We put a large group of 16 climbers up on the glacier Tuesday.  There was a storm blowing in so we were not able to land them on the snow at the 6000′ elevation as they had hoped.   We generally use wheel skis to access the glaciers during the summer months, as long as optimum conditions prevail.  Optimum conditions mean winds less than 20 knots and enough sun light shining on the snow to create shadows.  The storms at altitude are usually more severe with winds well in excess of 50 knots.  The non-de script landscape of snow covered glacier makes it nearly impossible to deal with marginal weather because all visual reference is lost in the flat light of white on white.   we opted for 35″ bushwheels, rather than wheel skis, because of the stormy outlook, and  landed on the exposed ice of the lower glacier.  The wind was still blowing 30 knots but the air was still very smooth as long as you stayed away from the mechanical turbulence associated with close proximity to terrain.  It took us most of the afternoon to move everybody in, but when we flew away at the end of the day they were well situated for the weather and cooking dinner in 30 knot winds.

It is June in Alaska and we are back to the business of re-supplying hikers in the bush.  This was a NOLS group on the Chickaloon river, and the weather was perfect … as it always is in June :o)  Actually it was the first morning of fog and clouds in more than 20 days!  I think that is a new record.

This is what the Matanuska drainage looked like this morning as I climbed out for the Talkeetna Mountains.  It was nice to see some clouds for a change.  Us Alaskan kids get a little uncomfortable if the weather is too nice for too long … it just ain’t right. 

It has been a bit on the warm side here in Alaska during the past week.  I was in McGrath a couple of days ago when the record hi temperature was set at an astonishing 94 degrees!!!  I was pretty pumped to be a part of Alaskan history in the making.  To celebrate I let my ghost white legs out of their cage and flew around bare foot.  It took one short field landing of stomping on the brakes to realize I have tender princess feet, so I put on flip flops.

Half way done with “the swap”

I like my Fluidyne 2200 wheelskis well enough, they do a great job on the snow.  But I get really sick of the tiny little 8.50×6 tires that go with them. This year I was a little late making the swap from wheel skis to bushwheels, but the day has finally arrived!  I swapped last week and life has been pure bliss ever since.  OK, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but the freedom of a 35″ bushwheel is totally disgusting.  I’ve actually put almost 2 hours of play time on the cub (and 30+ hours of work) since making the swap because if feels so good be back in the bumps.

I’ve been up on the glaciers a fair bit during the past 10 days, and it has been hot, hot, hot.  The snow is slushy all the way up to 9800′.  May and June are the best months to see turquoise pools of water out on the glaciers.  I always enjoy trying to photograph something that’s so extreme it looks totally fake.  If a painter were to accurately paint glacial blue into a glacial landscape, we would look at it and determine that the artist got carried away with the color.  My little pocket-rocket Canon camera certainly cannot represent “the blue”, but that does not keep me from trying over and over.  I did finally get an HD video camera to help increase your viewing pleasure.  No camera will do the Alaskan landscape or coloring justice but an HD camera is a big step in the right direction.  I made the video for the Port Alsworth film festival last month and thought ya’ll might enjoy it.

We put a few hours on the Super Cub today, mashing around the Talkeetna Mountains.  The weather was truly awesome.  Awesome in terms of variety.  We saw heavy snow fall, sunshine, clouds, reduced visibility, rain, sleet, rainbows, wind, and more sunshine.  I love Alaska, I love the unpredictable weather.  In one valley we saw 12 sheep,16 caribou, and a grizzly bear all within a half mile of each other.  We did stop on the Talkeetna River just long enough for a head stand, and a short walk.  Thankful for another day enjoying God’s creation.

I spent the last 2.5 weeks running around Western Alaska.  I put on about 10,500 miles, which sounds impressive but Alaska is so huge , I barely even scratched the surface.  The weather was great and we saw everything from 15F – 82F degrees.  We were staying in Port Alsworth and had a fantastic time.  We “swam” in Lake Clark approximately once per day.  Although, “swam” is used very loosely as most immersions lasted less than 10 seconds.  The only swimming that took place was the frantic thrashing of water that followed each icy jump.  We found the lake irresistible because of the amazing sauna built on the shore by Roger Ledford.  If I had any brain cells left to kill they died somewhere between 150F air and 35F water.  Port Alsworth is an amazing destination, full of amazing people.  If you ever have the opportunity I highly recommend going to visit.   Don’t move in, just visit, because it’s already getting a bit crowded :o)  We were lucky enough to be there for the 2013 fly-in.  There was a pizza drop competition, a spot landing competition, many games, and a film festival all hosted by Lake and Pen Air.  I am really happy to be home with my family.  We will be moving back to Sheep Mountain for the summer flying season very soon.  

Port Alsworth.  We were staying on the island on the far left.

Caribou headed for the calving grounds near Nishlik Lake.

82F degrees is hot, hot, hot for us Alaskans.

Tanalian Falls

Helicopter pilot Troy Cambier standing on Tanalian Falls

Colleen and Troy enjoying Tanalian Falls

Cruising in the Cessna 185.

Roger and Nick discussing the days events in-front of the lodge.

Fishing for grayling after a hard day of flying under blue skies.

Another excellent meal with the crew.

The red line is my track.  This shows a couple of days work.

The 2013 Port Alsworth Fly-In

Doing a head-stand in Quinhagak, Alaska.

Lake Clark in the morning

Lake Clark in the morning

Reflection.

Mark crosses to Osprey Island on the the walk home from the airstrip.

These photos were taken a week ago last Sunday.  It was St. Patricks day and we squeezed it in between church and corned beef.  We only had 2.5 hours to work with, but that’s the beautiful thing about living in Alaska.  We took off at 1320 and were home by 1530 … not a bad way to spend the early afternoon.  You may see these photos again because I took some video footage of the flying and it may need to get edited into a sporty little video and then posted on the blog.

Speaking of “sporty” did you notice the Blue Ice Aviation hoodie in the picture above?  Now THAT is sporty, and I think you would probably look awesome wearing one.  Plus, the weather is bad, so I can’t fly, and the post office needs our business.  So …. Click Here to get your hoodie today!

All sizes in-stock S-XL.

This photo is only a couple of hours old.  I was heading home over the Chugach Mountains after finishing a job.  We recieved 6-8 inches of snow yesterday and it dawned this morning clear and cold.  Infact it was only 1 degree when I took this picture and I almost frost-bit my pinky by sticking it out the window to get this shot.  Nope, nope, no need to thank me as I risk the very skin on my fingers to bring you images of the Alaskan wilderness.  Meanwhile, you can just sit behind your nice warm desk sipping green tea and enjoying the photos :o)

The airstrip barely revealing itself.

Happy backpackers.

These photos were taken in June of 2012.  A backpacking course had hiked a week to reach this airstrip.  The mountains were more choked than normal because of the heavy snow fall during winter 2011-12.  Even in June, waste deep, and sometimes even chest deep snow was a real problem.  This portion of mountains is in the Eastern Chugach.  Photo #1 shows the only airstrip within 30 miles….so there were no other options.  

These are sticky situations, when the condition of an airstrip is unknown, and we are relying on it to deliver much needed groceries.  It would take an extra $750 of flight time to go check the airstrip beforehand, and that is not always feasable.  We tackle these situations by having a solid “plan b” … airdrop.  Fortunately, for the hikers pictured above, their airstrip had only just barely, barely, barely, loosed itself from winters grip the day before the ration, and I was able to land with ease.  If we had needed to resort to “plan b”, they would have been eating animal crackers in powder form rather than cookie form.

To be honest this is one of our nastier strips.  I think I’ve talked about it before on the blog, but it is only 450′ long and it is at 5500′ elevation.  The wind only blows across the airstrip, and it is crowned.  So, on final aproach, I can only see the first 200′, and if the high point of the strip is not marked with a backpack or something that I can aim for, I am utterly lost.  The rocks lining both sides of the airstrip are like knife blades and I am certain that any wavering in my control would result in a $3000 flat tire.  And to top it all off, there is a bump right in the middle of the airstrip that is absolutely unbelievable, even with Alpha Omega suspension and 35″ bushwheels.  I cringe to even think about it sitting here at my desk … it makes my back hurt.  Yep, this airstrip is a real beauty.

Sent from my iPhone

I got up yesterday morning to fly from Wasilla down to Homer.  The weather was marginal in Soldotna so I was on weather hold until noon when the radar returns finally started to dry out and an improving trend was in place.  I flew south for 2 hours under sunny skies and calm winds.  I noticed along the way that I was apparently flying in a corridor of good weather that was 20 miles wide.  I thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine, and the view, and even got a couple of nice photos along the way.  When I arrived in Homer there was not enought daylight left to get any work done so I tied down the Cub and donned my wing covers and engine cover as the first snow flake fell.  I crawled in the truck and left the airport with heavy snow falling.  Conditions worstened drastically over the next 30 minutes.  It snowed heavily for three hours and visibility was reduced to less than 2 miles with an undefined cieling. It’s always amazing how fast reduced visibilty and precip can form in February, in Alaska, and especially on the coast.  I love Alaska for that attribute, you just never know what it’s going to throw at you.  But yesterday afternoon I was happy to be sitting in K-Bay coffee house sipping tea.

Crossing Tustumena Lake.

On final approach to Homer.

The Homer Spit sticking out into Kachemak Bay.

I don’t post many pictures of my Cessna 185 because I simply don’t fly it as much as the Cub.  I took this picture in June last Summer when I was out with a friend testing the effectivness of the 29″ bushwheels on soft and lumpy gravel bars.  Everytime I see this photo it makes me wish it was Summer again.

For those of you that don’t know the difference between my two planes, the Super Cub weighs about 1240 lbs and grosses at 2000 lbs, has a 160hp Lycoming engine, cruises at 90 mph, is made of metal tubing covered with fabric, is certified to seat 3 people, and operates comfortably at gross weight off of 500′ runways.  My Cessna 185 (pictured above) weighs 1800 lbs and grosses at 3200 lbs, has a 260 hp Continental engine, cruises at 140 mph, is made of sheet aluminum, certified to seat 6 people, and operates comfortably at gross weight off of 1100′ runways.

There are only a few airstrips that can handle the Cessna 185 in the mountainous terrain that we normally operate.  If the 185 is light, it will easily handle a 500′ airstrip.  If there is a steady 15 mph wind blowing it can work a 500′ airstrip with ease, and even haul quite a load. People often ask why we don’t use the larger Cessna 185’s for some of these jobs.  The answer is that while the 185 can handle more than we give them credit for, there is little or no room for error in sub-ideal conditions on these marginal airstrips.  The flexibility of the Super Cub in a variety of winds, lighting, and loading conditions makes it the most sensible tool for most of our jobs, and offers the most amount of margin.  Margin makes me happy.

Here is a video of the 185 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnt5Zqgad5c

I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Homer. I flew the Cub down here to do some work for a few days, and the weather has the upper hand…as always.  We actually got two days of good flying in before getting slammed with winds, rain, slush, and snow and reduced visibility.  In fact, I never got off the ground today.  The cub is parked outside and with all the rain and snow I am hoping it does not get too cold tonight or I will be looking for a heated hangar to thaw the old girl out.

Homer is a coastal town, at the end of the Sterling Highway.  It is one of my favorite towns in Alaska, and I love coming down here to work.  Here are a couple of photos I took the past couple days.

Wednesday Morning February 13th.

This morning Thursday February 14th.

A fishing boat approaching the Homer spit today during the snow storm.

The world re-knowned Salty Dog Saloon on the Homer spit.

This is another one of our airstrips in the Eastern Chugach range.  The little plants littering the ground are called glacier cotton by the locals.  More widely and perhaps accurately known as “cottongrass” from the plantae kingdom, the Cyperaceae family, and the Eriophorum genus.  There are 25 species of of cotton grass in the Cyperaceae hedge family of which I believe this photo shows Eriophorum Callitrix, or “arctic cottongrass”.  Even if you learned nothing from the previous sentences, at least I got to look smart for a couple of seconds.  Wikipedia is amazing.  Anyways, glacier cotton is one of my favorite little plants and someday I’m going to make a t-shirt out of it.  

And another photo of glacier cotton, with some nerd doing a headstand.  This photo was taken by my friend Carrie Lambing.

And again this photo was taken by Carrie Lambing, and it is the best one that I have showing this awesome little plant.

This photo was taken in September with the Chugach mountains forming the backdrop.  This was actually taken from our airstrip at Sheep Mountain as Mike Meekin departed with the Cessna 185.  I was up at Sheep Mountain on Tuesday of this week, wow that place is beautiful.  Even though I spend 5 months every year up on the mountain, I somehow forget how awesome it is up there.  I can’t wait to start another Summer season!

This photo was also taken in mid-September in the Chugach Mountains while picking up sheep hunters.

I’ve been out boring some holes in the sky this week and managed to get a couple of cool shots.  The weather has been mild and calm for several days and with the daylight slowly returning to the North there is a distant hope of warmer temperatures in the approaching months.  We spotted a couple of wolves sunning themselves on the summit of a small knoll totally unbothered by the Super Cub.  There was a band of about 12 sheep lingering in the cliffs just 100 yards away, but everybody seemed rather at ease with the situation.  If you look close in the last photo you can see the wolves ontop of the peak with the sheep lingering just above the cliffs below.  We also saw a beautiful lynx from the air yesterday which was an awesome sight!

I hope to be posting photos more regularily in the weeks ahead, I apologize for the long pause in blog activity … I have a good reason for it, but I am not going to go into the details today … maybe later.

Blue Ice Aviation 2013 Calendar (July image)

Sent from my iPhone