Author: Alex Lee

The Road to Race Day

The Road to Race Day

Written by | Jan 22, 2024

I moved to Colorado in 2010. I was invincible, as all boys in their 20s are. When a friend asked if I would do the Grand Traverse with him, I said sure without having any real sense of what I’d signed up for. K2 Coombacks and a 4-buckle boot worked great skiing couloirs in Rocky Mountain National Park, so I figured they’d surely be fine… I left Crested Butte a ski mountaineer, 40 miles later I skied into Aspen a rando racer.  Man did it hurt, but I was hooked. Skis got smaller, boots got lighter, eventually I found myself in spandex.

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The AK El Niño

The AK El Niño

Written by | Dec 12, 2023

A couple weeks back I wore running shoes on Chugach trails, went ice skating, and ignored the broken snow blower in my garage. It was, up to then, a relatively dry fall in the Chugach. 

Then it dumped three feet of snow in 36 hours. 

El Niño

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Rock Skis

Rock Skis

Written by | Nov 1, 2023

It smells like snow and I love rock skis. 

I fixed a broken boot buckle, ignored a missing skin tail, and freshened up the beacon batteries. Snow line In Alaska still requires a bit of a walk or even more of a drive. The point isn’t really the turns or the vert or the line. It’s about cold fingers and premature seasonality. When I was a kid, I used to wake up in the middle of the night before my birthday to see if midnight had arrived—Fall skiing relies on the same neuro-receptors. 

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A Slightly Masochistic Turnagain Pass Day Trip

A Slightly Masochistic Turnagain Pass Day Trip

Written by | Oct 4, 2023

Turnagain has a magical combination of cold northern air and a wet maritime climate in big mountain terrain. The Seward Highway cuts through the pass, dividing the non-motorized east side from the snowmo west side. Short approaches, steep peaks, and plenty of space make it among the best roadside touring destinations on the planet. Roger’s, of course, has better tree skiing, and Teton Pass has better sheep viewing, but Turnagain provides real-deal, full-on AK skiing just an hour south of Anchorage.

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Backcountry Skiing: Thoughts on Getting Started

Backcountry Skiing: Thoughts on Getting Started

Written by | Sep 25, 2023

Over the past decade, the backcountry boom has flooded trailheads, skin tracks, and gear shops alike with a deluge of enthusiasm from newcomers to ski touring. COVID amplified this but has been a long time coming. The sticker shock of a day pass at your local resort, slow and steady gear innovation and accessibility, ever increasing beta availability, and social media have all paved the way for more folks to get into the backcountry for the first time.

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