natursyn.dk

Lee’s Cabin is located in the White Mountains north of Fairbanks. Yiming and I traveled the 12 km from Elliot Highway to the cabin on skies. The weather was beautiful but also windy. It happened to be full moon, equinox and Holy Thursday on on the same day. The aurora was frail but beautiful under the full moon.

Fairbanks is spite of its small size a town rich in culture. One of the most spectacular cultural events in Fairbanks is “Ice Alaska” where artist from all over the world carve sculptures out of ice blocks. The craftsmanship and skills of the artists speak for themselves in the pictures below. Yiming and I volunteered for a couple of hours in the International Polar Year igloo giving out information about polar regions.

Chatanika is an old gold mining town about 50 km north of Fairbanks. Every year in March the town hosts the traditional Outhouse Race where five-person teams push an outhouse for about 250 m. I was a member of the UAF team and that was a lot of fun. However, the most spectacular part of the day was watching the bar and people sitting there because it was full of old Alaskan artifacts and stereotypes.

One of the benefits of the long polar nights in Fairbanks is the display of the aurora borealis or northern lights. Auroras are produced by the collision of charged particles from Earth’s magnetosphere, which most often occur around equinox. Here in Fairbanks we have had some impressive displays the last couple of days. To watch them, I have spend the last two evenings at Murphy Dome, a hill located around 25 km from town. The view was spectacular but with temperatures between -20ºC and -30ºC and winds around 15 m/s it was also quite cold. So having a warm car to step into is nice when you start feeling cold. I am quite happy with the pictures although I look forward to having a bit more of moon light to lit up the landscape.