At play where the midnight sun holds court
To the uninitiated, the perception of Alaska is strongly shaped by popular culture, mythos, and one’s own wild imagination. My view was shaped by similar notions prior to becoming familiar myself. What does the land hold within its dark and icy clutches? One can be somewhat forgiven for the common perception cold takes hold of … Read more
A smile crept across my face as I gazed out the window. 35,000 feet below, glaciers splayed out in every direction with the surrounding mountains towering over narrow valleys. A small winding road led around their outskirts, the black asphalt offering a snaking cleared passage through a land of white. I picked out familiar landmarks. … Read more
After enjoying our first cabin trip of the year in October to Donna Lake, Alana and I made plans to head out to the White Mountains and visit a few more on skis. Our plan was to ski roughly 75 miles, making a loop connecting Colorado Creek, Wolf Run, Windy Gap, Borealis and Colorado Creek … Read more
Alana and I spent the weekend at a house in Delta Junction, celebrating our friends’ wedding. We decided to take advantage of being in the area and check out another ADFG cabin nearby. Snow fell throughout the weekend, making it hard to distinguish the road from the shoulder in the flat light as we made … Read more
This past weekend, my friend Chris and I took a trip to the White Mountains. The plan was to bike the 29 miles out to the Caribou Bluff cabin and spend the night. From there, our plans would likely diverge. He was going to head back to Wickersham Dome the long way, 71 miles up … Read more
Alana had some extended time off from work and we decided to take a trip south to the Coal Mine No.5 cabin near the Alaska Range. I was borrowing skis from a friend as I had recently broken my bindings on another trip. Alas, at the trailhead I discovered that their bindings were incompatible with … Read more
As I made my way into the headwaters, the snow became deeper and deeper. With mountains engulfing the valley, the area’s snow was not impacted by winds. The deep, sugar-like snow required tremendous exertion to move forward with each stride. A ski slides forward atop the snow. I transfer my weight and then sink a … Read more
The wind whipped along the ridgeline, gusting across and ferrying the few loose flakes into the valley below. Up high among the tors, the light and the terrain made one think of winter. The soft pastels lit up the horizon beyond the mountains as the sun shone its last light for the day. Snow covered … Read more
After scratching during last year’s Ski Classic, I made it my mission to return and finish. This year I would be attempting to ski the route through the Arctic Refuge, from Atigun Gorge to Wiseman, via a checkpoint on the Wind River. In 2017, the going had proved to be slow for those on the … Read more
One of the benefits of being located in the Fairbanks area in the winter is the plethora of packed trails that cover the landscape. The relatively higher number of skiers, snowmachines, dog teams, bikers and walkers create a formal and unformal groomed network throughout the region. This allows for an ease and quickness of travel … Read more