Tom and I went out on Saturday. I spent the week on the North Slope where they are in the middle of 55 days of night. Nothing but a faint glow on the Southern horizon for a couple a hours. I needed sun and Anchorage was socked in with fog, but tales of an inversion had me thinking high alpine bluebird.
As we drove South the fog was showing signs of weakness. Just past Girdwood we broke out of it. We were above the fog, but not the cold. Hoar frost was pushing 2" at the trailhead. Good skiing now, but not after the next storm. As we climbed it warmed considerably. We gained the ridge and the sun peaked out from behind Sunburst. Sunrise: 1:00 PM. Better than nothing at all. We saw a steep face that we joked about skiing, but our perspective changed as we neared it and it looked good to go.
Tom set up low and I went for it. It sloughed pretty good. It was fun to be in the room where everything is moving. I did my best Mark Holbrook impression and was through the steeps.
By the time we reached the bottom of the gully, the sun had set on the upper ridge. Only about 2 hours of direct light on this shot in December, but we lucked out.
As we drove back the fog made for some amazing visuals against the unusually calm Turnagain Arm. The fog thickened and we knew that we had made the right choice to get out of A-Rage.
Thanks to Tom for the photos.
- David Chappellet
