First Encounter with Frostbite

The snow is really piling outside of the school. At least the sun has come back! It's light at 9:00 and dark at 5:00. Pretty awesome!



The sun was



The ocean looks exactly like the tundra. Windswept mini-hills of snow as far as the eye can see. The thick snow over the sea ice scares me because I can't see the ice under it! No way I'll be going that way.



Calvin took Bud (the principal's husband) and I way up the Shaktoolik River to fish for some massive grayling. The trip was 13 miles upriver on this bright, windless, and zero degree day. About 5 miles up Calvin started having trouble with his snowmachine. Bud showed his dry Montana humor--"What, did ya blow a tire?"



A quick re-heating of the carbs put us back on the river highway. The ice belowed us glowed a vibrant green in the bare spots.



I got to ride in the back seat....the wayyyy back seat! My rear end was pretty sore after riding all day in a sled, but I'm not picky. Just enjoy the trip.



Even though zero degrees feels warm (comparatively), on the snowmachine things get frozen FAST. My chin was freezing through my face guard, but it eventually got warmer and warmer. At first I was afraid of frostbite, but then I realized that my breath had formed an ice shield on my face gueard! My whole face shield was frozen solid and thick with ice, which ironically insulates better than having just a face guard.



We had finally made it to a place called "Ungalik" to fish for the giant grayling! The site had sheer cliffs on the west side, which means the river goes deep under them.



And I got to see some healthy trees. Beautiful! The rolling hills with stunted trees reminded me of Montana or Eastern Washington.



We busted out Calvin's ice auger and drilled way down into the ice.



Arah! We drilled almost 4 feet down with the auger, and there was still ice underneath us. Maybe if we just try a hole somewhere else.



After side drilling holes to get the auger deeper, we still couldn't get through the ice! Firing off a few rounds from Bud's magnum down into the hole didn't break through either (wish I would have gotten a picture of that). I grabbed a stick and tried ramming it down the hole with no luck. We had come all this way to be stopped by ice more than 4 feet thick. Arah!



The cliff rock face was stunning though...



The only choice we had was to turn back and fish somewhere closer. I remembered to snap a picture of our jaunt through the trees.



Finally got home after 5 hours of riding and drilling. I have never before felt the ice clutches of the North as I had on this trip. My -40 Sorel boots with 2 pairs of socks couldn't keep the wind off of my feet, and the slight waxiness of frostbite was evident on them. No black toes or scars for me, but the danger of the cold was made real to me. The unforgiving chill of the tundra will forever be in my mind when people in Washington complain about the cold.