Holy mole, guys! And on Tele's too? Too sweet.

Seriously, it's as if you've reached into my brain and extracted one of my favorite daydreams.

Zzz wrote:What is this? Some sort of 170 party???

Definitely a party. Dress code not so important. Keep on bringing it guys!

denalipilot wrote:Fixed the title for the folks who thought they were on BackcountryPacking.org.

Thanks to Zen and Dutch for joining in. Looks like you guys are getting after it! Sure is nice right now. We found very stable snowpack on northern aspects. What are you guys finding?

-DP

I am still very novice in the back country ski arena but I can say that the snowpack in the Chugach this year has been a whole lot better than previous years. Another storm is in progress and should leave us with 6" to 14" of fresh powder out there. Definitely going to keep the ski's on the airplane for a while.

Another shot of 170s in the mountains, this one is Eagle Glacier near the Nordic training center. We also flew the Alaska Range from Triumverate Glacier up around Mt. Spurr; saw one ERA heli and downhill ski tracks everywhere. Someone is having some serious fun out there.

Well, maybe no photo posted tonight, look at my gallery if you are curious.

BeeMan-

I took the liberty of putting your pic in the thread, hope you don't mind. Double points for double 170s.

I bet that landing was like slipping into a featherbed.

-DP

Thanks DP! We had a med-stiff breeze blowing down the glacier, which made landing a treat but taxi turn and downwind takeoff a bit more interesting.

Dp, where you based out of? I fly a 185 out of birchwood and would love to come play! On fluidyne 3600 wheel skiis. Don't have teles, but got some decent fat downhill skiis. Drop me a line!

More pictures from today- will post as soon as Zane releases the photo gallery from purgatory.

About a foot of fresh Pow, but a little more set up than last week. Skied some north and south-facing aspects around 7K. All stable. This run of weather is incredible.

Sorry not to drag Zenpilot along today. Tried, but he must be more responsible than I am.

-DP

DP, use Imgur.com for now. The gallery is going to be down for a while.

Yur killin' me Smalls!

But, you're probably glad I didn't have to get the work rig out to visit your area in any case.

Trying to get out tomorrow.

Truly living the dream up there, these photos are the type that make people quit their job sell everything (but a few sets of skis and an airplane) and move up North! Makes me miss my Stinson and ski flying a lot.

Think I know where to plan my next vacation......Keep up the good turns!

Mike

My co-pilot and I have been really enjoying the photos of 170's on skis! It's on my list for sure.
Are you guys running stock 0-300's, or the Lycoming?
Great airplanes, and a great life... Thanks!

Rhymes wrote:My co-pilot and I have been really enjoying the photos of 170's on skis! It's on my list for sure.
Are you guys running stock 0-300's, or the Lycoming?
Great airplanes, and a great life... Thanks!

Hi Rhymes,

I'm running a stock O-300 with a climb prop. It does ok, but it's functionally a two-place airplane for this kind of stuff. Having straight skis helps the flotation and keeps the weight and drag down. Yesterday I got to a point where I couldn't taxi any further uphill, but when I spun it around for downhill departure the performance was like taking off from a level field five thousand feet lower. It's neat to be climbing out and the VSI is still showing -400 fpm.

Thanks for sharing the stoke.

-DP

zenpilot wrote:Yur killin' me Smalls!

But, you're probably glad I didn't have to get the work rig out to visit your area in any case.

Trying to get out tomorrow.

Zen-

Looks like a great day for it.

And yeah, let's try to meet on pleasure, not business.

-DP

tblooma wrote:Dp, where you based out of? I fly a 185 out of birchwood and would love to come play! On fluidyne 3600 wheel skiis. Don't have teles, but got some decent fat downhill skiis. Drop me a line!

tblooma,

Your 185 would blow the doors off of my humble ride, but if you don't mind throttling down I'll keep it in mind. Looks like you guys will be getting a nice couple days down there. Hoping to see a few more photo contributions on this thread after this weekend!

Best,

-DP

Keep all the good photos coming!

Dp, I have NO problem throttling down! I usually run around with a 170b and a cub, I am used to throttling way back, and doing circles! Keep me in mind! My sched is all over the place. This week I only work tues, fri, and sat. Keep it in mind. This spring has been incredible for winter sports!

Ah man, you're killing me! Great pics of both types of skiing!

I was on a crane job last week right at the base of the 12K+ Lost River Range, and all day long I was eyeballing landing sites on the 8k level and above, where there is still plenty of snow. I took a picture of an area I plan to check out, but it was on my cell phone and not so good, so I plan to fly over and make a faux pass on the area (being on the Airstreaks and all). If it looks as good as it did from the crane, I'll hit it next winter, I'll see if I can get a picture as it's awesome country. Some of the best scenary in Idaho, plus the added benefit of NOT being in the Frank Church. More thinking on ski flying, even being back on the wheels: I have started work on my new ski ramp, no use putting it off! This one will be much wider