Chasing Stuey

For the last few days I have been super sick and bed bound.  So no new photos or adventures to report on.  Some pretty intense bed-bound-fever dreams though!

But I do have these pictures of Stuey from last Tuesday.  This is the day we skied 8 miles going around and around Lake Gertrude.  Stuey just got it in his mind to go, go go and would not stop.  I was already slightly sick and got pretty tired just following him.  I had to convince him to stop!
Patrick

Skate Skiing in the Sunshine

The last few days I have been skate skiing with Stuey on the lake at Fort Abercrombie.  The conditions have been perfect. The first day (these photos from Monday) I had to bribe him to go skiing with me by promising to do his entire paper route.  I sort of half expected that we would do one lap and quit.  But no, Stuey Loved it and I had to convince him to quit after we did 4 laps.  On Tuesday we did 7 laps.

Unfortunately since yesterday I have had the flu.  And we still went skiing.  I think a little exercise is good for jump starting the immune system.  The sunshine certainly does wonders.
Patrick

Flat Light

Nora on the top half of the 'Waterfall Run'

Back from Fairbanks and back skiing with Nora!

I got back Saturday and on Sunday Nora and I went for our first ski in a few weeks.  I was hopeful that we would find powder, and we did find some pockets of the stuff.  But mostly everything has been blown away or is a little crusty.  Nora and I were just glad to be on the mountain again.

On the way up we saw a snowboarder doing jumps off of a cornice.  We stopped and took his picture.  I think he was excited to get his picture taken and we later emailed him some photos.

The top of the mountain is all blown ice so we opted to do the 'Waterfall Run' from the top of the 'Jibber Bowl'.  Nora has never done this run before and it is also the steepest run she has ever done.  In the end Nora did not mind the steepness at all and did not even slide slip any sections.  But she did not like the 'grippy' crust and flat light.

Welcome to flat light!  Flat light conditions is when you are happy to be skiing through alders.  They give a sense of depth and perspective.  Alders provide something dark in a white world.
Patrick

Skinning back to the car - that's the waterfall run on the left

More Birch Trees

I got back to Kodiak from Fairbanks last night and whoooo wheeee but it's a LOT warmer here.  Yesterday morning in Fairbanks it was 35 degrees below zero, and when I left the hotel to go skiing at 10AM it was still -27.  Good thing it was a bit warmer up at Birch Hill, but I still did set my own personal record for coldest ski ever at -12 degrees.  Then on the way to the airport I about frost bit my hand pumping gas without gloves.

Fairbanks cold is serious business.  In Kodiak or even Anchorage you can forget the hat, gloves and even coat and get by walking about town.  But not in Fairbanks when it is 10 below zero.  In Fairbanks you keep a pair of gloves and a hat in your pockets at all times.

On Friday there was a fire alarm during the talks and everyone had to leave the building.  I was chagrined not to have hat and gloves with me and was only wearing a thin coat.  Good thing we were only outside for 5 minutes - I was already contemplating running to another building by the time they let us back in.  Lesson learned - when in Fairbanks during winter ALWAYS carry a hat.

Patrick

Above is a picture of the trails at Birch Hill at 12 degrees below zero.  At these temperatures the snow is like sandpaper and too slow for skate skiing.  So I would use my classic gear.  The first day I did go skate skiing and did the White Bear loop.  The next day I did it faster in classic ski gear.

I found that I had to start slow to keep from frosting my lungs and that the coldest part of the ski was about 10 minutes into the trip.  After that the exercise warmed up my hands and extremities.  I also found that I preferred going up rather than down hills.  Going down hills the apparent wind chilled the hands and face while going up hills I warmed up.

That's me giving my presentation

It looks like we are lucky to have made it in last night!

On the return flight we got to Kodiak and it was totally socked in at the airport.  The plane circled about and seemed to be heading back to Anchorage.  But then it miraculously cleared up and the plane returned to land at Kodiak.  We landed with a seriously HARD thump.  And then the sun came out - temperatures outside the airport above zero degrees Celsius - that's a 40 degree change from Fairbanks!

It's beautiful at 12 below zero

Fairbanks

Here in Fairbanks it is currently -31 degrees Fahrenheit.  That's pretty cold!

I am here for the Alaska Anthropological Association Meeting, and today at 9:40 I give my presentation about fish traps.  Later on today I present my poster on the Karluk Lake Excavation from last summer.  But the lecture has me more nervous.  For the poster I just stand there and answer questions while for the talk I have to wing it and pray.  I am up early to practice my talk.

I love Fairbanks.  Every afternoon I have been skipping out for a quick cross country ski at Birch Hill.  Birch hill is aptly named and the low-raking light through the trees and shadows on white snow is hard to describe.  The first day I went skate skiing on the 'White Bear' loop but at 2 degrees (positive!) the snow was pretty slow.  So yesterday I did the same loop on classic gear and I made it around in 45 minutes which is faster than I did it on skate skis!

I can't wait till this afternoon and I am skiing with the talk presentation behind me!
Patrick

Intertidal Fish Trap Talk

In just a few minutes I leave the house to drive to the airport and jet on off to the Alaska Anthropological Association meetings in Fairbanks.  The meetings are a semi annual March event and this year I will be giving a talk all about the intertidal fish traps and petroglyphs that we documented last Spring.  It is my chance to impress my colleagues and to get feedback.

I love attending the meetings - I liken it to a high school reunion.  I hang out with all these people I have been seeing at the same meetings for almost 30 years.  I pretty much do not see them for the rest of the year.  I also generally learn a lot.  I can't wait to get there!

Here are a few of the slides from my talk.
Patrick

Mist & Ice

We lost our powder on Monday, but we haven't lost all that much snow.  It has continued to rain and snow with temperatures below freezing at night and in the upper 30s by day.  The powder has just transformed into something else - it has gotten quite a bit icier.  My driveway is, once again, an ice rink.

I've been doing Stuey's paper route while he is on vacation, and, believe it or not, but my driveway is just about average.  Er maybe a little worse than average, but certainly not the worst.

The lack of powder means the classic cross country and downhill skiing is not all that good.  There is still some soft snow around, but on high it is mostly windblown ice.  But the crusty conditions does mean that the skate skiing is fantastic.  You can skate anywhere on top of the crust.

I made a 30 second video of my cross country ski from Tuesday - linked below and I also tried pasting it below into the post like a normal picture (but this does not always work).  click here for link to the You tube video or go here:
https://youtu.be/D8yTaeVQAoM
The video is much higher resolution on Youtube

Anyway the skate skiing was spectacular with transformed snow on top of a hard crust.  I bombed through the trees and up and down hills.  It is like ice skating on dry land.  I think I might even prefer it to powder skiing!
Patrick

My driveway - pretty icy!

The award winning icy driveway on Stuey's paper route

View of Upper Buskin while crust cruising

Upper Buskin crust cruising

Pyramid on high is NOT good skiing