Fun!

It's been a long time since the last snowball fight. But there were three things stopping Phileas enjoy launching a few: cold hands, a timid wife and...the wrong type of snow! It was often just too good to clump together! I don't know how we managed.

Mrs Phileas was not always timid, she found it quite easy to fling herself out of a perfectly good sledge and get closely acquainted with the snow!

We drove up to Hatcher's Pass intending to stay for a short walk. Instead we were captivated by the valley views and sledging potential and so inquired as to acquiring a cabin. We had good hours on the slope, and even had it personally groomed for us. Coming to Alaska at this time has been brilliant for us - accommodation is empty (some of it even open!), it's cheaper (what can we say?!) and we have the place to ourselves.

"I'm the only tourist in the village"


Without running water and with a portaloo, the cabin at Hatcher's Pass was far from luxurious but try and find a more romantic setting.

Phileas didn't just push the boat out, he also went Dog Mushing. Great fun out in the wilderness, especially since Phileas got to ride the skis and drive the pack.



Those dogs sure like to run, and are much friendlier than White Fang. Have you ever seen a dog poop on the run? Phileas has a video if it's a sight you wish to behold. Fortunately it's not smello-vision.


No need for a reverse park on the frozen lake.

The two teams of dogs took us out for over two hours. The dogs managed to avoid all obstacles but the humans crashed three times. Great fun!

We concluded our snow activities with a short snowshoe walk, they being borrowed for the price of a name from the Science and Learning Center in Denali National Park. We could've gone to places where we needed them but we were content to make pretty patterns on another frozen lake!