A couple of days ago we landed out in this swamp to do some work for a client. As I mentioned in previous posts it has been super-warm here in Alaska for nearly 2 weeks. The snow has become a dense 4 foot thick ice blanket now that the temperatures have cooled. We walked about 2.5 miles on top of this crust, but I carried my snowshoes the whole time just incase the conditions changed as the day warmed up. If you have ever spent a day post-holing up to your crotch, then you know that lugging a pair of snowshoes around is a small price to pay for peace of mind. As we were walking back to the airplane I held my camera at waist level and shot this picture on a whim. I think I like it.
On the morning that we did this trip it had cooled to about 20 degrees. If we had tried this the day previous when it was more like 40 degrees, I am certain that snowshoes would have been necessary to even look at the snow. I had planned on spending several hours stomping out a runway in a slush pit, and I was disappointed that my buns-of-steel exercise was duped by the temperature.