February 15, 2009

We are collapsed on the couch after an awesome weekend of skiing. I got in three full days totaling over 55,000 vertical feet. It was one of the best weekends of skiing ever. Friday was a few inches of heavy snow that was windblown into a perfectly smooth surface all over the mountain. Saturday was more of the same, but perhaps a little heavier. Sunday was deep snow, lower density but still pretty dense.

I skied with a friend on Friday. We made lap after lap on North Face. Each run was a smooth untracked surface. It wasn’t very busy and the wind was refreshing the mountain as quickly as it was getting skied. On the steep parts, the snow let go in impressive slough slides that chased us down the mountain. In Christmas Chute, I was carried down the chute a ways on the flowing snow after executing what would normally be a stopping motion. These slides are relatively harmless. They can knock you over if you aren’t expecting them and sometimes some larger chunks slam into you and it hurts, but mostly it is simply amusing.

I expected Saturday would be crowded, but I was wrong. I think no one was allowed to have fun on Saturday because of Valentine’s Day. It was uncrowded, windy, and quite fun. The snow was denser, more wind affected than it was on Friday, but it was still smooth and predictable. Today was mostly boot deep wet snow. The contrast was that we skied ‘on’ Saturday’s snow and we skied ‘in’ today’s snow. At times, we could feel the pressure as the snow ran up our thighs. On the steeps, the snow sprayed all the way up our fronts and hit us in the face as we dipped into our turns. The snow held up pretty well, but was getting pretty bumpy at the end of the day. Our friends from Fairbanks are in town so we skied with Dan most of the weekend while Heidi performed her patroller duties.

Work continues to be busy. I made it out to two platforms this past week. It makes for long days, but it is fun out there. As I rode the helicopter back to shore one evening, I was reminded that this is no ordinary desk job. The sun was setting behind the volcanoes as large circular sheets of ice flowed in the tides of Cook Inlet. It was quite a scene. I wish I could use my camera on the helicopter.

The platforms in winter are quite a thrill. These large sheets of ice flow in the massive tidal currents. It creates a disorienting visual as you walk on open grating high above the moving ice. Many of the ice chunks are hundreds of feet across. The legs of the platform saw through them like a ten foot wide bandsaw. Sometimes the ice hangs up and other sheets and chunks collide, rolling and breaking the massive pieces. It is quite mesmerizing to watch.

The weight of all that ice has an effect. The massive steel structures shake and move under all that pressure. It is like being in a constant earthquake. Sometimes it settles down a little, sometimes it intensifies. With the visual motion of the water and ice and the actual motion of the platform, it probably isn’t a good place to go if you are highly susceptible to motion sickness. I think I must be losing my sensitivity. We will see what happens if I get stranded and have to spend a night in those conditions.

We continue to maintain our activity levels. We have been cross country skiing consistently on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It gets us outdoors for some exercise during the week. Our standard 2.2 mile course is getting a little repetitive, but it feels good anyway. The conditions have been nicer lately, no ice and few bumps.

The volcano watch continues. It has been seismically quite active since my trip over there, but still has not gone off. They still believe an eruption is likely, but it is getting a little boring waiting for a natural disaster, uncertain if it will occur and how bad it will be.