Brutal Wind

 

The last few weeks we have had great winter weather, but the wind has been brutal. The deep powder Stuey and I skied over the weekend has been largely blown away. The last 2 days despite the high winds we went skiing anyway, and even in protected spots the snow was pretty wind-effected. You'd find a powder seam and life would be good for about 10 turns and then you'd hit wind pack or a bare area where the powder had totally blown away.

Still we got our base of snow, and I have been loving the cold temperatures. On Kodiak it is not often that we get snow in powder form and it stays as powder for weeks. So I'll take the high winds.  But today we might try cross country skiing in the trees.

Patrick

A Mountain to Ourselves

 

On Boxing Day I was super excited to wake up to a few inches of new snow in the yard. By noon it was starting to turn to rain, but I figured it would still be all snow and even deeper up at the pass. So we packed up the dogs, ski gear, and Stuey and his 2 large friends into the car and headed to the pass. My Jeep was like one of those clown cars all packed tight with people and dogs.

Then we got to the pass and there was about half the snow there had been on my lawn, and worse yet it was misting right up to 2000 feet. The skiing was terrible! So bad I did not even take any pictures. Lots of other people had also had the same idea and even where there was a pocket of good snow it was tracked up.

So yesterday it was raining in town and the wind was screaming out of the north.  It did not look good, but I decided to give skiing a try basically because there was nothing else to do and the dogs needed a walk. But this time when Stuey and I got to the pass there was 6 inches of new snow at the parking lot and more than a foot higher up on the mountain.  And the snow was dry too! And best of all we had the mountain all to ourselves. We were the only car in the parking lot. Also, since the wind was out of the north there was also very little wind below 1700 feet. Above 1700 feet the wind was screaming and it was a bit of a white out (see pictures below).

Anyway the skiing was fantastic, and almost too deep for the dogs. The skiing was as good as it been terrible the day before - a polar opposite. I just hope the snow stays good for today. It is much colder today and sometimes after a storm a breakable crust will form on top. Fingers crossed we find the same snow we had yesterday! 

Patrick

Short video of the dogs busting through the new snow!

White out and blown off above 1700 feet

The wind had mostly blown away the snow and created drifts above 1700 feet

Sun Stars at Buskin Beach

 

I'll admit it. Lately I have taking a bit too many 'sun star' pictures. To get a sunstar you basically turn the aperture to the highest setting (close it down) down to like f 16 or f 22. Then you have something partially block the sun and Voila! sunstars!

Here are some sunstars from Buskin Beach. On the day before Christmas Nora, the dogs and I caught low tide at the beach. The wind was calm and the sun was low to the horizon. Perfect for sunstars!

Patrick

skate skiing

 

Right now I am in my kitchen waiting for the sun to come up. and outside it is snowing. The dogs went out for their morning constitutional and came back inside with snowflakes clinging to their fur. It looks like we already have a few inches of new snow, but I will have to wait until daylight to see exactly how much. And hopefully it continues to snow right through the weekend.

In any case, the pictures shown in this post are already old news. For the last week we have had excellent skating and skate skiing. But today it'll be either downhill skiing or classic cross country skiing. If it turns to rain at my house I'll go downhill, but if windy and fluffy I'll go back to swampy acres for cross country. We'll see what the day brings.

Stuey and I beat in a skate ski track on Lake Catherine. At first the snow was not adhered to the ice, and we had to use our arms more and glide with perfectly flat skis so as not to slip on the push off. It is my belief that these conditions are very good for ones skate ski technique. In places like Anchorage where people learn on perfectly groomed trails they tend to waddle when they ski - body in the center and pushing off with their skis.  Waddling is a no go on snow that is not adhered to the ice! 

After a couple of days of skate skiing in the same track we created our own little track and the snow adhered to the ice. Our own little track got to be like one of the groomed trails in Anchorage. It was pretty glorious ripping along our track in the late afternoon sunshine with the dogs chasing along behind us.

Patrick

Pre sunrise dog walk under the trees in Abercrombie

No 'waddling' technique here! Here we commit to gliding on the ski!

The snow makes it light under the trees even before the sun comes up

Playing Hooky

It was so glorious skating on Rose Team Lake on Sunday that yesterday I decided to bag work and go out there again.  I did not really 'play hooky' in that I actually did get permission and took official time off from work. But it was still an impromptu decision, and it sure felt like 'playing hooky'.  And it was totally worth it too.

It's not every year we get such nice ice, and the landscape out by Narrow Cape is so different.  Big beaches, no trees, the wide open ocean. It is the East Side of the island, and it seems more like Sitkalidak Island or Kiliuda Bay than boring old 'road system' Kodiak.  The East Side is where I go on archaeological surveys; I never go there to go ice skating!

Anyway, I went out to Barry's Lagoon near Narrow Cape with my brother and nephew Brooks. We had brats over a little stove by the beach, and while they went kite winging I went exploring on my skates and looked for glass balls. I did not find any glass balls this time (too much snow), but I did soak in the atmosphere. While ice skating the big beach was RIGHT there next to the ice. Big driftwood logs and the sand ended right at the edge of the ice. Of course when you got near the beach you also had to watch out for blown sand on the ice that could dull the skate blades.

 

More Epic Ice

 

This one is from Buskin Lake

On Sunday it was so spectacular out at Rose Tead Lake that I took way too many photos. And way too many of them turned out well too. So here are some more.  This batch shows the cousins and their Kitewings. There are also a few from Saturday when Stuey and I checked out the ice on Buskin Lake.  Buskin Lake had great ice but it was pretty dark without the sunshine.  The sunshine makes a HUGE difference.

Patrick

Another one from Buskin Lake - no sunshine at Buskin Lake