A little bit of Ocean Effect Snow

 

It's been cold and windy and very dry, and it was looking very bad for new snow. And then yesterday morning I woke up to sunshine an unexpected inch or two of snow! This happens occasionally when it is super cold and the wind is off of the ocean. The air picks up moisture over the water and drops it when it gets to land. That means the North end of town gets snow but out in Bells Flats or by the airport they get very little. 

A couple of inches of new snow is all that I need to make me happy. I took the dogs to Abercrombie and we went skate skiing on Lake Gertrude. I loved hiking down to the lake through the lightly dusted spruce trees. And out on the lake the skiing was pretty good. The new snow had not yet adhered to the ice - so I had to ski with flat skis and a lot of arm power. But it was pretty heavenly to glide along in the sunshine with the dogs chasing along beside me.

Patrick

Almost March

 

It's almost March and we still have very little snow. Last year at this time we had even less snow (but more above 2000 feet), but then we got a lot of snow in March and April. I hope that happens again this year. Right now it is 12 degrees outside but on Monday it was 55. And tonight it is supposed to get down to 5 degrees. So we are getting some our coldest air all winter. I love the cold, but we desperately need some snow.

Patrick

Bode enjoys the 50 degree heat

On Monday the south bowl had sublime spring corn snow

This is NOT spring corn

Windy and Clear

 

It's been super windy lately. Thursday night it gusted up to 80 mph, and the wind blew over the dumpsters at work. Big metal dumpsters only blow in the wind when it is super windy! At home I was worried about my trees. But by yesterday afternoon the winds had pretty much calmed down. Calmed down enough that Stuey's plane took off on schedule.

On Friday it was so windy that Stuey and I did not even go skiing. We went for a walk in the shelter of the trees at Abercrombie.

So yesterday when we went back to where we had been skiing earlier in the week we were shocked to see how much of the snow had blown away. Basically all that was left was a 'yellow brick road' of snow where we had beaten in a ski track. Our skis had pressed and adhered the snow to the ice so that it did not blow away. You could also see little dots of snow in a row where the dog tracks had adhered to the ice. Fossilized doggy paw prints.

Still the cross country skiing on the 'yellow brick road' was not so bad. and that's where I'll probably go back to today.

Patrick

Abercrombie

XC with Stuey

 

Stuey and I have also been cross country skiing a lot on small lakes with the dogs. Kodiak does not have much snow, but we did get an inch or snow of new snow before it got cold and windy. Just enough snow to cover the frozen lakes with snow and create the perfect 'skate ski anywhere' conditions.

Unfortunately, yesterday we had high winds and gusts up to 80 mph so today the cross country skiing will not be quite as good as it has been. But we should be able to find good skate skiing snow in places that were in the lee while the wind blew.

And this evening Stuey starts the long trek back to college. Mid winter break is over.

Patrick

Heitman Lake before the dusting of new snow

Downhill Skiing with Stuey

 

Stuey came back to Alaska for a quick, mid-winter break from college. I'm kind of amazed at how many vacations college students get these days. But it works out well because it is great to have Stuey back on the 'Rock' for some skiing and R&R. Not that the skiing is all that great. Funnily enough, I think the skiing  conditions right now in New England, where he came from, are actually better than they are here. 

Stuey said that Maine and Alaska are sort of similar but that in Alaska everything is just on a grander scale. I think he misses the rugged mountains without trees.

Anyway on Pyramid we found some powder and a lot of ice. We even skied to the road - barely. .. . And the mountains and views delivered.

Patrick

Slushy in the sunshine

 

On Saturday I climbed up to Heitman Lake to cross country ski. It was a frosty morning so I actually waited until noon for it to warm up a bit. And then it got too warm. By the time I got up to the lake it was 50 degrees outside.

All the snow on the lake had turned to slush and there was standing water in places on the ice. Wow! did it warm up quickly!

The slushy conditions made for some very slow skiing. And the wind was blowing up and down the lake. So going downwind, with the wind at my back, I'd creep along at a slow pace.  But going upwind I could barely move at all. Still, it was a good workout and I got tired pretty quickly.

And the hike up and down in the warm sunshine was pretty glorious.

Patrick

These days there is not a lot of snow below 1000 feet

Hike to cross country ski

 

Well it finally got somewhat cold again, and it did stop raining. But when the cold cycle ended we did not get any new snow either. So below about 1000 feet there is very little snow. 

So when I got a little bored of downhill skiing and decided to go cross country skiing - I had to hike up to the snow. The pond pictured here is tiny but it is convenient and the snow is good. But now that it is the weekend, and I have the time, I might hike up to the Sharatin bowl or Heitman Lake.

Yesterday I wanted a picture of the dogs and I skiing. So I did the whole tripod thing where I have only 10 seconds on the self timer and have to rush, counting in my head the whole time, to get to the right spot.  All the pictures were a little off. Then I decided to just do a short video and at home I took still pictures off of the video. The video was 4K and the pictures look pretty good.  This is a much easier way to get a ski selfie! And I got the video too at the bottom of this post.

Patrick