February 6, 2009

We are burning our candles at both end. We are feeling mentally and physically exhausted. Our jobs are demanding a lot of us and we are finding the time for good activity levels. We cross country skied on Tuesday and Thursday evening last week and Tuesday this week. We downhill skied both days this past weekend. I also skied last Friday. Kris managed to find some time to ride her bike on the trainer and attend a couple yoga classes. At least our weights are coming back down.

We are still waiting for the volcano. They are still predicting an eruption. It is pretty weird to be waiting for such an event. We seem pretty far away here in Anchorage, but we can see the mountain from town. It is a pretty prominent peak on the horizon. It could make for some good photography if it goes on a sunny day.

I spent a good chunk of the week in close proximity to the danger zone. I traveled to the west side of Cook Inlet, a good 60 miles closer to the volcano. The single engine plane landed in a snowstorm on Thursday and left me at the isolated facility. The workers there expressed surprise that the plane had landed under those conditions. The snow continued throughout the day, dropping over eight inches on the ground and keeping visibility to a minimum. As time approached for my return flight, things were not looking promising. I worked in an office during the afternoon, trying to be productive, ignoring the likely stranding that I was facing. Finally at about 5:00, the official word came that the plane was not coming to take me home. I was stranded. Luckily I had planned for such a possibility by bringing a change of clothes and some toiletries.

Of course the snow stopped at about the same time they made the decision to not fly. When I wandered to the production office for an update, the lead operator laughed at my first stranding, a routine event for workers who often have shifts extended by days, sometimes even weeks, when transportation cannot reach them or bring in their alternates. He added to my misery by showing me the volcano website. The volcano was ramping up with intense seismic activity. It had been pretty quiet since its first big rumble.

I made it through the evening, hanging out in the TV room, talking with some of the workers, finding some common interests, primarily skiing. As people began disappearing and things quieted down, I realized that I had no idea what time breakfast was served. The sign in the cafeteria convinced me to head to my assigned room pretty early to get some sleep before the 5:00 AM breakfast. I slept lightly, kind of like a camping trip except instead of wondering if every noise was a bear, I wondered if every creak and vibration was the volcano.

I was relieved to awake to good visibility and no ash fall. Morning dragged on with delay after delay. While the visibility was good, the ceiling was low. The planes were not flying. An instrument contractor and myself worried about getting our stays extended yet another night. Lunch came and went with little change in the weather. I checked the volcano website frequently and the activity level kept moving upward. It was nerve wracking. When a crackle came across the radio that Kenai Aviation would be arriving in 20 minutes, I quickly gathered my laptop and gear and headed for the landing strip. It felt like the last plane out. A few other workers with another company were also looking to get out which provided enough justification for the air service to bring their larger twin engine that was capable of flying low below the clouds to get us home. It was an adventure, but downright frightening. I am glad to be home tonight, almost three times as far away from the rumbling mountain.

Cross country skiing was fun last week. It does feel good to get outdoors even if it means eating dinner at eight. Tuesday was a little rough as the icy conditions from the previous week only degraded from there. The light snow cover practically disappeared leaving only the lumpy ice. It was very fast, but very uncomfortable. It took tremendous effort to keep the skis underneath us. We skipped the hills by the lake as it would have been too scary. We did ski across the lake. We were a little concerned about the ice thickness, but saw footprints running along the shallow edge. We figured if someone could walk on there, that skiing would be relatively safe. It was the best part of the workout as the ice on the lake was covered with a little snow and a layer of frost. This made a smooth surface that took the strain off for a few hundred yards.

We got a couple inches of snow so last Thursday was much better. It was slower, but we finished the course much quicker as we were able to push ourselves with little fear of falling. It was a pleasant evening with the moon and Venus lighting the clear evening sky. A moose grazed on the branches along the trail. The temperatures were in the teens, but it was nice.

We cross country skied again this Tuesday with a friend. The snow coverage has returned to normal. We did scare a couple moose that were resting in the woods. We are enjoying the activity again.

We got a few more inches of snow last Friday and Saturday. The conditions at Alyeska were pretty good. I skied for several hours on Friday. The temperature was in the twenties, but a cold wind sent me indoors for a lunch break to warm my feet. The visibility up top was pretty bad with foggy clouds passing through pretty regularly. Some of the best conditions were down low where the groomed runs responded to the couple inches of fresh snow on top. With weekday crowds, I was able to really let my skis run, arcing high speed turns from one side of the trail to the other, leaving behind deep parallel trenches that I could evaluate as I rode back up the lift.

Saturday brought brightening skies, colder temperatures, but no wind. We arrived after the chairlifts opened, but we still found stretches of untracked snow. It was only a few inches on top of a mostly firm base, but it was still fun skiing. We made lap after lap on the top of the mountain. It was one of our longest days of skiing for the season.

Sunday was another clear day, but even though the thermometer read double digits, we both felt cold from the start and never really warmed up. The snow had the chalky squeaky feel of a frigid day. We weren’t finding inspiration in the conditions. After finding a little fun on one of the groomed runs down low, Kris suggested a nonstop top to bottom run. We hadn’t done one of those yet this year so I decided I was game. We took the two cold lift rides back to the top and headed down. I was surprised that after a couple of steep pitches, one that was a bit uneven and icy, my legs were still feeling fine. I laid down a couple of high g turns even though I knew I still had half the mountain ahead of me. A couple more icy steeps, a couple narrow stretches, and a slowdown to pass some beginners brought me to the last section. The snow softened as the trail widened and I put my legs to one last test, making four powerful turns to finish the 2300 feet of drop over two miles in just less than five minutes. Yeah, I had my GPS on. In spite of the speed causing me to lose all feeling in my thumbs, I suggested one more run from mid-mountain. It was a mistake. We were both terribly chilled by the time we returned to the bottom. Our hands and feet were so cold that they hurt when they finally started warming back up.