AK Part 2 Saunas, supermoons, shredding

The night I arrived in Girdwood, Bryan Gehring already had an adventurous scheme in mind. We went to the Baña (sp?), a little sauna built into a hillside in the forest. There was an old oil drum on its side through the front wall that served as a heat source. It had been built by some open-minded girdwood residents and was open for use by anyone. We spent a few minutes gathering firewood and stoked it up. A gurgling stream ran next to it, and we drew water from that in milk jugs with the tops chopped off for pouring on the

rocks atop the stove and on our own steamy bodies. A great welcome to the last frontier. That night was the supermoon, an extra large full moon -- rumor had it the moon was closer to the earth than it had been in 30 years, and its brilliance lent a mysterious and magical energy to the evening.

The next 2 days I spent working on my goggle tan at Alyeska mountain resort. Unfortunately, the area hadn't received any new snow for almost a month previous to my arrival, so conditions ranged from bulletproof ice to extremely crusty. Still, two days of snowboarding with beautiful clear skies and perfect visibility of the surrounding epic Alaskan peaks is nothing to complain about for any reason. I got a decent discount from Alyeska as well due to my part time 'employment' as a snowboard instructor at Baker. The terrain at Alyeska was awesome: steep, wide alpine bowls, exposed rock faces, crazy undulating gullies. I would love to ride there during a better snow season (this one was alyeska's worst on record). Still, ripping fast on wide, long smooth groomers is pretty fun. There's a beautiful freedom from thought that wraps your conscious mind like a mist when you're doing 40 mph on hard packed snow. Crashing or making a mistake is not, cannot be in your mind. You rely on the triple marriage between you, your board, in its constancy and the uniform, smooth surface of the snow. Existence takes on a surreality. Occasionally, when I feel and hear the sleeves of my jacket whipping in the wind, I am reminded of the speed at which I travel and the possible consequences of a bad wreck. I release these thoughts, for if I acknowledge them they will take on lives of their own and work to turn themselves into reality. slide back into unconsciousness.