Blue Ice Aviation - Blog

I took this photo last week on my way home from a late night flight. I was returning from a glacier flight and the clouds were building into towering cumulous all around. The clouds would occasionally fall from the sky in the form of slushy white rain. The weather had been deteriorating through the evening, and I struggled to get back down the glacier from 8000'. It was one of those nights where the fog was appearing out of thin air, while I watched... so I was anxious to get out of the mountains. As the vegetation of lower elevations came into view this hole formed in the clouds, and shown on the toe of the glacier. It was strikingly beautiful because it was like flying down a dark tunnel towards the light at the end. I wish I could have captured the feel, but I guess this picture will have to do.

It's bed time so this is gonna be short. I just wanted to say that I liked the way the shadows laid on the Tazlina bowl this evening. It was sort of weird weather and I was happy to get out of there. I know its all blue sky in the picture, but there was a lot of fog forming out of thin air all around ... and that makes me want to be elsewhere.

This picture is 2 hours old. I took it while en-route to check a landing site tonight. The turquoise water struck my eye as I was flying by, and the dense cloud cover seemed to enhance the colors. I love the reflection of the blue water in the window. I think this picture makes me happy, thanks for looking at it.

This is one of the NOLS courses currently camped out on the ice field 20 miles from our house. I took this at 9 pm on my way home the other night. You can see how the warm temperatures have begun to melt the snow. It has been so warm that it has not been freezing at night even though it's nearly 10,000 feet! This weather cannot last forever but I guess we can enjoy it for the moment.

I snapped this yesterday on a little flight up onto the glacier. I was only 15 minutes from my house and it was the sort of day that needed to be experienced to be believed. It was 55 degrees at 6000' and the snow was melting like an ice cream cone on the side walk. The air was still and the sun was hot. Honestly the weather has been so nice for so long I am ready for a little bit of nasty foul clouds and rain. Too much sun is not good because the smoke from the forest fires will shut us down. But ... I guess for now, I better just grin and bear it :o)

Sent from my iPhone

The past week has brought a cycle of afternoon thunderstorms to the Talkeetna Mountains. The hot afternoon air is unstable and by 1 PM it is so rough, that it is really not fun to be flying. This is a weather pattern common in the lower 48 but relatively new territory for us Alaskans.

I took this today at 8500' while crossing the Talkeetna Mts on my way back to the house. The Chugach can be seen on the horizon, and the clouds overhead were making some awesome patterns on the snow.