Skiing the last frontier

Diane Christie

My friend Sue Jeffries, whom I met at St. Andrew’s Church, invited me

to go to Alaska with the Balboa Ski and Sport Club.

We were going to stay at the Alyeska Prince Hotel for four nights,

including lift tickets for skiing, and three nights at Hotel Captain

Cook in Anchorage to see the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race -- all for

$999. This seemed like an excellent bargain and place to meet new

people who want to have fun.

However, Sue, a member of the club since 1968, became very ill and

couldn’t attend, so I ended up going with 35 people I didn’t know.

We flew into [Ted Stevens] Anchorage International Airport and

took a 45-minute ride on the “Magic Bus” to the Alyeska Resort and

Alyeska Prince Hotel. This year, it was very warm, so it was raining

at the bottom, but there was a blizzard at the top of the mountain.

That excited all of us.

We all checked into our rooms and then rode the shuttle to a nice

restaurant and a local Alaskan pub, where the locals hang out, and a

trio plays dance music.

Due to the blizzard, I decided not to ski the next day. Instead,

several of us wandered into the small town and visited the jade shop

with all of its handmade goodies. That night, those who skied said it

was like skiing on ice marbles and that it was impossible to get an

edge.

The next day, the blizzard continued, so a group of us decided to

take a tour to Seward with Major Marine Tours, and we took a boat

called the View Finder to see Portage Lake and Portage Glacier. Along

the way, we counted all the sea lions in the coves to keep track of

their migration patterns. The weather was unusually beautiful, with

sunny skies and a nice, cool breeze. We saw an abundance of sea life,

including rafting sea otters, bald eagles, sea lions and their babies

and many birds.

Afterward, we visited Begich, Boggs Visitor Center and some gift

shops with locally made handcrafts. Because the weather was so

beautiful, I decided to ski the next day, and I took the Alyeska

tramway right from the lobby of the Alyeska Prince Hotel to the

middle of the mountain, where there’s a restaurant and view of the

entire resort and skiers. You can take lifts higher up the mountain

and watch all the other skiers go zooming by.

The hotel offers a beautiful lobby, with life-sized stuffed

animals and a huge indoor pool and spas for relaxing after a hard day

of skiing. You can ski down the hill right into the lobby! They have

shuttles to take you to town, restaurants or shopping, and there are

tours to take you to Kenai Fjords National Park and the Wild Animal

Zoo.

We reluctantly left this beautiful resort and headed by bus to the

Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, which overlooks the beautiful harbor

and is only one block from the start of the Iditarod race. We could

hardly wait to get out and see all the dogs and their owners. The

weather was unusually warm and the newspaper headlines said,

“Iditarod begins on slush and mush.”

City workers hauled snow in large dump trucks all night to make a

trail of snow for the ceremonial start of the race. The real race had

to start in Fairbanks, due to lack of snow. This was the first time

in history that this has happened. It was all very exciting to meet

the racers, and I was able to get my picture taken with previous

winner Martin Buser.

There are good reasons for the ceremonial start on Fourth Avenue,

most of them included in the race’s nearly $600,000 purse. Joe

Redington Sr. founded the Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race in

1967 and posted top-10 finishes up until age 72.

This was the 31st annual race, covering 1,200 miles, and we all

thoroughly enjoyed watching the excitement. Due to my adventuring out

alone, I met a wonderful, kind man. Bruce Elerding and I have been

dating every day for the past 16 months, which is another excellent

adventure in itself.

The Balboa Ski and Sport Club will celebrate its 50th anniversary

next year, and if anyone is interested in joining, you can call me at

(949) 673-3059.

* DIANE CHRISTIE is a resident of Newport Beach.