Valdez Winter(ish) Trip

President's Day was a long weekend, so Jess and our friends Jeff and Brittany decided to get together for a trip to Valdez.  The big hope was that Valdez would get dumped with snow and we'd do some amazing powder skiing.  The reality was that Valdez got 90+ mph winds, so all the snow was scoured from the mountains.  We made the most of it, though, and Valdez is still beautiful, even with wind-scoured insanity.


The slow-ski trails in town were in good shape, so we spent some time on skinny skis.


In winter, the lake at the base of the Valdez Glacier freezes over, so you can walk out to check out the glacier.


I don't know if huge masses of ice like that will ever stop being incredible to me.


The Valdez Ice Fest was happening that weekend.  The day Jeff and I tried to find some snow Jess and Brittany took part in a women's ice climbing clinic.  Jess seemed to really like it.


Our last couple of days in Valdez we skied out to go camping in the mountains.  Though the visibility wasn't great, it was still nice to be out and sleeping in a tent.


The weather was actually quite warm for winter camping - one of the few times when it was enjoyable to sit in the camp kitchen and just hang out.


The ski out got a bit tough - we were rained on almost the whole way out.  Still, it was great to be around the mountains.