December Dawns in the Mountains

Dec. 1 morning from overlook behind chalets.

Skaters on the lake.

This weeks Report from Chugach National Forest Staff, Irene Lindquist:

Skiing on many lakes is good. Skiing on most trails with rock skis at lower elevations is possible.

Ice skating on the cleared paths on Upper Trail Lake is good.

 

Trails traveling over passes have 12-15” of snow. Pulling a pulk is feasible.

 

Hiking our trails in all areas is very good if you wear gaiters or can keep what little snow there is out of your boots.

Ice on! Now for some interesting, at least for me, ice condition changes:

 

A week ago Summit Lake had 8” of ice under 5” of snow, the previous ten days had 8” of ice under 8” of snow, temps were in the 20’s, low 30’s. Ice thickness did not change for 11 days due to the insulating snow cover and warm temps. When temps changed to around 0-20 degrees F the ice began adding 1/3”/day. Ice thickness on Summit Lake is now 11”.

 

Cooper Lake and Grant Lake are freezing and adding about 1” of ice/day with no snow cover. Cooper Lake has 6” of ice, and Grant Lake has 2”.

 

Got the Evening Blues -Pinks and Whites

The Wild Rose Decorated for Christmas

Christmas Jay Bird

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November Evening Stratocumulus

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Freeze Up in Moose Pass

It's ice skating time, with miles of ice in the area till the snows come.

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Alpenglow Awesome Hiking

Solars Mt reflected in Upper Trail Lake. Seen from Johnson Pass trail which skirts the lake for several miles. Trail is hard with little snow. The leafless trees provide expansive vistas not seen in summer.

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Night ski seen from the Steller Jay chalet hot tub last night.

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Night Sky Amazing Shows!

The aurora has been out on clear nights and has been amazing lately. Multi-colored displays( like the one below from the internet) have been seen all over Southcentral Alaska. Our caretakers report watching an incredible display all night out in their hot tub on a recent Friday night.

The North Taurids meteor showers are from Oct 12th- Dec. 2nd with peaks on the first two weekends of November.

The Leonids Nov. 16-17 Radiating from the constellation Leo the Lion, the Leonid meteor shower is famous. Historically, this shower has produced some of the greatest meteor storms in history – at least one in living memory, 1966 – with rates as high as many thousands of meteors per hour. Indeed, on that beautiful night in 1966, the meteors did fall like rain. Some who watched the shower said they felt as if they needed to grip the ground, so strong was the impression of Earth plowing along through space, fording the meteoroid stream. The meteors, after all, were all streaming from a single point in the sky – the radiant point – in this case in the constellation Leo the Lion. Leonid meteor storms sometimes recur in cycles of 33 to 34 years, and in most years produce a maximum of perhaps 10-15 meteors per hour. Like most meteor showers, the Leonids ordinarily pick up steam after midnight and display the greatest meteor numbers just before dawn. In 2012, however, the waxing crescent moon will be setting at early evening, leaving a dark night for Leonid meteor shower this year.

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Fall Lingers in the Pass

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