Skolai Images

Hey Folks,

Here’s a motley crew - the 3 Rascals. Left to Right, Sergei “Borat” Egorov, Steve “Don’t Dude Me” New and Dan “Two Plates” Kelly - only Kevin “Kayfer” Kelly escaped my lens on this shot - I think he was further up the ridge looking for a bear. We dayhiked from camp this particular day, and got back in time for a great supper and sunset over the mountains, alpenglow and all - of course, I wasn’t able to shoot any of that, as I was off on another hike, with Two Plates, looking for the rain pants he’d accidentally left behind on the hike up near a waterfall. We found them and headed back to camp, where my camera lay sitting under the tarp, neatly, where I’d left it - always leave your camera behind when you head out near sunset for a hike, that’s one of my Golden Rules. We had awesome alpenglow on Mt Sanford, Mt Wrangell and Mt Zanetti, all over 13 500′, and yours truly was walking around the tundra without his camera. I really do a great job, eh?

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s Steve “Don’t Dude Me” New - posing in front of the Arch. Every so often a rock or three would fall from the bridge in the background, and crash down onto the ice below - pretty awesome stuff. We enjoyed the glacier and moraine, but the hiking is tough on that terrain. Fortunately we didn’t have to hike too far across the rocks and ice - and the moraine made the river crossing WAY simpler than it would otherwise have been.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image from our first afternoon on the Sanford Glacier - well, on the moraine section of the glacier. We arrive at the landing strip, donned raingear to ward off the ever-present drizzle, and set off up the valley. Before long, we found a place to camp, setup camp, had a nap (always a critical part of a day’s hiking), and then we hiked up the valley to the moraine, and explored that a little. Right before we got on the moraine we saw a grizzly bear, maybe 75 yards away. The bear reared up on its hind legs, took a look at our intimidating crew, and then dropped to all fours and raced off into the brush. Good bear!

After hiking around the glacier a while, we found this arch, which was really cool. Of course, we didn’t have cameras with us, so we made sure the following day to take a short detour off our route up to this arch for some images. I’m glad we did, what a cool place this is. What’s really cool is that it changes on such a scale that it could well not be around next year. I hope it is, but I’m sure we’ll find something else equally as interesting if not. Such seems to be the way of glaciers.

I convinced Dan “Two Plates” Kelly to head up on the bridge of the glacier for a photo-opp. Dan’s never one to shy away from such a chance to shine, and he posed nicely for this. I’ll post another image soon of his brother, Steve “Don’t Dude Me” also at this arch, from below.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

I just returned from a week on the Sanford Plateau. This is the view north from camp on our second evening. One of the few nice evenings we had - more rain, more wind, more clouds, more wind, and then crazy insane winds that nearly drove us off the range. Nearly. I was really hoping to get some nice stuff of the big mountains visible from up here, but the weather didn’t co-operate like I hoped it might. Such seems to be the summer. We had an AWESOME trip though, and thanks to Sergei, Steven, Daniel, Kevin and Wendell - awesome folks, awesome fun, awesome times. And best of luck with Daniel who’s about to head off to MIT for his first year of college - I’ve never met an MIT person before - I’m still kind of in shock.

More to come over the next few days - while I’ll be gone leading a trip from Bremner Mines to Tebay Lakes in Wrangell -St. Elias National Park until the 20th - so I’ll schedule a few posts for while I’m gone. Pray for sunshine.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s a Pectoral sandpiper photo, taken on our recent trip to ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. The shorebirds out on the coastal plain were really a treat - we were so lucky to see a number of cool birds. I’ll try to write a thorough report when I get time. In the meantime, dig this.

Cheers

Carl

PS - I edited this after the great biologist Milo Burcham pointed out the error of my initial post, which said the bird is a buff-breasted sandpiper - Milo, of course, is correct, and I, of course, was wrong - the bird is a pectoral sandpiper. Thanks Milo.

Hey Folks,

Here’s a Pacific Loon image I got late one evening near the Canning River, on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR, Alaska. This photo took me quite a while, and a lot of walking, to swing. I think it was nearly 2am when I clicked the shutter here. I’d been over near this pond earlier, but not able to get close. I ended up walking around for a long time, finding a few other birds to photograph, and then cam back by the loon pond. This loon and its mate were getting more and more comfortable with this strange tripod-toting creature wandering around, and finally came close enough for me to manage a few photos. I wish the light was a little brighter, and the wind not present, as the rippled effect on the water isn’t as nice as a calmer surface, but one takes what one can in the arctic. At least the wind kept the bugs at bay.

Section 1002, the coastal plain, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the area hotly debated over with the proposals to drill for oil. I think the wildlife that live there, will be much better off if drilling and gas extraction aren’t allowed; I think we’ll be better off for it, too.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

As I don’t have anything new to post from the Skolai Trip I did last week, I’ll post a few more Muskox. This young calf was hanging around with his mom and the herd one afternoon, and it took quite a while before I got a decent opportunity to shoot a portrait of the calf. Muskox really protect their young well, mostly by hiding the calves behind the adults, and often keeping them in the thicker brush. Finally this calf ran out in the open, stopped and looked back, and I took this photo. You can see the Mosquitoes were plentiful up in the arctic this summer.

Muskox photos.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Some of you may have read my recent piece on the proposals to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. You can read it here. For those of you who aren’t aware, another hot issue with proposals to drill is the off-shore sites, in the arctic ocean. We were keen to explore this possibility as well, as the testing we did on the coastal plain really showed how magical this arctic oil is. However, howling winds and chilly temperatures proved that off-shore drilling simply isn’t possible. Any deeper than this in the arctic ocean and nothing would be the same afterward. So we said “No”, to off-shore drilling.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

I just got back from a trip to Skolai Pass, in Wrangell - St. Elias, and we got SLAMMED by the weather. It was so ugly, I couldn’t help but feel bad for the people on the trip. I didn’t even take my camera out of the backpack the whole week. So I don’t have any images from this trip. That’s a first for me. Instead, I’ll post some more images from previous trips, including this one from our highly vaunted ANWR Drilling Trip earlier this month. I’m not going to say that this climbing around was my idea - and far be it for me to snitch, but I think you can tell from the looks of the 2 people with me that it was their responsibility - they literally forced me onto this pipeline for the photo. :)

Erika and Bob were great folks, and we had an excellent trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s a look at the effects of global warming on the arctic shoreline. The coastline here is disappearing, rapidly, due to the melting permafrost underneath. 2 years ago there was a reasonably wide swathe of sand along this shoreline. Now the shoreline has collapsed, and the sandy beach is gone.

Cheers

Carl