Winter Ski & Shoot - Alaska

Joined
Oct 6, 2014
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2,027
Location
Alaska
Talkeetna Mountains, Alaska

@Marbles, @Marty joined me for an overnight ski & shoot in the local mountains.

With the current snowpack and weather not being very conducive to regular backcountry activities, we took advantage of this to get in some long range shooting reps in challenging conditions.

We toured appx. 4 miles over a pass and up a drainage with no other backcountry users present to a safe shooting location on State Land. Micah on backcountry skis, Marty on snowshoes & prototype cold weather boots from his work and me on my Splitboard setup.

All used EXO K4’s of differing capacities.

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Reactive wind slabs were present, failing on near ground facets. Another group triggered this D1 slide while skinning up, shortly before we came upon it. It reinforced the fact that even with a shallow snowpack, wind loading can create dangerous conditions. We all carried a beacon, probe and shovel & practiced safe backcountry travel, including spacing out & choosing low consequence travel routes.

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@Marty brought out the HNT 26/AnTi X 6 CM that I put together last season.

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I was shooting the new Tikka HNT 26 223

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@Marbles with his Tikka 223 in a Rokstok.
All guns topped with the Maven RS 1.2.

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The guys set up their shelters, Seek Outside DCF Eolus & HMG Ultamid 2.

My wife, who is out of the country at the moment, checked the cameras at our house. Apparently I hadn’t secured a gate properly for the house bunnies.. so after an Inreach message from her, I skinned all the way back out in the dark. 😅 🐰

The next morning I toured back out to meet the guys, getting in some decent miles on the splitboard.



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Day 2 brought increasing winds and snow. We climbed several hundred feet up the side of the drainage to shoot.

My 223, shooting ADI 55 Blitzkings at 3000 fps, absolutely hammers out to 500 yards. Ridiculously accurate. However the low B.C. caused the drop to fall off dramatically past that, for example 7.0 mil’s correction at 700 yards.

@Marbles 77 TMK handloads performed much better from his 16” barrel out to 700 ish yards.

@Marty with his 6 CM shooting factory 108 ELD-M’s was able to stretch it out properly to 900 + yards.

We did not bring in steel, so generally the targets were small patches of snow on rocks, which provide both a great contrast to aim at, as well as splash from the impact on the rock.

My BR4 performed great, however Marty’s new BLR10 RF’s were easier to hold steady and get a range in the gusty conditions.


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Continued..
 
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Marbles

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May 16, 2020
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AK
Looks like fun other than the camping and keeping water liquid part!
I boiled water to fill both my bottles, then threw them in the foot box of my quilt. Helped warm my feet and dry my boot liners, and keep the water from freezing.

As it was warm weather, I just brought my Soto Windmaster and Fire Maple pot, even so, the flame was small with long boil times. The pot heat exchanger holds onto the stove well, and picking the whole thing up and holding the canister on my knee works well and got normal flame (balance a lit stove with a pot of boiling water on your knee at your own risk).

From shooting it, a little snow melted to the Tikka action and froze, everything still worked as it should.
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At night, I found the illumination on the Maven to be perfect on the first setting. Under moonlight on snow (so not that dark), the scope works well and could be used on an animal.

I also rather like the Exo rifle carrier, this was my first time us it. @Mark at EXO @ExoMtnGear nice design, I appreciate it compared to just putting the rifle under the pack straps.
 

nubraskan

Lil-Rokslider
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Dec 9, 2023
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176
That looks insanely fun, definitely something I'd want to be doing often if I was up in that area. I'm not jealous at all...
 
OP
B_Reynolds_AK
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Oct 6, 2014
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Location
Alaska
Negative, just happens as I imagine what will keep the Rokslide posse entertained.

Generally a progressive deterioration of performance as any RF would experience.
Though we didn’t compare to any others, Revic’s have generally performed well in comparison to others in inclement weather reviews.
 

Macintosh

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Feb 17, 2018
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Ooh, lucky you guys, a colorado snowpack in AK! Talkeetnas are generally a lot drier than chugach, correct?
Looks like good solid fun. Any turns to be had, or was marbles all business?
 

Marbles

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May 16, 2020
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Ooh, lucky you guys, a colorado snowpack in AK! Talkeetnas are generally a lot drier than chugach, correct?
Looks like good solid fun. Any turns to be had, or was marbles all business?
A combination of my lack of skill, and the shallow snow depth on safer aspects keep me from doing much, still managed to find some rocks under the snow.
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2020
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Just waiting for some GF snow down in Utah so I can get out on my skis to shoot. It's turned to a straight dry desert this year.
 
Joined
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A combination of my lack of skill, and the shallow snow depth on safer aspects keep me from doing much, still managed to find some rocks under the snow.
Do you have dedicated rock skis, or do you just skin down?
 

Macintosh

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Feb 17, 2018
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A combination of my lack of skill, and the shallow snow depth on safer aspects keep me from doing much, still managed to find some rocks under the snow.
Man, after a couple wrecked knees and a pretty major head injury all from ushering-in ski season before all those nasty lurking rocks are filled in, that’s smart. Especially with upside down snow. 👍
 
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