Alyeska is closed. Kincaid Park is urging people to stay off snow-bereft trails. Hilltop is slushy. Turnagain Pass is fraught with avalanche danger and closed to snowmachines. City lakes aren't safe for skating.
Having a fun Thanksgiving weekend?
The holiday so often associated with kicking off the winter outdoors season has brought windy, rainy and warm weather. Alpine skiers, nordic skiers, snowmachiners and skaters all have something to complain about.
"In a word -- YUCK," is the message from the Nordic Ski Association of Anchorage's Web site, which begs skiers to stay off their skis: "Please do not ski on this wet slush until the weather changes. Save our thin base -- give it time to freeze up again."
Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood, knee-deep in both powder and skiers just a week ago, won't open at all this weekend.
The top of the mountain was averaging about 3 inches of wet, heavy snow per hour Friday afternoon while the base was being pounded by rain. The avalanche danger is too great to take chances with, marketing director Jason Lott said.
"It's just too much heavy precipitation," he said. "You add all that water onto an already existing snowpack, and we just need to shut the operation down."
Similar concerns closed the resort on Thursday and Friday. The plan is to open again next weekend, and maybe even earlier if temperatures drop and things stabilize, Lott said.
Avalanche danger, fueled by strong winds and gusts over 100 mph, is keeping the Chugach National Forest closed to motorized use, and backcountry skiers are advised to stay away too.
Matt Murphy's Friday morning recorded weather report from the Turnagain Pass area was grim: In the previous 48 hours, about 19 inches of snow had melted at 1,800 feet.
"Sunburst recorded the strongest winds I've ever seen at this weather station," said Murphy, of the Chugach National Forest avalanche information center. Thursday brought winds ranging from 40 to 70 mph, with four gusts topping 100 mph, including one that measured 123 mph.
The storm brought rain, and lots of it, to Portage and Whittier, both of which have seen about 18 inches since Sunday. It's so wet, the National Weather Service issued small-stream flood advisories for Friday.
To the north, there were reports of rain at Nancy Lake, which remains closed to snowmachines.
In fact, snowmachiners have few to no options on either side of Anchorage, said Brad Helwig, manager of Anchorage Suzuki/Arctic Cat.
"It's either wet, or there's no snow," he said. "Petersville's OK, but you've got to go about 20 miles in."
In Anchorage, about the only place doing winter business as usual is Hilltop Ski Area, although the wind, the rain and the warmth have made conditions there slushy.
Alpenglow at Arctic Valley isn't getting rain -- it's at elevation -- but it needs another foot of snow before it can open for alpine skiing. "Plan on one or two weeks," said Jen Gordon of the Anchorage Ski Club.
As for cross-country skiing around Hilltop, people are advised to find something else to do. Rain and wind are making a mess out of the trails there and everywhere else in town.
The best bet for nordic skiers is to head to Hatcher Pass, where a 7.1-kilometer out-and-back classical trail has been set on Archangel Road.
"Great skiing," raved groomer Ed Strabel.
Find Beth Bragg online at adn.com/contact/bbragg or call 257-4309.
