Stick a fork in the 2009 US Alpine Nationals

www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php

www.skiracing.com/index.php

Everyone tried as much as humanly possible to overcome the snow, avalanches, and fog, but volcanic ash is another matter altogether. Even at my house in South Anchorage the snow is completely grey. Brush the surface and you see the white. Not pretty.

Now I just hope the athletes and staff can get home in a timely manner. Redoubt has popped off twice in the last 5 hours. I live a couple miles from the Anchorage Airport, and I'm willing to bet they're shut down.

I was skiing at a ski bump north of town with my daughter and hadn't heard anything until I literally drove into what looked like a mild sandstorm a mile or so from my house. Guess I'll be changing the air filter and oil in the next couple days.

Well, maybe I spoke too soon. The resort is expecting 8" of new snow overnight, enough to cover and neutralize the ash on the ground. They're still telling volunteers to show up for the tech events, so there may be more racing. We'll see. I'm going to see how bad the ski bump I skied today is tomorrow morning. If it's shot, I'm going to start applying the storage wax and storing the gear for next year. No need to ruin good skis. Volcanic ash is nasty stuff.

I've been speaking to some friends who are there. Travel in and out seems to be a challenge. I've heard of athletes being stuck in Seattle for three+ days, and then arriving with none of their skis. Not having every been near volcanic ash, I wasn't aware of how abrasive it eveidently is. It was described to me as skiing on sandpaper. I also heard that yesterday the ash cloud was right over Alyeska as the last guys were running the DH. Skiers are concerned with ruining their skis, techs are "challenged". Sounds awful. Not amount of planning could forsee this. Won't any fresh surface be covered in the ash? I'm sitting here bitching about a refrozen crappy snow surface, and rain that meant for a lousy morning. Guess I need a reality check!

The new snow will help a lot, but I imagine that they'll be getting down to the ash layer pretty quickly. The ash stopped falling last night before the snow, so it will be covered by about 5"-7" of heavy, wet snow. North Anchorage got hit a lot less severely, so that's where I'm headed. My season was pretty much over anyway, so I'm not all that upset about it. I'm hoping that the road biking season doesn't get ruined by the dust.

Volcanic ash is a lot like fine sand. I'm going to be skiing my early season rock skis that need a base grind anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muleski 

 

Not having every been near volcanic ash, I wasn't aware of how abrasive it eveidently is. It was described to me as skiing on sandpaper. 

Check this out - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_9

This is sad stuff.  My good friends sister qualified for nationals a couple of weeks ago, but flights were cancelled due to the ash & it doesn't look like she's able to get there.  Hopefully next year will be better for her.

JF

The hill I skied today was not hit nearly as hard as Alyeska, and they groomed the slopes white. It was the last day of the season for them, so they were running a Slush Cup. Only 4 people had signed up, so they convinced me to do it. I'd done it successfully 8 times previously. I was on my slaloms and race boots, and didn't really want to dunk them, so I picked out some longer rentals off the rack. Getting over to the start I knew I was in trouble, as I couldn't glide at all. Halfway down the hill I knew I was going in, as I was in a tuck and barely going over 20 MPH. The combination of the ash and the lack of wax on the skis did me in. I made it 3/4 across and then ran out of gas. Man, that was cold. A guy grabbed the rentals I was using and made it about 1/2 way. It really was the skis. The only person that made it across (on her second try) was using powder boards and had bathed them in Rain-X. Not exactly high tech, but effective. Even then, she was sinking fast.

On the upside, I didn't have to worry about my daughter skiing too fast. The bridles were pretty slack even on the steepest parts. Now I just have to clean the ash off of the skis before they're ruined.

Base grind is right.  Check out this pic:

http://www.adn.com/photos/environment/volcanoes/story/672347.html?/1521/gallery/672348-a739991-t3.html

Bummer.