World Traveller 73 
Fifty Shades of Grey: Three Days of Skiing at Alyeska Ski Resort, Alaska, USA
It always been a long-standing item objective for me to get to Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood Alaska, USA. This trip has alluded me for quite some time as a result of the pandemic, and other international border closures. I’ve always wanted to visit in the spring, so that the trip is a little more bearable on the cold weather temperature scale. For many years this eluded me. However I finally got the opportunity to get up to Alyeska Ski Resort this spring. This post encapsulates the three days of our skiing experience.
This post is one chapter on a winter trip to Alaska, United States. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Alaska Mileage Plan and Hertz Gold Plus Rewards. For parts of the trip, please see this index.
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✈️ Read more from this trip:
- Trip Introduction: Skiing Aleyska, Alaskan Railroad and Dog Sledding in Alaska
- Springhill Suites Bellingham, Washington, USA
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Bellingham – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Anchorage
- My Experience as a Hertz President’s Circle renter in Anchorage, Alaska, USA
- Aloft Anchorage, Alaska, USA
- A Cold War Secret: Visiting Whittier, Alaska
- The Alyeska Hotel, Girdwood, Alaska, USA
- Three Days at Alyeska Mountain Resort, USA
- Marriott Anchorage Downtown, Alaska, USA
- The Alaska Railroad Aurora Winter Train: Anchorage – Fairbanks
- Springhill Suites Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
- Dog Sledding in Fairbanks with Rod’s Alaskan Guide Service, North Pole, USA
- Visiting the North Pole, Alaska
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Fairbanks – Anchorage
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Anchorage – Seattle
- Alaska Airlines First Class: Seattle – Bellingham
Fifty Shades of Grey: Three Days of Skiing at Alyeska Ski Resort, Girdwood, Alaska, United States of America
Alyeska Ski Resort has been on my list for quite some time. Located in the 49th state of Alaska, it is always eluded me from my regular trips to Vail Colorado and Park city Utah. When it finally came time to make the trip, I knew would be a moment I’d really enjoy.
About Alyeska Ski Resort:
There’s a few interesting things about Alyeska Ski Resort. It’s one of the few ski resorts in the world that start at sea level elevation. As a result of its northern latitude at 60° latitude above the equator, it has different hours of operation.
It has lifts that spin starting at 10 AM and closing at 5 PM. This is in contrast to regular ski resorts that typically open at nine and finish around 3:30 or 4 PM. I loved the late start because it meant you could sleep in every day, get a great breakfast before you go skiing, and then ride until your hearts content until the late afternoon.
The primary place to stay at Alyeska Ski Resort is The Hotel Alyeska. We took in a three night stay at this property which was a great base of operations for skiing in the area. If you’re not staying at the hotel Ali ask you’re probably located at one of the smaller Inzer motels located in Girdwood. You’ll have to take a car to get to and from the Hill.
Visiting Alyeska Ski Resort:
After basing ourselves at The Hotel Alyeska, we regularly hit up the tramway. The Alyeska Ski Resort tramway is attached to The Hotel Aleyska. This made it a really easy start to every ski day.
We never had any wait for the Alyeska Tramway, which usually ran every 10 minutes. One of the benefits of skiing at Alyeska Ski Resort is that there is not many day visitors. Although it’s close to Anchorage, Alyeska ski resort is mostly destinations based skiers. As a result we never had more than about 5 to 10 people in line ahead of us on any ski lift at any time during our visit..
As we ascended the Alyeska tramway, we got a great view of the valley. It was frequently gray and cloudy throughout our three days of skiing, which made for some challenging visibility. There were moments of clarity through the fog that allowed for some really picturesque views.
Once we arrived to the top of the tram way, it was time for a quick celebratory photograph. The top of the Alyeska tramway offers the bore tide Delhi and bar; a small restaurant on the hill that offers sandwiches and cocktails.
The Skiing at Alyeska Ski Resort:
The skiing at Alyeska ski resort was excellent. As a skier that has Whistler Blackcomb, Canada as a home ski hill, I was expecting a pretty advanced ski hill. The glacier chair at the top of Alyeska ski resort had a great advanced pitch, which led to some fast fall line skiing.
As it was quite gray during our three days they were often visibility challenges which led to quite a bit of flat light. We kept hitting the circuit to take advantage of those brakes when the sun actually came through the clouds..
With Alyeska Ski Resort being located at sea level, we had views up the Valley towards the turn again arm. We had peekaboo views of the Bay which was really quite unique to see from a ski hill. Our three days were sprinkled off with fresh powder snow every day including about 15 inches of powder. It was unexpected for a late March ski trip, but I certainly wasn’t complaining.
When the clouds cleared off, the view to the Turnagain arm was amazing. Further, we could see lots of glaciers at a distance, reaching down into the ocean.
The Alyeska Ski Resort felt like a private ski area. Since the area hardly had any day visitors, we never actually had to wait for any lines. In fact, during our three day ski holiday, we only ever rode the lift with a stranger one or two other times. Most times, we had a completely private chair ski experience. This led to open ski runs, lots of room to ski fast and space all over the ski hills and restaurants.
Views of the Turnagain Arm:
In our last afternoon, the clouds decided to clear off giving us a great view of the Turnagain arm. The highway to Anchorage borders the right hand side of this watery inlet.
It’s certainly something to see from the top of a ski area with glacier fingers that reach down into the ocean. Given our spring visit you could see elements of the break up in the water with a giant chunks of sand and ice floating around or resting on tidal Shores.
This was probably my most memorable view from Alyeska Ski Resort and it was truly some thing different compared to other ski resorts that I visited.
My Thoughts on Visiting Alyeska Ski Resort:
Finally getting the opportunity to visit Alyeska Ski Resort was a bucket list item that I’ve been meaning to accomplish for quite some time. I was really happy that I took the full three days to experience it, as we had some days where there was some pretty thick cloud that wiped out a lot of the views.
The skiing at Alyeska Ski Resort was advanced and I was fully satisfied with the amount of terrain that was available. As an advanced skier, there was enough there to keep me entertained for 3 to 4 days.
World Traveller 73 
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