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"\"&lt;p style=\\\"text-align: right;\\\"&gt;&lt;a href=\\\"\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/26\\/books-sledding.jpg\\\"&gt;&lt;img class=\\\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1000081735\\\" title=\\\"books-sledding\\\" src=\\\"\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/26\\/books-sledding.jpg\\\" alt=\\\"\\\" width=\\\"500\\\" height=\\\"334\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;Sledding along the Books on Thompson Pass, AK. PHOTO: Mike Basich&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; By Mike Basich &lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Everyone is addicted to something. I figured out what mine was the year I skipped spending spring in Alaska. I felt like I needed therapy after missing a season there, even though I live and breath snow everyday in Tahoe, I still need my Alaskan dose of fresh powder lines. So I made it through the year with the shakes and tried to plan out a trip for the spring to AK. Having inheriting some debts and low on cash, I booked a mileage ticket to Anchorage. I didn\\u2019t care about the rest, I just needed to make sure I made it to the state, and I figured the rest comes as it lays\\u2014I was willing to do what ever it took to make it to Thompson Pass outside of Valdez.&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nI\\u2019ve spend a lot of time there, so I had the phones cracked, electric sockets dialed, and knew the in and outs of how to make it to half the LZs (landing zones) with a sled. My sled was still up there\\u2014no car, but that was the least of worries. I talked to Rob Kingwell about getting him up there as well. I really didn\\u2019t have much of a plan or project goal besides to feed my addiction to the fullest. Rob ended up entering some contest in Alyeska so he was going to make it, I told him I\\u2019d be at Thompson pass. Find me. I was lucky enough to start off my trip hitching a ride with Dave Basterrechea and his crew of four. I squeezed my bags in and we headed to Thompson Pass.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;After a six-hour drive we arrived at 3:00 a.m. I still had no plan, but I had my sleeping bag. So I crashed in a vacant tent, which ended up belonging to photographer Mark Sullivan. It even had a fireplace. Waking up to blue skies in Alaska is the highest-grade conditions you\\u2019re going to get. The snow was good and Dave\\u2019s crew was cool enough to let me hitch a ride on their sled. I have to say even before I strapped on my snowboard my veins were being pumped with fulfillment. We rode all day and getting back around dusk I found a ride into town. I got my sled and ended up picking up the ultimate motor home\\u2014a U-haul might not have heat, but it has square footage and you can put your sled in the back. So I got a sweet fourteen-foot U-Haul for $19.95 a day with a loft. Picked up some food and a siphon for getting gas out of the U-Haul for my sled. Yeah, it was a low budget trip. I knew it was going to be cold but again\\u2014I didn\\u2019t care. I bumped into Rob later that night. He ended up hitching a ride with a girl Whitney who became part of our crew for the U-Haul adventure. We planned ten days in AK, with the weather being pretty bad, we added a few more days after shuffling flights around. We had some days in, but a high pressure was coming soon.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p style=\\\"text-align: center;\\\"&gt;&lt;a href=\\\"\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/26\\/uhaul-blizzard.jpg\\\"&gt;&lt;img class=\\\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1000081737\\\" title=\\\"uhaul-blizzard\\\" src=\\\"\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/26\\/uhaul-blizzard.jpg\\\" alt=\\\"\\\" width=\\\"500\\\" height=\\\"334\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p style=\\\"text-align: center;\\\"&gt;The crew: Rob Kingwell, Whitney Bell, and Mike Basich.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p style=\\\"text-align: left;\\\"&gt;Once the weather broke clear we headed straight to the lines I had planned. It was Rob\\u2019s first real AK-style riding, nice lines and a lot of rocks \\u2026 with a rock ending my day in pain. I was out for three days at least I figured. Rob and Whitney kept things going riding stuff close to the road as I sat in the U-Haul and shot photos. We still hadn\\u2019t made it out to the Books, an area I was dying to hit. I asked the two if they\\u2019d be into helping me with my sled if we went out there. I couldn\\u2019t start my sled or dig it out if I got stuck. But I could stand on one leg and give it gas. Our last day we made it to the Books, which made me feel like I was in a small cage in heaven. I could only stand there and point my camera and tell the two they should go ride everything they could. The sunset on our ride back to motel U-Haul was enough for me to feel satisfied. Just being in Alaska is a big enough high. There really aren\\u2019t words to explain this Alaskan high. Trust me, sleeping on a metal floor in the back of a U-Haul in zero-degree weather is nothing compared to what you get out of it. Will I go back again next year? Well, I\\u2019m sure not going to therapy.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-1000081708 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'&gt;&lt;figure class='gallery-item'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;div class='gallery-icon landscape'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t&lt;a href='http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/uncategorized\\/alaskan-addiction\\/attachment\\/uhaul-blizzard\\/'&gt;&lt;img width=\\\"175\\\" height=\\\"117\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/wp-content\\/blogs.dir\\/442\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/24\\/uhaul-blizzard.jpg\\\" class=\\\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\\\" alt=\\\"uhaul-blizzard\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;\\/div&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;&lt;figure class='gallery-item'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;div class='gallery-icon landscape'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t&lt;a href='http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/uncategorized\\/alaskan-addiction\\/attachment\\/books-sledding\\/'&gt;&lt;img width=\\\"175\\\" height=\\\"117\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/wp-content\\/blogs.dir\\/442\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/26\\/books-sledding.jpg\\\" class=\\\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\\\" alt=\\\"books-sledding\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;\\/div&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;&lt;figure class='gallery-item'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;div class='gallery-icon portrait'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t&lt;a href='http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/uncategorized\\/alaskan-addiction\\/attachment\\/dave-peaking\\/'&gt;&lt;img width=\\\"78\\\" height=\\\"117\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/wp-content\\/blogs.dir\\/442\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/26\\/dave-peaking.jpg\\\" class=\\\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\\\" alt=\\\"dave-peaking\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;\\/div&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;&lt;figure class='gallery-item'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;div class='gallery-icon landscape'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t&lt;a href='http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/uncategorized\\/alaskan-addiction\\/attachment\\/uhaul-blizzard-2\\/'&gt;&lt;img width=\\\"175\\\" height=\\\"117\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/wp-content\\/blogs.dir\\/442\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/26\\/uhaul-blizzard.jpg\\\" class=\\\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\\\" alt=\\\"uhaul-blizzard\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;\\/div&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;&lt;figure class='gallery-item'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;div class='gallery-icon landscape'&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t&lt;a href='http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/uncategorized\\/alaskan-addiction\\/attachment\\/books-sledding1\\/'&gt;&lt;img width=\\\"175\\\" height=\\\"117\\\" src=\\\"http:\\/\\/snowboarding.transworld.net\\/wp-content\\/blogs.dir\\/442\\/files\\/2008\\/10\\/26\\/books-sledding1.jpg\\\" class=\\\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\\\" alt=\\\"books-sledding1\\\" \\/&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;\\n\\t\\t\\t&lt;\\/div&gt;&lt;\\/figure&gt;\\n\\t\\t&lt;\\/div&gt;\\n\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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