No Snow

In what continues to be a very dry and low-snow winter, a week of heavy rain has removed pretty much all the snow at sea level in this part of Southeast Alaska. The bare ground continues about 15-20 miles inland -- quite unprecedented for the middle of winter in Alaska. In contrast to our usually regular kiting on the local rivers and flats, we have had a total of about 4 kiteable days this winter!

Fortunately, up on the pass, the conditions are fine. We had a good session yesterday in stiff 20-25 mph winds with decent snow. Most of the snow was compacted powder which made for some good jumping and landing.

There's still a few months left of potential sea-level winter kiting, but I am not counting on much of a turnaround in this La Nina year, so we'll look forward to more fun up in the mountains.