were on a 4 hour blade time all inclusive package. Others had already waited 8 days before we arrived for good weather. We had 1 day of training and then 2 days of checking in for weather updates in the hotel lobby each hour or 2 until the day was called off in the afternoon. If you really want to do this you will likely need more than the 4 nights we had.

We woke up on our fourth morning in Valdez and it was our last opportunity to heliboard. And that day would be our one and only blue bird day during our trip to Alaska! And it’s time to go Heli-boarding. Long story short, best day of my whole life. The best conditions you could possible ask for. It was steep, deep and blue bird!

For cheaper alternatives to a helicopter: If the snow was better down to sea level, Black ops offers days of cat skiing. And others offer rides up on snow mobiles. You can access terrain from driving up the road and skiing down. Unfortunately these were not options when we were there. But if you know what you are doing there is great ski touring from nearby Thompson Pass.