Posts tagged #Life in Alaska

Those Summer Nights in Alaska

Sunset in Denali National Park, Alaska

21.76 Degrees North of Here

The Land of the Midnight Sun

    When I lived in Fairbanks, or Squarebanks as I used to refer to it sometimes, the winters were long, dark and cold. But the darkness and the cold was all forgotten come spring, and when summer arrived with the endless summer nights we never thought about winter again. I used to chase the sunsets and sunrises, but that became harder in the summertime of course. The sky has always amazed me, how it can change so quickly, and how incredible colorful it can be, that along with the backdrop of mountains is so powerful. I never want to live in a world without that feeling, that feeling I get when I stare into the wilderness in awe and think to myself how extremely lucky I am that I get to experience this, right here and right now. Can you imagine that there are people out there who do not appreciate these wild places? 

    Where do you enjoy a sunset the most?

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, The great wide open and tagged Midnight Sun Midnight Summer Adventures summer days Summer Adventures Alaska Life Outdoors North Mountains Spruce Black Spruce Deep Forest Wilderness 2017 Memories Summertime Life in Alaska.

Chena River to Ridge

 

Adventure Tuesday

It takes a community to raise a child?

    As I have mentioned many times before, the community in Fairbanks is very supportive and everyone believes in you. There are many races in and around Fairbanks, by foot, bike, and ski, come summer come winter. Every summer there is this marathon called the Equinox. It's very famous in Fairbanks and everyone participates in one way or another. If you are not in the race, you are very likely to stand by the side of the trail watching it, handing drinks, baked goods or alike to the runners. There is another race in the winter time called "White mountains 100". Basically a 100 mile ski race in the white mountains. That is pretty hardcore. We went to see the start one year and it was so much fun to see everyone prepare before they departed. We have several friends who participate in this race almost every year. Such great spirit.

 
 

Ski Commute

    When W moved away from Alaska we had spent one winter in the new cabin. I actually can't remember how we transported us to work that winter. I do know for sure that the rest of the winters my main transportation was by ski. Biking works too, but the bike path by our cabin doesn't get plowed regularly and if you have ever biked through deep snow with a mountain bike you definitely know that it takes up all of your energy. Also, if you don't winterize the bike with this "winter fluid" and the temperatures drop to 40 below, the pedals wont catch and they just go around and around and you are standing still.

 
 

Ski training

    Sometime during the start of one winter I decided to sign up for a ski race. I thought it would be a cool thing to do, especially this one. It's basically up a ridge, along the ridge and then switchback turns to get back down in the end...on cross-country skis. They recommend that you have some type of expertise in cross-country skiing before you sign up. To increase my milage before the race I mostly skied during lunch break and also to and from work. In the evenings, instead of skiing straight home, I skied on all the various trails we have to add up the mileage. The actual ski race was in mid March, and after Christmas happened you could definitely tell that the afternoons and evenings got lighter and lighter, to my advantage because as you might know, I am terrified of the moose. I also skied with a backpack, after all, I am a newbie and I want to bring an extra down jacket, base layers socks...and my camera. This race is completely unsupported, well aside from one aid station at mile 14 (22km).

 
 

Racing?

    My goal for this race was not to win, obviously, but to make it. I can ski fast, well not that fast but a pretty decent pace. But I rather ski less fast, so I don't sweat, and I love to take pictures. So not surprisingly, I was the last person to finish the 25 mile race, but that is ok, because at least I made it, and that was my goal. After the fact I also realized that hey, I just did my first marathon, ever, but on skis. I haven't even run a marathon. 

 
 

Race day

    When I woke up the  morning of the race the first thing I did was to check the temperatures. And it was not looking good, well i had already checked the weather forecast and waxed my skis accordingly. Come race day the temperature read -26F, that is -32C. Great. But I am used to skiing in cold weather so in reality it wasn't really a big deal. 

 
 

The ridge

    As the sun rose it casted its warm rays on my face and I forgot about how cold it was. These trails are snowmachine trails, so not really the type of ski trails that you might encounter in a more "normal" ski race. I think i smiled the whole way, well, until the end. I accidentally took a wrong turn and wasted some extra time trying to figure out where to go next, the downside of skiing solo in a small race, you are on your own. Overall the skiing was pretty good. Once you got up on the ridge the views were amazing, and you definitely understood why they want you to have done some technical skiing before hand. And yes, the switch back turns they talked about, yeah they were definitely 90 degree turns going down. It was fast and if you didn't turn, well, hopefully a tree would catch you before falling down the side of the ridge.

 
 

    Have you ever done something that felt out of your league?

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, Adventure Tuesday and tagged Alaska White Mountains Mountains Chena River to Ridge Ridge Skiing Ski race Ski ski commute skitrail snow Winter Winter Adventures skidor skidåkning utlandsboende utlandssvensk 2017 Wintertime Life in Alaska.

High Mountains and deep Valleys in Alaska

 

Flashback Friday

Donnelly Dome

 
 

    Way back when, when I was still living in Alaska, I went on a hike with a friend of mine a couple of hours east from Fairbanks. Fall had been in the air for the past couple of weeks, and we even had some frost in the mornings. Winter is coming. One of the most spectacular things you can do in the mixed forest and the tundra of Alaska is to venture out and see the fall colors. Before you know it the leaves have all fallen to the ground and snow is coming down. We went to Donnelly Dome, which basically is a dome in the middle of a large valley, surrounded by mountains. If you climb it on a gorgeous day, you will have an epic 360 degree view. And we did.

 
 

Fall Colors

    I love the fall colors, and especially that red color that the tundra gets. The area around Donnelly Dome is so beautiful. Tons of small lakes, tundra, spruce, high mountains, rivers and everything in between. And lots of moose too!

 
Posted on March 10, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Alaska, Flashback Friday, The great wide open and tagged Alaska 2017 Fall Adventures Fall Colours colors Mountains Valleys Wildlife Moose Life in Alaska.