Exposing Real Alaska
Sometimes I wonder if there is any rock under these mountains or if they are just piles of snow and ice. Imagine the annual snowfall that maintains a frosty cone like this one. This is at 8500′ in the Chugach so it is very likely that 30+ feet of snow falls here each year.
I am always amazed at the uniqueness of a formation like like this one. This is less than 20 minutes from where I live, and this snow mound looks like this 12 months out of the year … I love Alaska.
I went in to pick up some guys off the glacier this afternoon. They called me on the sat-phone this morning and wanted to be picked up early because of a harrowing experience they had yesterday on the side of Marcus Baker. I asked them to write the story down and send some pictures so I could post them here on the blog. They agreed to share the experience and I am eagerly awaiting the report of their events.
One of my favorite aspects of flying in South Central Alaska is that every time I crest another ridge, peak, or pass the mountains keep on going into the horizon.
I was climbing out of 4500′ headed for a little notch in the rocks. I was in the process of following a set of wolverine tracks and the little boogers are either going straight up or straight down. The Chugach Mountains are amazing because every time you turn around there is another granite wall with snow and ice clinging to it.
I am still out here working in Western Alaska, but I managed to find some Wi-fi at the library this afternoon since we quit early. All-in-all the weather has been pretty good but we’ve had a couple of days where we had to call it quits because of reduced visibility. I took the sunny picture 3 days ago and the hazy one today. You can see that Western Alaska is a tad bit flatter than home. I should be getting back to the mountains this weekend.
Thank you Samantha for keeping the pictures coming. Now lets see if this shady internet connection can post these pics …
Ok, so my post is a bit early today because I am not going to be available later tonight. Samantha is going to run the blog for a few days, and she has some great pictures too.
In this picture I was headed for a landing alongside the glacier, and I thought this was a nice view out the side window… seems like my wings are always getting in the way :o)
This is a recent image, and I think it is one of my new favorites. I was turning to land above the blue ice chunks on a relatively smooth portion of glacier. I was out scoping the area for new ski terrain, and I think I found a couple of runs, I’m pretty excited.
Yesterday I flew over the Chugach Mts from the Knik to the Matanuska, and today I flew over the Talkeetnas from Willow to Eureka. These regions have slim pickins on powder stashes right now because of a thin snow-pack and a raging wind. The ridges are wiped clean of snow, but there are many North facing chutes that look like they could be a lot of fun. It will be great to see how the month of March plays into the overall snow-pack. A really good Spring ski season is still totally feasible, and it would not be the first February warm spell that made all the backcountry skiers sweat. Lets hope for snow over the next several weeks because we’ve got some terrain to cover.
Also, if there are any ice-climbers reading this, it looked like Caribou Creek would be fun right now, I took one picture of it if you’re interested email me at Matt@BlueIceAviation.com.
I took both of these while I was out working yesterday. As I have mentioned in previous posts we are in our very slow season, but when I fly I post current images. We will begin to get busier as we near the month of May. Currently most of my days are spent building on my house, working on the plane, and taking care of business. I took several pictures of the plane this winter while it was under maintenance. I will do a maintenance post in the weeks to come.
The first image is simply a pilot’s perspective angle, and the second shows what the clouds look like when the wind is blowing 60 knots. Yesterday the wind was light and variable on the ground, 40 knots at 3000′, and 60 knots at 6000′. We got our work done, but there were a couple of bumps along the way. I never climbed above 1500′ because I wanted to avoid the wind-shear that was certain to exist somewhere between the ground and 6000′. In the second picture you can just barely see evidence of Anchorage on the far side of Cook Inlet. I love the sun in those clouds.
I was looking at this picture thinking, “wow, nice job Matt, the way you captured all the bugs and scratches on the wind screen, beeeaautiful”. Then I remembered where I took this, and why it was funny to me. Look at my GPS, and notice the ground speed, 29 mph. N7780Y cruises at 90 mph in dead calm air at 2500 RPM. I think the wind was blowing 50-60 mph at altitude. The air-strip I was heading for was on the valley floor so it had good approaches from both directions and I had a sneaking suspicion that it was not blowing as hard on the ground. I landed several times here on this particular day and it was never blowing more than 20 on the ground.
For those that don’t fly I am going to briefly explain the difference between airspeed and groundspeed. If my airspeed in flight is 100 mph and I am flying into a 100 mph headwind then my ground speed is 0 mph. That’s all, it’s not rocket science. Airspeed is all-important when it comes to the flight of the aircraft because it’s what keeps the plane in the air. It’s also what all of our structural limitations are based on for deploying flaps, maneuvering speed, Never Exceed Speeds, etc. Groundspeed is what gets us home in time for dinner. Pilots often ask what airspeed I land at in the cub. I have NO IDEA. I honestly don’t know, I have never looked at my airspeed indicator on landing because I don’t care. I can feel it in my butt like all the other guys that fly cubs. I just fly it as slow as I can behind the power curve so I am hanging on the prop a bit.
Here is my point after saying all this … I ALWAYS LOOK AT MY GROUNDSPEED on final. I know that is bassackwards from how we were taught because the aerodynamics of the plane don’t care about groundspeed, and if you have a tailwind you could stall and crash. A well-tuned Super-Cub-Butt should be able to feel a 3 mph tail-wind. If I see my specific magic groundspeed, in landing configuration, on final, I know I can get my plane stopped in the given distance. (NOTE: I did not put numbers in that last sentence because I don’t want some idiot to sue me when he/she crashes using them.) All I am saying is that I feel my airspeed, but I visually check my groundspeed, because groundspeed is the energy I need to dissipate upon touchdown. I did not always have a GPS so I certainly don’t need it, but I sure do love double-checking that ground speed. On numerous occasions I have used that information to get out of bad approaches on one-way strips before it was too late. If you’ve ever landed on the side of a mountain with a 8 mph tailwind you overlooked then you know what I am squawking about … ya’ that’ll make your butt pucker.
