The Arctic in January... not for the weak

January, I have determined, is the month that best exemplifies what everybody thinks when they think Arctic.  Of course I haven't tried February yet and I've heard it might be the colder of the two months, but it doesn't fall within the 63 days of night.  January has it all.  The extreme temperatures, sea ice, the first sunrise, the aurora... if you want to know what the Arctic is about and are feeling ballsy, visit in January!

Starting about January 17, I started getting pretty excited about the arrival of the sun.  For about an hour or two each day the sky would get just light enough to turn our street lights off... and when you haven't seen the sun since roughly Thanksgiving that's pretty darn exciting.  It finally broke the horizon on the 23rd.  I went out and took a picture, of course.  I've also been told that this excitement about the return of the sun is a sure sign that I'm not a native of Barrow.  But you know, I don't believe that...  at least the cab drivers seemed pretty happy about the prospect too.  Another thing I've heard is that with the return of the sun comes the real cold.  Now THAT certainly seems to be true.

The cold has really been epic in my opinion.... and it's been relentless.  For weeks we have been staying in the -30s with wind chills down to -50.  Many people have asked me if when it gets as cold as -15 or -20 does it really feel any different from -30... or in the case of today's temperature -44 with wind chill of -71?  They always seem certain that once you get that cold, cold must just feel cold.  And now I can say, YES!  -44 with wind chill of -71 is breathtakingly cold, and I mean that literally.  We have an arctic entry to our house that isn't heated, but is obviously warmer than outside.  When I step into that entry my whole body tells me that stepping outside is a bad idea.  And when I open that outside door and step out, for a split second I can't breathe.  I have to make a conscious decision to take a breath.  Your nose hairs freeze instantly and almost painfully.  -15 is a cakewalk compared to -44. -15 is refreshingly brisk; -44 is serious, protect yourself from frostbite kind of business.  Kudos to all who live in Fairbanks and experience colder temperatures in the interior!  The difference, of course, is that we have this kind of weather for a lot longer.  As a photographer, though, I feel drawn to the outdoors in these kind of temperatures.  You can SEE the cold in the air.  Any particulate matter in the air stays close to the ground creating a haze (granted, not great for air quality), ice crystals hang in the air, and the low angle of the sun creates beautifully soft colors that you just don't see many other places on the globe.  


Of course, when it's this cold out you get clear skies.  On any clear night in Barrow, there's a chance of seeing the aurora borealis.  Even on inactive nights, the auroral band still sits above Barrow.  While we're not likely to get the kind of fantastic displays seen further south (we're actually a little too far north for optimum activity), we still have an excellent chance of seeing something ethereally beautiful.  The night of the 25th was a great night for aurora watching and my husband and I donned our cold weather gear to be outside for an hour or so and watch them.  And yes, it's worth braving the cold to see them.



Plus, in January there's an excellent chance that if you walk around town you'll see something along the lines of a frozen caribou being used as a lawn ornament... and who doesn't want to see that?!  So if you want the the quintessential Arctic experience, come visit us in January and you'll come close to winning the respect of those of us who call this place home!


Bring it, February!

Adventures in the Stroudmobile, deep freeze edition

I know it has been a while since my last post, but as it turns out the holidays (even in Barrow, AK) are hectic and at the same time not much worth reporting happened.  Until today.  We had a dinner date set with some new friends and we had been looking forward to it... as it turned out, the date for our dinner this evening was one of the coldest days we've experienced yet.  As I type the temperature outside is -35 degrees F with a wind chill of -53.  In other words, if you are outside and are dressed inappropriately you risk frostbite on exposed skin in about 10 minutes.  Usually on a day like this, we huddle down in our warm house.  But as I said, we were looking forward to this!  So we started the van 30 minutes early as needed to go anywhere and Ian went out to scrape.  One of the idiosyncrasies of our lovely van is that it often frosts the inside of the windshield as well as the outside.  Double the scraping!  But at temperatures like these, our breath frosted up the inside almost as fast as we could scrape and the defrost fan has also apparently started working only intermittently.  There wasn't much else to do but drive quasi blind.  Ian was a master at scraping while steering and I had to hang my head out the side window to supplement Ian's impaired vision with an audible description of what I could see from my vantage point.  Teamwork in Barrow is important!  We got to our destination in one piece, if a little windblown and chilled on my part.  Dinner was wonderful and we have new friends to prove for our driving adventure.  At least things weren't quite as bad visually on the way home so I didn't have to hang my head out like a dog on the way back... but it was still far, far from ideal.  Needless to say, I think we're going to have to figure out a solution to our inside frost problem.  Not having the defrost fan is not ok!  I guess we're sufficiently acclimated now because -35 doesn't really phase us.  We're used to the obscene amount of clothes and the instantaneous nose-hair freeze upon walking outdoors.  It's crisp.  I like it.

Save the whales for dinner, part II

October in Barrow... simultaneously the most dreary month (that I've experienced so far and by word of mouth) and the most interesting.  It started out with temperatures in the 30s and a light dusting of snow with lots of animal sightings and is ending with temperatures in the teens (single digits with wind chill), snow drifts that can be as high as 4 feet and dead whales.  On one hand, I have seen the sky maybe twice all month with mostly constant snow clouds adding to the dreary feeling... and on the other hand I've seen one of the coolest things I've seen in my entire life.  Don't know quite how to feel about October!


I had thought the whaling season was over seeing ice on the horizon and all, but what happened was one last big push that brought in three more whales!  Luckily, Ian was able to get me the news with enough heads up to get me and the boy dressed and out the door.  Providence allowed this perfect timing day to be on one of the two beautiful days this month... with no wind!  So 12 degrees felt like 12 degrees and not -5!  A wind can make what would be a decent day into a brutal day.  I managed to get us out of the house in 20 minutes flat... some kind of record... and before long we were skidding along the icy streets in the notorious Stroudmobile.  It seemed like no time before we could see all the vehicles of the family, crew, and interested on-lookers on the right side of the road just past the blue Barrow whalers football field with the ice-laden Chukchi Sea on our left.   I found a "parking lot" with an entrance I thought we could manage and parked the van feeling rather relieved when it seemed certain it wouldn't die in park.  It needed to stay running in order to assure that we'd be able leave.  You never know when the van gods will smile on your or not!  I loaded Atticus into the stroller, the only thing I could come up with on how I would be able to take photographs and keep up with him and pushed it awkwardly toward the large bowhead whale laying on its side a short walk away.  It hadn't been long since the large machinery had pulled it out of the ocean and had deposited it at the end of the old runway where they do their butchering.  This being the sixth whale caught this whaling season, most of the people there were family and friends of the crew and a handful of scientists who show up to measure and and record the contents of the whale's stomach, etc.  This was a great situation for me seeing as I wanted to take some pictures without people in them.  Since it was about 2pm, the sun was also fairly low in the sky, casting long shadows and a lovely warm light.  Kids were having fun running around and climbing on the whale's jaw area before the butchering drove them out of the way and the general feeling around was one of muted joy.  Everyone was smiling and having a good time, except for the crew hard at work.  They worked at a rate that was rather amazing to behold.  They can dismantle a whale so quickly!  It's obvious they know what they're doing.  After we had been out there about 30 minutes, a woman came around offering hot tea to all the onlookers.  It was nice to be there and be part of it all.  Even Atticus didn't seem to mind too much being cooped up in the stroller for an hour so long as I moved him around a little bit.  After about an hour, though, he was ready to go and my memory card was pretty much used up by then too.  So we walked slowly back to the van, which was thankfully still running and very warm, and drove back to town.  It was great.  When we got back, I heard that two more whales had been brought in.  I think this fall whale hunt has been a fairly successful one!


For those interested in the whaling, in the fall they do go out in modern fishing boats.  This is mostly because the ocean is open and it is safer to go out in the modern boats when there isn't a lot of ice around.  Ice can do a lot of damage to metal boats, though, so in the spring they still go out in their sealskin umiaqs.  Sealskin is much easier to repair in the case of damage.  The umiaqs are also quieter, which helps the hunt.  So while some people may frown on subsistence whale hunting saying that it isn't the same since they use modern tools, they DO still use traditional methods as well.  The spring hunt used to be the primary whaling time until the ocean started getting a touch warmer and the ice they camp on more unstable.  Now the fall has become the primary whaling time.  The whale hunt is sustainable and every part of the whale is used, and it is an integral part of this very unique culture.

Save the whales.... for dinner!

Fall whaling season started early this month on the 8th of October.  I was totally bummed because I was out of town and of course they caught two whales before I got back.  Then there was a LONG stretch of time when the weather was too bad for anybody to go out and I figured it was over.  I was happily surprised when I heard  on Monday that two whales had been caught (unfortunately for me, that news came too late for me to get a look), and then today while I was in an appointment I overheard that another had been caught.  I rushed home, forced Ian to get himself and the boy ready, and we raced out to the site of the old runway, where they were butchering it.  As it turns out, we caught the tail end of the butchering (not the prettiest subject of photographs) but I can now say I HAVE SEEN a bowhead whale being butchered.  It was gory to say the least... blood staining the snow everywhere.  I saw a fin laying around and part of the ribs, some intestines and other organs and whatnot... and it was SO COOL!  This marks the 5th whale caught this fall whaling season and the meat goes to feed the community.  Now I likely have to wait a whole year to hopefully get there soon enough to see them haul it up the beach and make the first cuts... and I can't wait!  Congratulations to the crew who brought this whale in!  

Adventures in the Stroudmobile

Our van.  It's a 1987 Ford F-350 15 passenger clubwagon.  The speedometer doesn't work.  There's a leak somewhere in the power steering so that doesn't work.  It's thinking of rusting through in some spots, there are more cracks in the windshield than I like to count, and it doesn't idle well.  Sometimes it cuts off when you come up to a stop sign.  This means we've gotten used to putting it in park while revving the engine to keep it going.  It's basically an adventure and an upper body workout just driving this thing!  But you know, it runs and the heat works pretty well.  With the onset of winter weather, however, it's become a little bit more of an adventure.  It snows in our van... like a measurable amount.  Ian has decided it's because some of the doors don't have rubber gaskets.  I'm still flummoxed how that much snow can get through a seemingly shut door even without rubber gaskets!  The biggest adventure, though, came the other day while I was driving to the post office.  Barrow is a windy place and it has really been howling lately.  Makes 20 degrees seem a lot colder!  I had turned on Eben Hopson St., one of the more major roads in Barrow, and was cruising by Tasigarook Lagoon when a gust of wind unhooked the hood of the van and flipped it up covering the entire windshield.  I let out an involuntary, low scream right before I tried to see out my passenger window how close to the edge of the road next to the lagoon I was.  Being so high up and the window a little dirty and so far away, I really couldn't tell.  So I just slowly came to a stop as best I could on a road of ice.  I discovered I don't know where the emergency lights are... probably need to know that with this thing! I checked my rear view window, put the van in park and got out and fixed the hood in the middle of the street, cars passing me on the right (apparently I wasn't as close to the side of the road as I hoped.)  The kind of funny thing is nobody honked or even seemed to act like this was anywhere out of the ordinary.  Only in Barrow.

Settling in for the long haul of winter

 

Something like 4 inches of snow fell on Barrow overnight and we'd already had two or three inches on the ground already.  Our freshwater is frozen and winter is no longer just a rumor.  It is here.  People have traded their ATV's for snowmachines and cars everywhere are starting to be plugged in.  And you know what?  I'm ok with that.  I've decided that Barrow looks best under a beautiful blanket of white.  AND I've seen more wildlife since the snow started falling than I've seen all summer.  This is evidently snowy owl season.  They are everywhere...  almost like the eagles in Homer.  Barrow's Inupiat name is Ukpeagvik which means, "The place where we hunt snowy owls."  And yeah, no wonder! Ian pointed out to me the other day that they are completely silent and they really are.  The take off without any sound whatsoever and without any warning.  This morning breakfast was postponed for an hour while I stalked one that was hanging out at our house.  Somebody must have told it about all the lemmings living under our house.  :)  And not just the snowy owls have been out.  I've seen two arctic foxes in the last two weeks.  Now if only another polar bear would show its face around here!  But that's all in good time.  Fall whaling starts on the 8th and with whale carcasses comes bears.  Unfortunately, I'll be out of town for the start but hope they catch one when I return!  

Our elections were held today so hopefully we'll find out in short order who will be mayor. One of the primary candidates is rather controversial.  His wife has recently been indicted for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the native whaling corporation. And yet, it won't surprise us if he's actually elected.  Ian and I thought it was kind of funny that we were watching part 3 of Ken Burn's movie on Prohibition tonight while votes here are being tallied to see if a liquor store will be allowed in town to those who qualify to buy.  Wouldn't that be something?!  Of course, Ian is actually against the idea.  It'll make work that much more difficult.  Ian and I didn't get to vote today.  We had asked to be added to the voter registration list when we updated our drivers' licenses but evidently that didn't go through. That's life in a small town for you.  I enjoy the atmosphere of a small town immensely though.  It's nice to go to the post office and see people you've just seen around town before.  It's homey.  

2 beautiful days in a row... must be some kind of record!

Today we went outside and celebrated two beautiful days in a row. It was "warm" and we frolicked on the beach without coats. It was 42 degrees. It's really too bad Ian had to work today on what was supposed to be his day off because we really could have made a day of it. But we'll be going to bed feeling so much happier for our frolicking. Good day. We really have to start taking full advantage of what few days like this we get because winter is on its way in a hurry. We're already dropping below freezing at night and it won't be long at all till we're never making it above freezing.

The post office today was unbelievably slow (this is not unusual in the slightest), but I did get to eavesdrop on the unusual conversation between two teachers that involved a lot of bathroom humor. And everybody in there was a lot chattier than usual. Makes for much better line waiting. In Barrow you appreciate the little things like overhearing funny conversations. Atticus, of course, had his usual great time trying to unlock all the post office boxes. Nothing makes that boy happier.

I've been told by multiple people that they'd like to know about our sunshine hours. So for those who having inquiring minds, today's sunrise was at 6:59am and sunset will be at 9:45pm. Not too shabby! We're losing daylight quickly though.