Total Crud & Purple Nurple | Anchorage Avalanche Center – Alaska Backcountry Ski Guide & Avalanche Education Provider for the Chugach Mountain Institute

The old Tsaina Lodge:

I never went there, but it seems to hold a cherished spot in the history of big mountain skiing. It was featured prominently in TGR’s “The Dream Factory,” a ski porno that I attribute to having a significant impact on the backcountry ski scene in Southcentral Alaska. The increase in both yuppie and dirtbag skier migration to Southcentral Alaska seemed unprecedented following the release of this film. Combined with the release of Alaska’s first substantial skiing guidebook and Alaska’s all-time 2011-12 snow season, there was a trifecta of motivation for this youthful migration. The following year I saw for the first time random people at venues that for years prior only saw skiers that I’d known personally from the local community, as the guidebook gave away “secrets” and eliminated the “initiation process” gaining access to many previously lesser known areas had once required. The traffic at trailheads exploded, and was almost unbelievable.

But, back to the old Tsaina Lodge. Again, I’d never been there – but it seemed like a more low-key and truly Alaskan establishment. I can’t say the same thing about the new Tsaina Lodge:

I have a friend that refers to it as the “billionaire’s paradise.” Combine that with the swank you can assess from seeing just this one photo, and it’s obvious the place has become increasingly un-Alaskan (in the sense that to be “Alaskan” means to be down-to-Earth, real, and unpretentious). I’ve heard other stories too, that not only debase the reputation of the historical Tsaina Lodge, but stain the majesty of the Central Chugach where this new atrocity stands.

During late March of 2019 I had friends briefly visit the place, mainly to use their WiFi as there’s no cell service in the area. They reported that the lodge had recently flown in strippers all the way from New York for their 1% clientele. They also reported sights otherwise unseen in Alaska: waitresses scandalously dressed in a risque fashion unheard of in Alaska (obviously to appeal to their debaucherous male clientele). A former female employee reported such waitresses sleeping with clients, as if the place had become a high-class brothel. The new business model, with more integration between Valdez Heli Ski Guides and the Tsaina Lodge, has seen the outfit transition to an exclusive club that (in their own words) provides a “Super Private experience.”

Then there’s the guides themselves. They portray themselves as great and experienced outdoors(wo)men who love the land, touting credentials like AMGA/IFMGA guide and American Avalanche Association professional member status. Yet, they seem to be the most notorious operation in the Valdez to Thompson Pass area in terms of thieving the area’s greatest commodity (it’s easily accessible, steep, powder slopes) from locals and non-commercial visitors alike. They are a heli-ski operation, but they regularly harvest all the best “road runs” – the equivalent of the roadside classics at Turnagain Pass such as Sunburst, Tincan, and Magnum; or Marmot and Micrdot at Hatcher Pass. These points alone make for an irreconcilable contrast.

But this is just the surface evidence of these guides’, their employer’s, and this establishment’s (new Tsaina Lodge/VHSG) complete disregard for moral and ethical being. Not only does this operation practice a disturbing form of profiteering from Alaska’s public land resource of the Thompson Pass area Central Chugach Mountains (stealing powder the State offers freely to all from relatively poor locals and non-commercial visitors and selling it to the rich at grossly inflated prices), they’re notorious for negative interactions with both motorized and non-motorized public land users of the non-commercial variety.

It think it’s absurd that this conflict even exists. After all, they have helicopters! Why are they even skiing roadside runs that can be accessed in 1-2 hours by a fit party with alpine touring gear alone and no motors whatsoever? I’ve heard numerous stories of them sluffing parties off mountains by landing above and dropping in on them. Get that? Dropping in on human powered parties booting up couloirs that anyone with common decency (even if they support such heli ski operations) would acknowledge as first come first served. Supposedly an AMGA ski mountaineering course was once a victim of such an atrocity!

I’ve been a victim more than once. More than once have I been buzzed, and “heli-harassed,” by VHSG birds. Fortunately, they did not drop in above me. More often, I’ve gone back to ski runs EASILY accessible from the road via human power in about an hour to find the stacked ridges of Thompson Pass valleys tracked wall to wall – the equivalent of Turnagain Pass’ Taylor Creek valley (between Sunburst and Magnum) being tracked wall to wall.

Heli tracks were definitely prevalent on the day of this trip report, when I went back to summit and ski Total Crud (Peak 6140) and Purple Nurple (Peak 6682). Being near the beginning of a cycle of good stability, the valley between Crudbusters and Iguana Backs had not yet been totally annihilated by VHSG’s neoliberal pow farming practices. While a heli could land on the summit of Purple Nurple, a peak with over 1000′ of prominence, they had not yet skied the peak likely due to the hundreds of feet of 50*+ terrain. Thus, I got it fresh. Total Crud was not a worry as a heli can’t land on the small saddle below the summit, and I definitely didn’t have to worry about the summit itself being tagged as it requires fourth class climbing with axe and crampons. That said, smaller and lower angle terrain surrounding both of the big lines I climbed and descended were tracked up.

I share all of this with you because someday I want to see the Thompson Pass area Central Chugach Mountains get the respect they deserve. That respect entails a land use management plan that respects the experience of all visitors, and prioritizes lower impact and smaller carbon footprint human-powered use that is relatively sustainable and better for the health and wellbeing of individuals and the environment. A second priority would be responsible, non-commercial motorized use. The lowest priority should be high impact, carbon gluttonous, and profiteering ventures like Tsaina Lodge/VHSG.

There’s absolutely no justification for a heli-ski business operating in the road corridor, or in terrain reasonably accessible via human powered daytrips. I’d even go further as to say, since they have the power of a helicopter and charge so much money, that they shouldn’t operate anywhere commonly used by non-commercial motorized (i.e. snowmachine) users. The only “justification” for practices such as those employed by VHSG is greed.

It’s truly sad that the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources is so regressive in terms of the business practices they allow on public land they manage. We the People of the Great state of Alaska need to stand up and demand change. Change that will provide a better experience for everyone (heli-ski clients included, as they won’t be getting ripped off and served road runs but will actually get in some flight-seeing for the thousands of dollars they pay to the greedy likes of VHSG).

Terrain along this route is loaded with amazing NW facing lines, with the summit shots off Total Crud and Purple Nurple being the prizes. Both feature several hundred feet of 50*+, and many turns around 55*. The terrain along the route is VERY easily accessible from the road and is loaded with NW faces, chutes, and spines of smaller and lower angle stature of varying degrees. The very broad, lower northerly slopes of Crudbusters between 4500-2000′ is itself an amazing run of a much more relaxed nature.

The NW face of Total Crud (Peak 6140):