Skiing and Sailing in Alaska’s Prince William Sound

The Shifty Ones tackle a 'sea to ski' adventure

I’m not sure where the idea originated, but it definitely came from Ken. Or maybe Matthew… Or both! Whatever the case, for several years a sailing and skiing adventure in Alaska has been on the docket and I was thrilled to be invited to come along.

Sanesh and I first met Ken Legg on our 2023 paddle to Alaska. He had been planning a solo paddle of the inside passage and left Victoria a few days after us. He caught up with us on Wallace Island and, after paddling on-and-off as a trifecta for around 60 days, has been in touch ever since. When he suggested that we could join him on his sailboat (Luna Quest) for an expedition, we jumped at the opportunity.

The plan was fairly straightforward: spend 2 weeks sailing through Unangax and Alutiiq territory from the town of Valdez to Whittier, ski whenever and wherever we can, and have a grand adventure.

Actually, it was a bit more complicated than that... Ken and Matthew had brought up their boats (Luna Quest and Evergreen II) last summer and over-wintered them in Valdez. The two of them flew up a few days before us to get things ready for an adventure with crew 1 (the Shifty Ones) and would be picking up two more crews after us for a total of six weeks of sailing and skiing followed by another six weeks to sail the boats back home.

On the morning of March 31st, I loaded my ski bag and duffel into an Uber and headed to the Victoria Airport where I’d start the next 24 hours flying to Seattle, then to Anchorage, then to Valdez. I met up with Ian, Felix, and Frank at the Anchorage airport, but saw no signs of Sanesh. It turns out he had been having a travel nightmare! His bags were delayed so he had been scrambling around Vancouver Airport to retrieve them only to find out his flights to Alaska were bumped (then abruptly cancelled). In the end, he decided to cut his losses and spend the time having an adventure of his own in Southern BC.

By midday on April 1st, the team was together at last on dock C at the Valdez Marina - Ken, Matthew, Ian, Felix, Frank, and me (Nathan). Frank and I joined Ken on Luna Quest and Felix, Ian, and Matthew would crew Evergreen II. We spent the rest of the day going through equipment checklists on the boats and provisioning for 14-days of food at the local Safeway.

On the 2nd and 3rd, we rented an SUV and went ski touring in Thompson Pass. (video recap here!) The conditions were fantastic, with hot, sunny weather and enough snow to make turns down the 800m slope of Girl Mountain on the first day and Diamond Mountain Shoulder on the second. We discovered that this area of Alaska had received about 150” (3.8 meters) less snow than usual, and it was quickly melting under the warm April sun. This made us concerned about the conditions we might encounter for the rest of the trip, but with rain forecasted for Valdez, we decided to venture out and hope for snow.

We set sail mid-morning on April 4th and made our way out of Valdez Arm and into Growler Bay on Glacier Island. We had a lovely tailwind so sailed for a good chunk of the journey and managed to pick up a few chinks of iceberg (technically called bergy-bits) for our evening gin and tonics. Rain and wind was in the forecast for the following day so we prepared for a ‘boat day’ of drinking coffee and reading.

On the 6th, we motored towards the Columbia Glacier to check out the Ice. We spent the morning exploring then sailed to Long Bay, made anchor, and spent the afternoon wandering the river delta. I found a small beaver skull in the moss and flew the drone over the melting snow. At this point our hopes were low for a ‘ski from the sea’ adventure, but we decided to head back to Growler Bay in the morning and see what kind of slopes we could find.

Our first sea-level tour was quite an adventure! We had about 50m of kelp to cross before reaching snow then a short-but-steep creek to climb before we reached tour-able snow. From there it was less than an hour before we reached the unnamed summit on the East arm of Glacier Island where we had lunch, made a few phone calls, and transitioned our equipment. A few dozen soupy turns later, we were back at the mossy creek where a few expertly executed jump turns and steps through the devil’s club brought us back to the dinghys. We loaded back onto the big boats and sailed to Granite Bay for the night.

On the 8th, we traveled by motor (and sailed a little) from Granite Bay to the Cabin at Paulson Bay. This was our longest day of travel, and we anchored in the bay just in time for an evening charcuterie snack in the cabin and dinner on the boat. With strong winds arriving and more swell bumping our boats than was comfortable, we chose to relocate to Three Finger Cove for the night, arriving around 9pm with plenty of daylight remaining!

The following day we awoke to clear skies and sun! We loaded into the dinghys and set out on a beautiful tour of the slope just North of our anchorage. We experienced every weather imaginable over the course of the day - sun, wet sleet, strong wind, thick cloud. We covered roughly 10km and skied nearly 850m of terrain. “That counts” was the motto from Matthew as we reached the summit and realized that this might be as close as we would get to a ‘sea to ski’ adventure given the snowpack. By the end of our two laps of the ridge we returned to the boats with the expectation of a night of heavy rain or sleet.

Instead of rain and sleet, we got snow! Lots of snow! Overnight, nearly 20 cm had fallen and there was no sign that it was slowing. The ocean was cold enough that snow had begun to accumulate on the surface and freeze into thick blocks around the anchored boats. We spent the morning shovelling the decks and were eager to get out for a tour. After ‘icebreaking’ our way to shore we set off on the wettest tour of my life up the ridge South of our anchorage. We broke trail through heavy knee-deep powder, climbed our way up the mossy cliff separating the water from the slope, and ate a quick lunch in a blizzard so thick we couldn’t see more than 10 meters away. It was awesome! By the time we transitioned to the ski down, we were all soaked to the bone but giggling uncontrollably.

On the morning of April 11th, we broke the sailboats free from their icy shackles and sailed to Goose Bay on Culross Island. We poked our noses into Wells Passage and found ourselves tacking upwind in 30 knots of wind. I was at the helm for a portion during this ordeal and used everything in my power to keep from soiling my rain pants. At the entrance to Goose Bay we deployed Frank and Ian in the dinghys to act as ice breakers and keep the sailboat engine intakes from being plugged with ice. Once anchored, we set off on an exploratory ski tour of the area. On this short afternoon ski tour, we visited the Forest service cabin at Goose Bay and dug our first pit to test the stability of the snow. The new snow was surprisingly well bonded to the lower layers, but very saturated with moisture.

The following morning we set out on a tour of peaks to the East of the bay. We had clear skies and good visibility on the way up to the col, but found ourselves in a full whiteout blizzard shortly after lunch so decided to turn back. The ski out was an adventurous combination of heavy turns, cliffing-out, crossing creeks, and bushwhacking through devil’s club. Truly an ‘everything’ day! We returned to the boats exhausted and decided to make our way to Whittier in the morning.

We motored to Whittier relatively quickly and arrived in the early afternoon. Low clouds and sleet hampered our visibility so we had no idea what kind of Fjord we had entered until the following morning. We awoke to clear blue skies and decided to take advantage by walking to the outskirts of town and going for a tour on the ridge overlooking the Brines Glacier. in the clear morning, we were in awe of the tight ring of brilliantly white peaks that surrounds the town. We hiked past the abandoned military barracks that haunt the town and skied up a service road then onto the ridge. Once again, just as we wet up for lunch, the clouds blew in and we found ourselves in a world of white. We decided to feel our way down the slope and returned to town in the early afternoon. Our last night together was spent at the Anchor Inn Pub playing pool and reminiscing about the adventure we’d just completed. Eight ski days, four sailing days, two motoring days, floating icebergs, brilliant sunshine, bone-chilling cold, incredible snowfall - and all of this with only 2 fleeting glimpses of anyone else in Prince William Sound.

On the morning of April 15th Ian, Frank, Felix and I crammed into the rental van with all of our skis and gear for a drive back to Anchorage. We passed the van keys to the five members of ‘crew 2’ at the airport and exchanged some quick words of wisdom. Late that night I boarded the plane headed back South.

For a look at our GPS track, follow this link. (I’ll be using the live-tracker for more trips over the summer so stay tuned!)

Thanks for following along,

Nathan