Winter Arrival

There was really no way to miss the arrival of winter this year.  It was pretty sudden and started right before Halloween.  Usually when it starts snowing I get really excited and then dissappointed when it melts the next day.  So this year I didn't get very excited.  And it hasn't melted.  It has only gotten deeper.  Except for the last couple days when it has been cold and windy.  I haven't taken the dogs ski-joring since last weekend, but plan to bravely hook up to two dogs before Sunday night.

I finally broke down and bought new taller boots.  I have had my old trusty Sorrels since high school and I felt like this might be the year to buy some taller winter boots.  I have looked at the Joan of the Arctic for a couple years.  Super glad I bought these as I used them the next day for a search in town.  The snow was up to Tatonka's belly!  He had a great time and my toes were toasty warm with snow sometimes over the top of my boots.  Hello Winter!

Windshield vs Bug

I didn't coin the phrase 'sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug' but let me just say that it fits the grad school experience very well.  I've taken to keeping a list of blog posts I want to write, mostly based on the pictures on my camera, because I can't blog when I want to.  I'm in year three of this journey and have almost perfected the art of saying 'no' to all social invitations that come my way.  The good thing about this is people eventually quit asking and that frees up some time.  The bad - I'm afraid they won't start again after graduation! 

I originally planned to tackle one of my glacier posts today, from my thesis fieldwork this summer.  But then I had my regular Wednesday meeting with my advisor and I went from windshield to bug in nothing flat.  A fellow grad student described this process to me on Monday - how grad student's emotional low state center around their meetings with their advisors/committees/etc. - the line peaks again a few days later he assured me. I probably should insert a graph here to demonstrate what I mean, but I can't stand to make any more graphs right now.  I will grudingly admit the meetings aren't as bad as they used to be.  Maybe that's because I'm getting better?  Probably not.  Maybe he lowered his expectations.... either way, I'm sure I'll never know.

I think it would be okay except for feeling like I am trying to hit a moving target.  My expectations have changed - at least one beating per month.  Today was more beating than confidence building.  Apparently I am only about halfway done with my Results.  Yay. I think I would have put that percentage more in the 70-80 range.  Last week after I retrieved my last datalogger successfully from a glacier by getting permission to land a helicopter in a state park I was almost a hero.  As disturbing as this vacilation is, more disturbing to me is the lack of retention of anything I say.  Coupled with the assumption that I am somehow doing nothing despite what feels like constant contrary evidence presented is enough to drive most people crazy.  At least I don't doubt his expertise - it could always be worse, right?

Many former and fellow grad students assure me this cycle is normal.  I never have wanted to not be normal more. 

Harding Icefield

 I added some field work to my thesis this summer, mostly in the form of monthly summer trips to the Harding Icefield, near Seward.  I made a total of five trips, the first one at the end of May.  The trail (loosely followed on the first trip as it was almost completely under snow) follows the edge of Exit Glacier to the Icefield.

 It's a very popular trip in the summer and later trips we encountered many tourists on the trail.  It's a steep climb up to the ice from nearly sea level at the visitor center.  Many don't make it beyond a view of the Exit Glacier.  Many come unprepared.  This hut is near the highest point of the trail, it's really more of an emergency shelter than anything else.  When we arrived on our first trip in May, it was half filled with snow.

So we camped just downslope from the hut, with a great view of the valley below.  This was my first use of my new single wall tent.  It proved itself to be very spacious, possibly better with three people than two on cold trips.

The May trip was mostly very sunny and I was grateful for my decision to include a full brim hat, lightweight gloves, and 100 SPF sunscreen.  Not sure what I would have done if I had forgotten sunglasses!

This trip was mostly for a fellow grad student studying ice algae.  We had a lot of extra gear to haul up on this trip and were glad to have sleds.  We set up transects for her study, which I hoped to also use later.  Our sherpas departed the group when we reached the hut.  We were able to ski from there with the sleds and all the gear.

We camped near the transects - in the midst of them really.  Later trips the camp was set up between the transects and the cache.  After we could see the immensity of the icefield we were grateful for changing the study site to the nearer Japanese glacier from the original plan of Skilak glacier, visible here in the distance.

There is no way to express in photos how immense this place is.  Because it was so clear, we could see the weather forming far away.  It often dissipated before reaching us.

The lighting was amazing.  This time of the year there is plenty of daylight so work can continue past 10pm.

Any questions why I live in Alaska?  

 Skiing towards one of the study plots.  You can see for such a long distance it is amazing how far away people can be and you can still see them.

We carried a satellite phone on all our trips. We tried to use it once to alert our ride in Seward that we were going to be done a day early on one of our July trips.  That's when we discovered what poor coverage the phone had.  It's hard to not find hillarity in everything after days of non-stop sunshine surrounded by snow.

After the first trip in May, the trail was more melted out at each trip.  It was interesting to watch the changes.  This is Exit glacier in August.

Our trip in August was among the worst for weather.  We had very heavy packs and non-stop rain on the hike.  It took us longer than usual to get to the glacier, and we were freezing when we got there.  The whiteout conditions were common after the early July trip.  We called the slush the 'Glacier Swamp' and had no idea what to make of it.  We camped on the last patch of snow on the edge of the swamp.  We had to cross it to get to the cache, but opted to retreat the following morning.

 The September trip was even less fruitful and neither of us got any samples.  This is the view of the valley from part way up the trail.  It was a beautiful autumn hike.

September view of Exit glacier from the trail.  It wasn't quite a whiteout on the icefield - at least not all the time.  We didn't bring our skis on this trip.  There was fresh snow over the bare ice on the bulge up the icefield.  It was slow traveling with probing every step and the crevasses, while small, were time consuming to walk around and disturbing to locate.

Digital Dayz

 Niwt recently had a birthday. He likes to go for hikes on his birthday.  It makes him smile.  He also likes to remind us of all the digital days.  Every single one since we have met.  It's just his thing.  He's really excited for 11/11/11.  And depressed that it will be such a long time before the next one.  

We took the dogs with us, all three of them.  It was their first snow of the season.  Of course now we have it on the ground, and on the trucks......  It's a winter wonderland. But it's always a novelty the first day (or more) of the season.  

And sometimes the lighting really makes the hike worth it.  This is only part way up the steepest part too.

 Don't fall off the rocks!  See my new gloves?  I like em a heck of a lot.  Maybe my new favorites.

The Alaska Range came out to say hello.

 Dr Dre is leaving us today.  He is a super fun dog and we will miss him a lot around here. 

 Among my favorite views in the universe - a happy dog in snow! My happy dog playing in the snow.

 It's hard to not feel very small in a place so large.  But no one is an island where there are dogs to play with. 

I can't get over the lighting.  I remember the alpenglow the first time I saw it over a decade ago in the Park.  It was so powerful that it made Alaska my number one choice when I wanted to relocate from Portland.  It hasn't changed it's impact on me.