Prepare

Getting to Nome

Non-stop or one-stop flights to Anchorage are available on multiple carriers from most major cities in America and Europe. The last leg is a short flight on Alaska Airlines to Nome, often with a quick stop above the arctic circle in the village of Kotzebue. When reserving your fishing trip, ask us about our Flat Rate Airline ticket service option. When booked far enough in advance, we are able to lock in a fixed price for your travel needs and act as your travel agent to reserve your seats.

Some of our favorite places to book travel include:

Booking Engine: Orbitz.com
Airlines: Alaska Air | Condor | Iceland Air
Regional Airline: Bering Air

Nome

Nome (65 N, 165W) is located along the Bering Sea coast on the southern side of the Seward Peninsula, 126 miles south of the Arctic Circle, and 105 miles east of the International Dateline. The Kigluaik mountains form the west end of the North American Continental divide. With Russia to the west, the Bering Strait region is truly where the east meets the west. The region boasts the historic Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, a crossroads of two continents, rich with remnants of early human history, as well as hot springs and old lava beds.

For a small town, Nome is quite well known. Nome is most famous for its gold mining history, where Wyatt Earp once landed. Nome is also the end of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, an 1100 mile race across Alaska from Anchorage to Nome. New York Broadway style plays are put on by the Nome Arts Council, the Bering Sea Ice Golf Classic allows you to test your golf skills on challenging turf, and you can take a dip in the Bering Sea during Nome’s Memorial Day Polar Bear Swim.

Winter in Alaska

Winter in Alaska is associated with cold temperatures, extreme wind-chill, and lots of darkness. In the Nome area we have only four hours of sun above the horizon on December 21st. By March, winter has loosened its icy grip. April, our ski season, is “spring” to us Alaskans. This is the best part of winter: long days with lots of sunshine and great snow cover. Expect sun up from 7:30am to 10:30pm. You may have heard the lyrics “it’s springtime in Alaska and its 40 below“. While that can happen, expect normal daytime highs of 10°F to 30°F and nighttime lows of -10°F to 10°F. Aurora Borealis, if present, may be seen on clear nights right from the deck of the cabin.

Snow Conditions

Terrain

Skiing in arctic Alaska is a bit different than elsewhere. Most notably, there are no trees or much vegetation, so visibility top to bottom is excellent, and the helicopter can access anywhere that we can stand to be dropped off and picked up. We have access to hundreds of thousands of acres of skiable terrain. The hills directly outside of our cabin provide intermediate level skiing with up to 1500’ of vertical drop. Our main use mountain range is 250,000 acres of mountains with steep and challenging terrain to wide open cruisers. The tallest peak is 4714’ and we can ski down to the valley floor at 400’. Our average vertical drop per run is 2400’ and our longest run is 3800’ with a distance of 5 miles! We see generally stable snow conditions with dry powder north chutes and spring-like south facing bowls.

Helicopters

Helicopter transportation will be provided by Bering Air, Inc., using the MD500. The MD500 is a safe and powerful helicopter that is well suited to heli-skiing operations. The old saying that “getting there is half the fun” certainly applies here. Depart right from the cabin for an awesome view of the arctic wilderness with a chance to spot bear, moose and musk oxen. In a few minutes you will be choosing a wide open slope or the next first descent to lay down some tracks.

Helicopters allow access to many square miles of untouched skiing. The MD500 is equipped with a front loading belly pod that easily holds skis and packs. As it has seats for only three passengers, you will have a low 2:1 skier/guide ratio. The passenger weight limit is 250lbs per person. Guides and pilots alike will have safety as our number one priority during your stay.

Bering Air has a long-standing reputation in Western Alaska as a quality air carrier with a superb safety record. They operate a large fleet of rotor wing as well as fixed-wing aircraft year round, and have been in business since 1979. You will be flying with professional pilots who make their living flying year-round in Alaska.

Packing List

CLOTHES

Ski Socks
Underwear
Long underwear top and bottom
Fleece or warm top
Down or puffy top
Ski pants
Ski jacket with hood
Winter boots
Face mask
Neck gaiter (Buff)
Hat
Gloves
Swim trunks