Wintertime sadness?

What is the worst part about living here in the wintertime is a question I have gotten many times. After living here since 2009 I must say that winters are hard and brutal sometimes but not impossible. I can say though that lately I have felt less excited about the winter. This winter for instance I didn't get out skiing almost at all, compared to last winter when I skied to and from work almost every day! It didn't really get as cold this winter either, compared to last winter. Winters here can be cold, but so so beautiful. Snow covered spruce mixed with beautiful sunrises and sunsets. 

We also didn't receive as much snow as we did last winter. We went about 105 days between December and March without any new snow on the already thick snowpack. Last year on the other hand, we received plenty of snow throughout the season. This is probably also one of the reasons why I didn't feel like skiing at all this year. Now when I look at these pictures though from last year it makes me miss skiing, oh well, we can't always have it all. 

Springtime arrived?

These past weeks have, per usual, been like a rollercoaster weather wise. Springtime in Alaska usually brings on the best april fools, but a lot earlier, already in March. Mother Earth can play tricks with you, letting you think spring is here one day and then reassure you that life happens on this planet on her terms the next day. 

Last year in early March, weather was pretty nice for a week, before it dipped down to 40 below. This winter has been extremely warm (all is relative right, I mean warm in the sense of 20-30 below instead of 40 below), and NO snow between late December and early March! We went 105 days without any new snow that stuck to the already thick snowpack that had arrived earlier. 

On Saturday Tycho and I was enjoying the warm spring weather, he napping in the sun and me doing chores, like hauling water.

Then on Sunday we woke up to about 4 inches of snow.....but by the end of the day all that snow had melted. 

Winter travels and the White Mountains part 1

View fullsize

Cold weather, snowstorms and BLM cabins  

    Last year my husband came up to visit for a couple of months and we planned a long weekend in the White Mountains. The weather this year has been really warm compared to previous winters, not only here in Alaska but elsewhere too. We drove towards the white mountains on a Saturday morning, through a really bad snowstorm. We arrived at the trailhead about 2 hrs later and felt, man that was the worst drive ever. We had been so worried about the weather on the trail but it turned out that the weather on the road was the most dangerous situation we ran into. The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) has a bunch of cabins out in the White Mountains (and elsewhere too) which you can rent for a very small fee. They are completely dry cabins of course, no running water, no electricity, no stove to cook things on so you have to prepare a little bit. The first day was our shortest day and we skied about 7 miles before we arrived at Lee's Cabin, we met quite a few people going out when we came in, and luckily there had been another party at our cabin right before us so we arrived to warm cabin! 

Trail Etiquette

    As always when you are out and about in the mountains in Alaska, a lot of other people are out too. It is not uncommon to run into skijorers, dogsleds or snowmachiners. It's a good habit to leave way for people that are traveling at a greater speed than you, especially dogsleds, since it's a lot harder for them to slow down for others. We had a wonderful time out in the Whites, if you are interested to read more about the adventures we had, click on any of the pictures below: