On the first day of 2025, we had much to celebrate. Bill Husby, SCUM groomer and classical skier par excellence, was back from his medical tests and consultations in Seattle. We missed his spirit and his quality grooming. In his honor, one of the other groomers had packed and tracked the North and South Classical only trails yesterday.

So after skiing the Tower and Medevac on firm PistenBully tracks, we headed out the White Bear to the helicopter trails on Fort Wainwright off the Sonot Connector. With 46 inches of snow this winter at the airport. where the snow depth currently is 22 inches, we are not suffering from the snow drought that Anchorage currently has. Birch Hill has received more snow and retained more of what has fallen than the airport so even though the Blackhawk trail had been packed and groomed several times this winter, the tracks and pole line was still pretty soft.

Being a wily skier, Bill chose not to lead us on the Blackhawk trail. Instead, Mike Mathers was voted that honor. Former firefighter, Mike was so much faster than the rest of the SCUM that we only saw the evidence of his headfirst tumble: the divot in the snow at the side of the trail and his snow-covered hat:

It was a magical ski, and we enjoyed the sunrise in route:

Happy New Year!