Few mountain ranges deliver the terrain, the light snow and the mind-blowing skiing of Alaska. For thirty years, photographer Greg Von Doersten has documented skiing and snowboarding here - by foot, boat, airplane and helicopter - chasing the light, the fluted spines and the famously stable maritime snowpack. For Ski Mag, he opened his archives.
The photographs span the late 1980s in Valdez and the first airplane and heli-skiing ventures, through the Chilkat Mountains near Haines in the late 1990s, to present-day foot-powered expeditions and boat trips pushing deeper into the heart of Alaskan skiing. Several of them were taken in our backyard.
The Last Frontier
For most skiers and snowboarders, the first thing you see when you reach Thompson Pass is this: an impossible expanse of huge ramps and fluted peaks. To the novice it reveals everything the Last Frontier has to offer. To those who have seen these lines in magazines and movies, it offers the chance to finally test themselves against the fabled terrain.
The World Extreme Skiing Championships
Conceived by Mike Cozad, the visionary owner of the original Tsaina Lodge, the WESC was the first skiing competition of its kind - and it went on to define a new genre: big-mountain skiing. With Alaskan bush pilot Chuck McMahan, Cozad began running heli and plane skiing excursions from the lodge on Thompson Pass in the late 1980s. With a group of friends, they singlehandedly created the industry that thrives here today.
Paid in poker chips
The scene at Alaska Backcountry Adventures in 1989. Run by bush pilot Doug Brewer, the operation offered guided and unguided skiing to the intrepid few - who paid in poker chips for access to the terrain off Thompson Pass.
Vapor trails
A helicopter drops athletes from an unnamed peak, leaving snow vapor trails on its way down to the landing zone below Thompson Pass.
Doors off
Todd Jones, co-founder of Teton Gravity Research, captures a first descent by his brother - big-mountain snowboarder Jeremy Jones - during the filming of "Mind the Addiction". The Tyler Mount he is using, a stabilized platform for an Arriflex 16mm film camera, was state-of-the-art in 2001, when shooting doors-off was common practice.
Pontoon Peak
Kevin Quinn, Micah Black and Dan Treadway ski the steep 45-degree ridge of Pontoon Peak - one of the iconic lines of the Chugach - filming in Cordova with Warren Miller Entertainment.
Fluted spines
Jeremy Nobis descends one of the many fluted spines during an exploration of Haines in 2002. A former U.S. Ski Team member, Nobis redefined big-mountain skiing by opening steep terrain with high-speed GS turns - creating an entirely new style. TGR and its athletes were instrumental in pioneering the area in the late 1990s, and many of their first descents are still revered today.
The guides
The guides and pilots of Alaska had an enormous influence in opening this terrain to the public. One of the veterans of the game is our own Kirsten Kremer, who has been guiding consistently with Valdez Heli-Ski Guides for decades.
Pioneer
Shane McConkey helped shape Alaskan skiing with his hard-charging, aggressive style - here during the filming of "The Hedonist" for Matchstick Productions.
Dimond Peak couloirs
Last one to the bottom buys the rounds. Todd Ligare and Griffin Post ski the formidable Dimond Peak couloirs simultaneously during the filming of TGR’s "The Dream Factory". Mount Dimond is a coveted zone in the Chugach - and it sits in our backyard.
Full-speed descent
Gordy Peiffer attacks a large ramp in Valdez during the filming of TGR’s "Uprising".
Prince William Sound
Lynsey Dyer enjoys perfect corn and ocean views during an exploratory boat trip, skiing untapped lines in Prince William Sound - the same water you can see from the Valdez harbor.
Closing time
Greg Von Doersten takes in the view en route home after another epic day in the Chugach Mountains with Valdez Heli-Ski Guides.
Jackson, Wyoming-based photographer Greg Von Doersten has been an influential adventure photographer for longer than some readers have been skiing. He has traveled the world with top athletes and shot for National Geographic, Red Bull and NBC.
