Curtis Ciszek cruising a zone south of camp on day two. In the background is the “Camp Ramp,” which we rode on the first day in a whiteout. Words, Photos and Caption s Colin Wiseman “ T hat’s peak 7061. It’s the egress if we have to walk out,” Jason “Champ” Champion says over his headset. The pilot chimes in, “That’s a long way…” We are 10 minutes into our heli shuttle to a distant glacial snow camp somewhere north of Thompson Pass, AK. The idea of walking out seems laughable. “How far is it from the parking lot?” I ask. “Around 15 miles to the Tonsina Glacier where snowmobiles could get us—if you can maintain a straight line across the glaciers,” he replies. “At least we have a lot of cheese,” I say. As it turns out, we don’t have enough cheese. The forecast a week prior had been typical Alaska: mixed sun and cloud, possibly some blue, possibly some snow. Good enough for win-dow shopping, maybe a few high-quality days. Via two RVs and one fire truck, our crew—Austin Smith, Curtis Ciszek, Eric Jackson, Blair Ha-benicht, Liam Gallagher, Alex Pashley and me—arrived in Thompson Pass on the back end of a mid-April high-pressure system. In the Alaska Snowboard Guides’ (ASG) parking lot, crews from Japan, Tahoe, Wash-ington state and beyond assembled to live out their Chugach dreams. We’ve come for a slower experience than the typical heli program—a week on a glacier affectionately known as Champ Camp. THOMPSON PASS 071
The Snowboarder's Journal frequency 17.2: Page 71
