Kal's Knoya Ridge Run

As I warmed up near the starting line I tried to remember the last running race I did. It was the Autumn Classic in Nampa, Idaho way back in 1987. Hmmm… 25 years. That's a while. I've certainly done plenty of racing since then but always on a bike or, more recently, on rando skis. Now, with my recent move to Alaska and a new love for mountain running, I decided to toe the line in the first trail running event of the year, Kal's Knoya Ridge Run last Thursday evening.

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Welcome to Alaska

Cumulus Peak, Chugach Mountains, AKI traveled to Alaska following the biggest winter on record and arrived at the start of an uncommonly long period of settled weather. This allowed me to sample some of the close to town skiing in an attempt to ease some of my regret about leaving Jackson. It's been a hard transition. 

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Changing Seasons, Changing Focus

Penguin Peak from Bird RidgeThe weather warms, the snow softens and melts and attention turns to the next objective. There's still skiing to be done here in Alaska but I have to drive a little farther to find reasonable conditions. So, the after work agenda changes and mine turns to running. 

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The Essential Ski Crampon

No one would accuse me of being an inexperienced ski mountaineer but, like one, for some reason I have never owned a pair of ski crampons. Until this season, I was always watching my friends scurry along with them while I booted with crampons. If it was super firm, the difference in speed was marginal but if it was punchy I was dropped quickly. In spring their utility is undeniable when skinning up smooth, frozen corn and glazed skin tracks. But even in winter on wind swept passes and ridges, ski crampons take a terrifying, precarious moment and reduce it to pleasurable. They add a level of security and increase travel efficiency to a degree that is staggering.

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Western Chugach Sampler

North Face, O'Malley PeakWhen I made the heavy decision to move to Alaska, I did so with significant anxiety since I was turning my back on the best ski mountaineering in the lower 48. What would I find in Anchorage? As most skiers know, there are few towns in the U.S. that have the kind of access we have in the Tetons. So, it was a great relief to get to Alaska and discover I need not worry.

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