Part 3: O’Mally Circumnavigation – In a Day

This traverse had the potential of being as exciting or even more exciting than any of our day-long traverses this past winter. However, weather and snow conditions made us turn to plan B, which involved less traversing and more backtracking.

The original plan was to start from Glen Alps, skin up to the ridge between Hidden Peak and the Ramp, ski down into Williwaw Valley, ski down Williwaw Valley, skin up to Black Lake and then up to the Ball Field, and finally ski down Little O’Malley gulley and back to the car at Glen Alps.

Glen Alps to Hidden Lake

Conditions were okay as Kate, Lang, and I made our way up the Powerline Trail and out toward Hidden Lake. We made the classic mistake of heading into the trees too early and wandering through until we finally found a way out below the O’Malley ridge-line. As we got closer to the Hidden Lake area, the wind seemed to pick up and we became concerned about wind loading on the back side of the Ramp where we planned to ski down into Williwaw Valley. The day’s condition report wasn’t stellar to begin with, so we quickly began to discuss a plan B. We discussed climbing up Hidden Peak and just skiing back down before bailing to the car. We also discussed making our way up to the ridge-line and then looking for options to ski down on the other side to do an abbreviated version of our original plan. Conditions looked best for going up to the ridge on lower angle terrain, so we opted for that plan.

O’Malley Ridge

The wind continued to be pretty bad as we worked our way up to the ridge. Staying on the lowest angle path required taking off skis at some points to climb over rocks. Finally, midway up toward the ridge, the traversing became easier and we made a nice bee line toward the top. We popped out on the ridge right near the up track for the traditional O’Malley summer hiking trail. After some discussion on where to drop in, we walked a little to the Northeast. We huddled behind a boulder for a quick transition and then it was time to ski down.

The Ballfied

Lang went first, I went second, and Kate followed behind. To my surprise, the skiing was pretty fun and not as bullet proof as I expected. Once down to the Ballfied, the going was easy. Rather than skiing down Little O’Malley gulley we opted for the gulley on the other side, where we traversed out midway and then made our way to the Middlefork Trail.

Middlefork Trail

We ran into a solo skier on the Middlefork Trail and discussed how beautiful it was down on the trail and how terrible it was up high on the ridge. It was nice to finally be out of the wind. We made quick time trekking up the trail and back out to Glen Alps.

We ended up being out for a half day rather than our anticipated full day traverse. It was nice to appreciate the skiing closer to home, especially when conditions elsewhere weren’t very good either. Hopefully we can complete the full traverse next season.

2023 Winter Traverse Series:

If you missed Part 1 or Part 2 of Alaska Winter Traverses, make sure to check them out!