Great video of Redoubt eruption

Here's a time lapse video of Redoubt's Friday eruption made by Bretwood Higman.

and if you can't see it here, you can go to http://vimeo.com/3892358 and check it out. There are also some really cool pictures of the eruption at night at http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/blog/?p=849.

As for me, I hadn't seen any first hand evidence that there was an eruption until yesterday afternoon. Then Beth and I were out snowshoeing with our friends Heather and Pat when we noticed dark clouds moving in. Snow was predicted, so I didn't think too much of it, even after Heather pointed out ash on top of the snow. I just thought it had fallen with the recent snow and gotten exposed by melting, but within a couple minutes it became clear that this stuff was falling on us - and starting to fall harder!

So we had to cover our mouths - Heather had 2 facemasks, but Pat had to use a bandanna and I was stuck wrapping a sweaty shirt over my face - and hurry back the last mile or two to the car. Once we got there we waited for about a half an hour before driving as the last ash settled out of the air. Not too suprisingly, the stuff can be murderous on car engines. Then back to Anchorage where we did what any sensible people would do: made grilled cheeses for dinner!

I didn't have my camera, and we didn't want to stop for pictures once the ash started falling, but Beth did get this one shot, while we were getting our facemasks on:

Volcano update

Here are some pictures from the eruption of Mt. Redoubt on Monday. Things with the volcano seem to have settled down for now, but thats what they said about a week before the eruption happened, too. I'm just hoping that no ash ends up in Girdwood before Friday, so I can go snowboarding. Anyway, this eruption produced an ash cloud up to 60,000 feet high which led to ashfall over 100 miles away in some places, but fortunately not in Anchorage.

The first picture is from a remote webcam located about 7.5 miles from the summit, and the second was taken by scientists the day after the eruption. Melting snow and ice due to the eruption flooded the Drift River valley, with high water marks on the valley walls showing that floodwaters were up to 8m higher than at the time of the picture. Thats 25 feet!

Ski train: now with more pictures!

We went with a group of 30-40 people: Team Cheesy Puff! Here's the train down in the valley:

It was really pretty from up high:
And romantic. Ooh la la!

We slid down this hill on our butts. It was probably a 35 degree slope, and there were times when we were going so fast it was a bit scary.

This was definitely a brilliantly executed one-handed handstand, and not an attempted backflip that ended just exactly like it looks like it will.

Ski Train to Curry

Yesterday we rode on the ski train from Anchorage to Curry, AK, an old mostly-abandoned ski town near the edge of Denali National Park. The trip had everything: beautiful weather, good food and drinks, amazing scenery, fun people and a polka band. We opted for snowshoeing instead of skiing, which seemed like a good choice because it let us get off of the beaten path and tromp around in the woods. The highlight of the day was butt-sledding down a 35-40 degree chute on the way back to the train, but we also hit a moose with the train and some drunk guy got arrested for moving peoples' shoes around the train for no apparent reason. We also saw several bald eagles, several non-smashed moose, and the views of Mt Denali and the Alaska Range were fantastic in the morning and afternoon, before clouds and snow moved in towards the end of the trip.

Here's a video of the polka band (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSJ_mkTvBU0):

And some pictures of the scenery:

New Snowboard!!!!

Hates the old bindings. I went down to Alyeska this morning and hit the slopes for the first time on my brand new snowboard. We took one run together, and at the top of the second run I noticed that my old bindings had snapped. So I made my way carefully down to the base and went into ski shop #1 to buy new bindings.

But they didn't have any large bindings in stock. Now, my feet are big for my size, but my size ain't that big, so its not like i need some king size bindings. Anyway, I left, kind of miffed, and headed over to the other ski shop in Girdwood. Guess What?!? They had bindings - for only a little over $300! I asked the guy if they had any of their other bindings in stock and when he said no I politely declared "FUCK!" and stormed out of the store.

Long story short, I got a full refund on my lift ticket and got bombed in the base lodge. It was pretty fun.

Bizkit

This pup does more than twitch his paws when he dreams...


(There's a video here, which you won't be able to see on Facebook)