Tailgate Alaska: How About a Drink?

Mmm beer, I do feel welcome

The wi-fi is shaky around here, as is my computer. It doesn't like the cold. Never mind that, welcome to Tailgate Alaska. The worlds only snowboarding tailgate party. Probably. Saturday and Sunday were down days, as in the heli didn't fly and we sat around waiting. Here's a taste of what that feels like.

My group getting our heli briefing. Stand there: stay alive.

After the heli briefing was a quick avalanche beacon search test. Pretty basic for anyone who has used a beacon before. Similar for those who haven't. I'm sure you could teach a monkey to find a beacon. Those things are so good these days. You could almost use them blind and just go by the different sounds.

Sunday was the day I was scheduled to fly. No love from the weather. Everyone set for Saturday got rolled over and, well, it didn't matter, we all got some patience practice.

The Alaska Backcountry Adventures 'campus'

The most treacherous line I saw all day

The 'Dirty North' cave. He claims he stayed comfortable.

Venture Snowboards knows how to store a box of wine

My home away from home

Some digs had significantly better production

Sessioning a spine hip to pass the time

End of the day party

End of the party bonfire, going out to all who came before us and left too soon.

There you have it, the day you hope you never have to endure. The down day. The bitch of it is, you can never stray too far. Leave early and you risk losing the heli-skiing time you've payed your left foot for. right now for example, the weather looks like it might be breaking. Time to go check in again...