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This is Page 2 of 2 - the best of Winter 2023 - 2024!
posted: March 27th, 2024 |
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This page begins with a February 7th trip out to Chena Hot Springs for the day, then a walk up our road on February 10th. After that are some bird photos, some moose photos, and then some amazing shots taken in the vicinity of Eagle Summit. After that are photos taken at the Ice Alaska Competition, and then the final photos - taken on a hike on the Wickersham Dome Trail. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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  Now it's February 7th, a few days after that incredible cold spell ended. Out here at Chena Hot Springs, where the hot water means steam rising at all times, the ice formations are the most amazing things to be seen. The first shot in this row shows Kazuya. the second shot shows the Rock Lake, where we soaked for a long time just a few moments ago. The third shot shows amazing ice growth on the Rocks that surround the Rock Lake.
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  In this row we are walking along the shoreline of the Rock Lake and shooting the most amazing icy photos. Can you even believe that second photo?
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  These two shots show more amazing ice formations. That's me, Daniel, in the second photo.
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  These three photos are all the same. The first one was as shot - not processed in any way except to have the (C) added to it. The second shot has been converted to monochrome (black & white), and the third photo has been converted to High Dynamic Range (HDR) in Photoshop. Which photo do you like best? I find it amazing that the bottom of the stream can be clearly seen in the third image.
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  Now we are back at home and taking a walk up the road about 0.5 miles to Gettinger's Field. Note the snow machine tracks through the field.
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  Now it's mid-February and the Common Redpolls (Acanthis flammea) are hanging out at our feeders and in our snow covered yard. In this first photo you can see them searching for seeds on the top of the snow. The second photo shows two of them in our platform feeder, and the third shot shows a single one on the snow.
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  It's February 18th, and although we can see by the snow on our land that we have had several moose visits through the winter, we have seen few before this day, they most often seem to pass through at night, which we have had a lot of, with only 3 hours and 40 minutes of possible sun during the shortest days of winter. These photos were zoomed in so that the distance to the neighbors black septic-tank pump-out is fore-shortened (due to the telephoto lens).
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  Here are the final moose photos, along with another shot from our west window to show you the snow depth on this date.
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End February 2024, Begin March 2024
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  Now the calendar has entered March and we took a drive up the Steese Highway to our favorite hangout - the Twelvemile Summit to Eagle Summit area. The first photo shows Kazuya at a spot just a short distance below Eagle Summit. The center panoramic image was shot from east of Eagle Summit, and this shot actually includes the Eagle Summit Wayside at the far left side of the photo. The third image, another panoramic image, concentrates on the snowdrift that you see in the previous photo. There is not generally a drift here, it was a windy winter this year. This photo has been converted to monochrome (black & white).
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  These two shots, taken just a short distance below Eagle Summit, show some weird corniced drifts, note how the cornices are actually corniced, this is again, something we've never seen here - more indications of an extremely windy winter.
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  Want to see some ice and snow sculptures? Wikipedia says this about our Fairbanks ice sculpting: The World Ice Art Championships is an ice sculpting contest in Fairbanks, Alaska produced by Ice Alaska, a non-profit corporation started in 1989. The contest is the largest of its kind in the world and attended by more than 100 sculptors from 30 countries every year." Note the clarity of the ice - this ice is known as "Alaska Diamond" ice. The first two shots were taken in the daylight, while the final shot was taken in darkness.
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  The first photo in this row is actually a snow sculpture. The center shot is a nice sculpting showing an old fashioned carnival "step right up folks, see the ...". The third shot was taken to show the ice clarity.
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  The front-end loader is a critical piece of equipment for this contest, those huge blocks of ice are not moved into place by hand. The second image is snow sculpting.
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  Of course there are many things here designed for the younger folks. These two photos show one of them - a nice little sliding hill.
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  On March 20th Kazuya and I took a drive up the Elliott Highway and stopped at the Wickersham Dome Trailhead and hiked up the groomed trail about 0.6 miles or so. The first photo shows where we turned around. The second shot shows Kazuya taking photos.
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  Those mountains in the distance are the Sawtooth Mountains, I think. The second photo is what looking off the side of the trail was like.
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End Winter 2023 - 24 Photos, Begin Our Publications Links
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We'd be thrilled to have you buy one of our books. For additional information regarding any title please click the "General Information" tab on the "Our Books" button down at the bottom of this page. Click on any thumbnail to go to its Amazon.com webpage.
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End Our Publications Links, End Page 2 of 2, Winter 2023 - 24
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