GIRDWOOD -- Signs of spring are popping up quickly all over this ski village.
Cars that were once trapped underneath heaps of snow along the Alyeska Highway are free.
Crow Creek Road, which was hammered with so much powder this winter that residents drove snowmachines instead of 4x4 vehicles, is now gravel travel.
And hungry brown and black bears are awake and have been spotted roaming resident porches in search of scraps.
But perhaps the most blatant sign for Girdwoodians was the buzz of nearly 100 snowmachines echoing off Mount Alyeska on Friday morning.
Souped-up snowmachines are taking over the mountain for a three-day event, turning Alyeska Resort into a sno-go haven and a skier's ghost town.
Snowmachiners from around the state are competing in the 10th annual Extreme Spring Weekend. It marks the season finale for the Alaska Motor Mushers Club and gives riders one last chance to earn bragging rights until next winter.
Friday's event -- the first of three days of action -- was a gnarly hill climb near the base of Chair 4, where just last month U.S. Olympian Bode Miller skied downhill in the Alpine National Championships.
"It's like a ski race," said Kent Harrington, an AMMC official. "There's a defined course and it's timed the same."
But there's one major difference.
"They're racing uphill instead of downhill," he said.
On Friday, riders revved their high horse-powered snowmachines to speeds near 60 mph, racing straight uphill for about a mile in fewer than 60 seconds.
The course ascended the Upper Race Trail in front of the Alyeska Day Lodge. It finished with a hair-raising vertical scale of a black diamond ski run called Don's Run near Chair 6.
One wrong move and a snowmachine could flip backwards, tumbling downhill like some kicked can before crashing into a cluster of spruce or alder.
Casual riders would call this insane. But for one Kenai rider, climbing mountains at high speeds is his escape from everyday life.
"It's my vacation," said John Wichman, a firefighter/paramedic.
Wichman finished his 24-hour shift at the City of Kenai Fire Department just a few hours before Friday's hill climb started.
Regardless of riding on little sleep, the 36-year-old made Alaska snowmachine history.
He won the King of the Hill title -- the day's final race pitting winners of three separate classes head-to-head to prove who was the best climber.
A week ago, Wichman won the Valdez Mountain Man Hill Climb along Thompson Pass for the second straight year.
Wichman said no other Alaska snowmachiner has ever won the Alyeska and Valdez hill climbs -- the only two snowmachine hill climb races in the state -- in the same year.
He's King of the Hills.
"It's awesome," Wichman said. "I've been racing hill climbs for the last 10 years and I seem to be getting better every year."
Wichman won Alyeska's King of the Hill race in 48.45 seconds, beating this year's Arctic Man champion, Tyson Johnson of Eagle River, by 1.34 seconds.
Matt Smelcer of Valdez finished third in 50.68, Stanley Hendrickson of Fairbanks placed fourth in 51.02 and Zach Johnstone followed in 51.47.
Johnstone, a 22-year-old Kenai rider, was pleased with his finish. This was his first snowmachine race of the season.
"I love high-mountain races," he said.
Daily News reporter Kevin Klott can be reached at kklott@adn.com or 257-4335.
Alaska Motor Mushers Club
10th Annual Alyeska Extreme Spring Weekend
Alyeska Resort
Friday's Winners
Stock
500 -- Matt Smelcer, Valdez, 52.96. 600 -- Bob Ziegler, Wasilla, 50.60. 700 -- Tyler Aklestad, Anchorage, 50.50. 800 -- John Wichman, Kenai, 49.25. 1,000 -- David Kane, Wasilla, 54.05.
Improved
500 -- Zach Johnstone, Kenai, 1:00:21. 600 -- Tyson Johnson, Eagle River, 50.70. 700 -- Wichman, Kenai, 49.45. 800 -- Wichman, Kenai, 48.34. 1,000 -- Stanley Hendrickson, Fairbanks, 53.32.
Modified
600 -- Smelcer, Valdez, 51.43. 700 -- Wichman, Kenai, 48.03. 800 -- Wichman, Kenai, 47.02. 1,000 -- Johnson, Eagle River, 48.84.
King of the Hill
1) John Wichman 48.45; 2) Tyson Johnson 49.89; 3) Matt Smelcer 50.68; 4) Stanley Hendrickson 51.02; 5) Zach Johnstone 51.47; 6) Bob Ziegler 52.67; 7) David Kane 53.42; 8) Tyler Aklestad 57.58.
Extreme weekend
WHAT: Alaska Motor Mushers Club 10th annual Alyeska Extreme Spring Weekend
WHERE: Alyeska Resort, Girdwood
EVENTS: Today, Hillcross Event, 11 a.m. (in front of Alyeska Day Lodge); Sunday, Snocross, 11 a.m. (in front of Sitzmark Bar and Grill)
COST: Free
