Peterson Creek

Thousands of feet above Girdwood, crenellated ridgelines encircle headwater glaciers that overlook Turnagain Arm. Near-vertical spines, bergshrund-guarded couloirs, and massive faces populate what would be a skiing fantasia. Except that it’s real, and less than an hour from Anchorage.

In the lean years, it is a wet, brushy schwack up Peterson or Kern Creek valleys from the Seward Highway. The trailheads are at sea level, and “trails” climb gradually at first through trees and brush that can be thick. However, when the snowpack descends to sea level, as it should, it opens an alpine playground in the high country where the Kern and Peterson headwaters converge. The shortest route to good skiing is up Peterson Creek. Pay attention to your map driving south from Girdwood, crossing Kern Creek on the highway and then parking near Peterson Creek alongside the road. In good conditions, a skin track leads through sparse brush, and then parallels the creek as it winds slowly uphill.

The valley closes in quickly, pushing the trail right up next to, and sometimes on top of, Peterson Creek. This is where it may range from miserable to impassible with inadequate snow. Several feet of snow in the valley, however, will provide enough snow bridges and brush coverage to continue skinning upstream, crossing the stream from time to time. One landmark is a significant tributary that comes in from the right, a massive terrain trap that sometimes funnels avalanche debris from slides that originate on the Peterson headwall thousands of feet higher. This creek, and the piles of chunky snow dozens of feet high, are a reminder that skiers should avoid Peterson Creek except when the snowpack is stable.

Managing avalanche risk in Peterson and Kern Creeks feels even more urgent than than in Turnagain, since access passes through terrain traps with massive avalanche-prone slopes above. While the Chugach National Forest Information Center team (cnfaic.org) visits this area occasionally and attempts to include information on conditions around Girdwood, there are fewer observations and generally less detail than for Turnagain Pass. Since Turnagain and Girdwood can experience substantially different snowfall totals, and different wind conditions, visitors to Peterson and Kern Creeks should feel comfortable assessing avalanche conditions on their own.

After what may seem like an eternity of bushwhacking, the valley opens up and the a pass connecting Kern and Peterson valleys beckons on the skyline. The safest route up is to follow a sub-ridge up the hill that protrudes in the middle of the valley, avoiding more terrain traps by steep slopes on either side. Once you have surmounted this hill, the pass is clearly evident a short distance ahead, as is the majestic Peterson Creek headwall glacier.

Skinning up toward the pass, skiers may be overwhelmed by all the options: Couloirs, spines, mellow glacier runs, open faces. Some require glacier gear to navigate small crevasse fields and bergshrunds; others are off the ice, do not. Some west-facing lines on the headwall, which descend to a high bench on Blueberry Hill, are barely visible, if at all, from the standard skin track up the valley. Others, such as the southwest face of Low Bush peak, which terminates in the pocket glacier headwaters of Kern Creek, are an obvious target. The ridgeline between Kern and Peterson has numerous north-facing lines, from short pitches down to the pocket glacier to nearly 2,000 foot runs above Kern Creek. Skin out the ridgeline heading west to check out these options. There are also lovely south faces dropping back down to Peterson Creek. In addition to a wide variety of ski lines in the creeks’ headwaters, this area creates traverse options. The pass to the west of High Bush Peak drops down to Winner Creek, and a possible tour back to Girdwood.

With ski lines on nearly all aspects, and some areas being more sheltered from gap winds than others, it may be possible to find undisturbed powder even when winds have been blowing up and down Turnagain Arm, and sun has been baking south faces. However, keep in mind that the last runs of the day will require skiing down or skiing under large south faces, so be cognizant of solar warming’s impact on avalanche-prone slopes.

With snow-draped headwalls, hanging glaciers, steep couloirs, and imposing faces, Peterson and Kern Creek’s high country is a wonderland for backcountry skiers. Who knows how many more years it will snow enough to provide access from sea level, so take advantage of it while the snowpack reaches to waterline.