Backcountry skiing in Hatcher's pass

We have had some clear beautiful days lately and so we went for a hike to do some skiing back in the hatcher's pass area last weekend.

A common sight in  our driveway.

A beautiful day but a long hike to the peaks ahead.

Oe of the many mines hatcher built and operated in the 1900's.

Slow going posthole ing in just our boots but making progress. A split board with skins would be nice but i don't have 1500 dollars.

Made it to the top just before sunset.

Kristen makes it to the top! What a woman...

Nate's buddy Rob and his dog dushka.

Quite the sunset from up here.

Rob finding a good spot to drop in.

Kristen's ready for the well deserved run after the 2 and a half hour hike.

It goes so fast...
That's all for now. see ya

Christmas in Colorado!!!

We were lucky enough to fly back to Colorado over Christmas break and I think it's really helped with our sanity. Lucy also went on her first plane ride and although I don't think she was a fan of the flight she really liked seeing her grandparents and her best friend Desi-Lou.  The weather was unusually warm and the temperatures were in the 50's and 60's. Nate even wore shorts one day!  After a few days back in CO it was amazing how much energy we had, I think the vitimin D deficiency was really getting to us. Thankfully, we got vitamin D in our stockings for the trip home.  As always we were on the go 24/7 trying to see everyone and we had fun spending time with family and friends.  On a brighter note, we are gaining back a few minutes of sunlight every day so that's been really exciting!

                                         Snowshoeing at the Crags near the base of Pike Peak.

Lucy is on a squirrel hunt.

Extreme snowshoeing, climbing a dead tree.

Perfect dismount.

Jay hanging out with Lucy.

Lunch time.

The following day we went back to the Crags to go cross country skiing with Andrew, Miranda, Jay and their chocolate lab Cheli.

Fun day!

Andrew, Miranda and Cheli.

The trail was very steep for cross country skiing... Nate and Jay had their work cut out for them because they're snowboarders.  There was some graceful crashes but they got the hang of it by the end of the day.

After Christmas we spent a few days up at our family's cabin in Winter Park.  We took a day trip to snowshoe up to Monarch Lake.

The snow was pitiful, but we had a good day.

Scott, Chuck and Nate standing on frozen Monarch Lake.

Hiked to an island in the middle of the lake.

Crab dinner at the kids table in the cabin. Jay is really excited about it.

We took the dogs back up to monarch lake the next day.

A large boiler out in the woods, wonder how it got there...
We had a great time seeing everyone in Colorado and were sad to leave their warm sunny state. When we got back to Alaska it was -20 and had snowed a few more feet. We made it down to girdwood the next weekend to stay at Ben's cabin and ski Alyeska.

Alyeska, unlike Colorado, had a 400 inch base and continued to get pounded while we were there.

Katherine and Kristen enjoying the snow.

Nate's beard thoroughly iced.

Alyeska offers night skiing on it's main trails.

We had lots of fun even though a pipe burst at the cabin while we were staying there and we had to deal with that situation in a panic.

Driving into Wasilla on a very cold clear day.