Certified AMGA and IFMGA Guided Backcountry Ski Trips in Valdez and Thompson Pass, Alaska.
Alaska’s Chugach Mountains…THE big mountain skiing mecca ! No true big mountain skier or serious backcountry ski tourer can call themselves that without a trip to the place ‘that started it all’. Skiing here was pioneered by big mountain ski champion; IFMGA Mountain Guide; and all around ski ambassador, Doug Coombs in the mid 1990’s, and since then it has become a world-class ski destination for heli-skiers; backcountry skiers; snowmobile skiers; kite skiers; and any and all forms of skiing.
At Lotus Alpine Adventures, we’ve been exploring the ski lines on the glaciers and big peaks of this area since 2007, and have come to know the range well, and continue to make the annual pilgrimage back here year after year ever since. It is our single favorite place to guide skiing on the planet (so far), and every trip here just leaves us wanting more and longing to come back, and we think you’ll feel the same also!
There is a reason why the Thompson Pass Area outside Valdez, Alaska has become a pilgrimage of sorts for so many skiers and snowboarders. The incredible combination of phenomenal snow quality, amazing and inspiring mountainous and glaciated terrain, the unbelievable ease of access along the 20 mile road corridor, and the fact that it being true Alaskan wilderness means that there is a high likelihood of seeing the Northern Lights, eagles overhead, and bears, moose, and other big mammals here make it a truly special place and experience unlike no where else.
The areas big glaciated mountains offer all types of experiences for all different skill levels, though being an ‘advanced intermediate skier or rider’ and having the fitness to hike and ski/ride a minimum of 3,500′ of vertical a day are highly recommended to truly take advantage of all this trip has to offer. From low angle, long, smooth powdery glacier runs; to steep, rope accessed couloirs and spines for more advanced folks, this place has it all.
Couple all that with an AMGA/IFMGA Certified guide that has upwards of over 100 days of ski touring in this terrain; our unique access to get helicopter assisted ‘bumps’ or ‘one-drops’ to deeper, and harder to access terrain to ski and ride; and a lifetime of lines and descents to be had, its no wonder many of our previous guests here have returned with us year after year to this big mountain skiing mecca!
Join us on an all-inclusive package ski mountaineering program, or simply for a day or two of guided backcountry skiing. We guarantee, once you ski in Alaska, nothing will be the same again!
