Okay, here`s the trip report for Hatcher`s pass in the Talkeetna Range north of the Matinuska Valley. We left Anchorage around 10:30 AM and headed out the Glen Highway to meet up with a friend from Wasilla Alaska. The temperature in Anchorage was 17 below and in Palmer it dropped to 26 below. but is was a glorious blue bird day out. We saw a lot of wrecks heading out of town as a result of black ice from the ice fog that developed overnight because of the cold. At noon we met up with out local guide and scoped out the road accessible runs and got dropped off for our warm up run through the willows. These runs are short, but offer some really interesting undulating topography to challenge your riding skills.

The second drop was a pain in the ass because we had to swim through some chest deep pow in a willow thicket to get to the open hillside. After this run, we decided to go to the top and hike the mountain where there was fresh untracked Alaskan pow to hit. The nice thing was this was the sunny side of the hill and even though it was -14 up here, I was able to hike without a jacket. I made it up to a small bench that was about halfway to the summit and made the drop. The snow was kind of a "styrofoam" like consistency and was wind loaded. The ride down was "orgasmic" like cutting through fine silk and this was probably the best run I got the entire trip. I ate shit really good when I hit a sled track and caught the nose of the board in the pow.

We did one more run about a mile long down to the lower road turnout. This was a great run, but was very icy and tracked out. Lots of fun little bumps to catch small air off of, but also quite a few exposed rocks to watch out for. It was a great day and I feel fortunate to have gotten to ride at this local backcountry playground. I can`t thank "In search of I" enough for taking the time to act as my local guide. I want to hit this place up proper next year with a sled.

More gorgeous photo's...looks like a lot of 'biler's ride the area...need to stick your thumb out!

ooh, those even look cold

nice pics, thanks for the contribution