‘Just beautiful’: Alaska skiers extend season at Hatcher Pass

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Most of the snow in Anchorage has melted, but many skiers, including one Olympic hopeful, are not ready to put up the skis.

Garrett Butts said skiing at Hatcher Pass helps extend the season by a month on either end.

“I spent like the equivalent of two, three extra months on snow, just in these like extra six, seven weeks... that’s pretty nice,” Butts said, describing the scenery near Independence Mine as ‘just beautiful’.

“You can see the layers — it goes from no snow to all of a sudden you’re in the snow to then like 150 feet further up you’re in like dry, powdery snow,” Butts said.

Butts said he was born into the sport. His mother went to three Olympics for skiing, and his father was an Olympic coach.

“I was told very early on — we are a ski family,” Butts said.

Training with Olympic medalists

He now trains with APU, a team that sent eight skiers to the last Olympics — half of Team USA.

“Gus Schumacher just won an Olympic silver medal... Just to get to go train with him and do intervals with him and be like, ‘okay, I can get there.,” Butts said. “Rising tide raises all ships.”

Butts often skis twice a day, sometimes sleeping in the car to extend a trip up to Hatcher Pass. He had one week where he trained over 30 hours and worked over 30 hours.

Last season

“It was an Olympic season ...I had high hopes and I ended up having maybe the worst season I’ve ever had,” Butts said. “But praise God for it and through it because I had like wild amounts of peace and joy through it... Sometimes when the bar is raised, you need a divine reset.”

The reset is already underway. Four years of training lie ahead for Butts before the world stage.

His advice to young skiers:

“Dream big, work hard. You can go far for sure. You just have to stick with it. Be consistent and commit,” Butts said. “You gotta enjoy it because it’s way too hard not to enjoy it.”

The APU team plans on skiing Hatcher Pass through May. After that will be more training at a camp at Eagle Glacier.

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