Venture South

My mom is here visiting and she wanted to see all the places she saw while here back in August except now with snow.We left before the sunrise at 8:30am as we had a 2 hour drive and wanted to take in the view in the daylight. We headed south on the Seward Highway and stopped to take numerous pictures of the sunrise with pink, and orange hues peeking through the mountains. As we drove along the knik inlet I now saw that the glacial stilt had turned into huge chunks of frozen masses. At first glance one might think they were rocks but they are, in fact, frozen clumps of glacial silt.

Sun starting to rise taken at 9:55

Sunrise over Knik inlet with large frozen glacial silt masses taken at 10:05am

Large Glacial Silt masses

The drive was gorgeous even though it was dark for the first hour. On one side of the road there was frozen waterfalls, spilling onto the road creating a deep raven and the other side the knik inlet with the sun rising on the horizon. Every 10 or so miles there would still be a non-frozen, flowing waterfall which I later learned was due to warm spring water. I never would have guessed warm springs in Alaska but this is the case in some spots.

Frozen waterfalls from the mountain melt run-off

We stopped at Beluga point to take some photos. The sun barely over the horizon. No beluga whales were to be spotted but huge floating chunks of ice, and the endless masses of frozen glacial silt were plentiful. We continued south on the Seward Highway another 10 miles to Portage Glacier. Portage Glacier is known for dozens of feet of snow each winter. I had been there in the summer and they get so much snow each year that giant yellow guide poles are needed so the plows can see the edge of the road. There was not too much snow at this point but we have had very unusual weather for this year with several thaws at 40 degrees or higher.

After taking in the gloomy view at Portage Valley we headed back north on the Seward highway. The Seward highway is along huge mountains. I spotted several Avalanche shuts. One of which had a recent avalanche as we took a picture the snow had spilled across the railroad tracks. It had not quite made it to the road but there was full blockage of the train tracks. It looked like a thick milkshake poured onto a table.
The once green mountains covered with spruce were now thick with black tips of the spruce sticking out of the deep snow. Each spruce tree has an important job of holding back the fallen snow and they do so boldly with just the tip sticking out like heads in a swimming pool.

Avalanche Shoot spilling over the train tracks

We arrived at the Alyeaska Resort. The Alyeska Resort is the only ski resort in North America to boast mountain, glacier and tidal water views. It contains 1,400 skiable acres and 113 acres of snow making. Alyeska Resort is home to multiple Olympians including Tommy Moe (1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. The Summit Elevation is 3,939 feet, and base Elevation of 250 feet. They average 643” of snowfall. Alyeska Resort is home to North America’s longest continuous double‐black diamond run: The North Face.

I put on my boots, mittens, bombardier and snow pants and I led mom through the hotel to the backside where the tram leaves from. We entered the Tram, we were the only 2 without snow boards, or skis. Inside the tram we stood tight like tooth picks in a box skis and poles must be upright as not to poke eyes out. As soon as the door opened people raced out to get a start down the mountain and return. The place we hiked up was now numerous ski hills we took pictures and enjoyed the breath taking view.

Look at the tiny specs in the background-each is a skier!

Mom taking in the view of the Knik inlet

The gray/black shading is pure trees! That's A LOT of trees!

On our way down we were the only 2 on the tram, and I managed to capture stunning pictures and as promised only the tips of some of the 40 -70 foot trees stuck out. Unbelievable there is that much snow. Our tram operator told us a slow day is 1000 skiers, normal 2500-5000 and peak weeks even more.

40-60 feet of snow (gaging by the trees). Only the very tips of the tall spruce are visible

The tram we rode in

THICK trees on the mountain

On the drive back to Anchorage there was a bunch of cars pulled off to the side of the road. I pointed out to mom the Doll Sheep which was the spectacle to which all the cars had stopped. There were 9 total sheep from big buck daddy to fluffy little babies.

Fluffy baby Doll Sheep

We made it back to Anchorage in time for the Aces game. A couple from the congregation has season tickets so they invited us to go. In the first 2 minutes the Canadians slammed an Ace player against the wall and the huge Plexiglas window fell onto the players. The repair men were quick to fix it. I was impressed with the enthusiasm of the hockey fans. Every fan has a cow bell and ring them often. WOW what spirit. When I left the game my ears were ringing like I had been to a rock concert from all the cowbells. Needless to say we won 3 to 1. What a jam packed day but mom had fun and so did I. Each view of Alaska is simply spectacular.

Slammed into the plexiglass

Repair Crew

More Cowbell-The crew!