Wind as far as the eye can see.
Snow carried off a random peak in the Chugach, a light 35 mph breeze.
Snow carried by the wind dumps over a 2000′ headwall displaying a massive downdraft.
The remnants of strong wind pounding the surface of the glacier.
I spent a little time fighting the wind this week. It’s generally a loosing battle in a Super Cub, and this week was no exception. Alaskan winters continuously deal one storm after another, and the winds experienced at altitude are awesome to say the least. I only flew on the 3 nicest days this week and I still saw some awesome displays of weather in the mountains. All 4 of these photos were taken in the past 7 days. We saw some good solid 50 mph winds and fortunately I did not have a passenger because it got a bit rough, brutalized my ground speed, and kept me tip-toeing carefully through the hills.
The first image was the coolest display. The wind was just starting to pick up speed, and the snow was only a couple hours old so it looked like the ground was a moving sidewalk as the whole surface moved along at 40+MPH. And every ridge as far as the eye could see from my view at 8000′ was streaming snow for a quarter mile downwind. The third photo shows a downdraft of snow that was much more impressive in person as it carried snow 2000′ down a nearly vertical face in a never-ending cascade of powder. The last photo shows where strong winds pounded the surface of the glacier after comind down off of Mt. Thor. The wind will actually come down at a sharp angle out of the hills, and bounce off the ground leaving visible separations between the wind scoured and the calm. I would not believe that was true if I had not experienced it numerous times in the mountains.
It was a great week that ended with a hint, never mind how small, of Spring in the air.