True Life Rescue Dramas in Alaska

I took this photo the evening of Jan. 8.  Moonlight reflecting off the snow provided enough light.  Of course, the tripod that had been under my nose for months was now hiding where I'd "put it away" and I couldn't find it.

As a result, there's bit of a blur from a hand-held camera with bare hands at 5 below zero.

But this post isn't about me taking photos.  It's about some drama taking place right now in other parts of Alaska.

Closest to home is the tremendous snowfalls that continue to occur in Valdez and Cordova, towns that have their toes in the water of Prince William Sound and their backs against the mountains.  It isn't unusual for these two towns to have lots of snow.

What is unusual is for that snow to accumulate as quickly as it has in the last few weeks, one huge wet dump after another.  Valdez is used to coping with snow.  It averages more than 300 inches a year.  That's 25 feetm folks, and much of it stays until spring.  The record year was 560 inches.  That's 47 feet!

Cordova is used to lots of snow, too, but is getting plastered with wet, heavy snow, with some estimates of 10 feet in the last few weeks and 15 feet for this winter.

Last weekend's storm turned to rain and the existing snow soaked it up like a sponge, adding tremendous weight to snow on roofs.  Seventy men and women from the Alaska National Guard landed in Cordova a couple days ago to help the town dig out before more  roofs collapsed.  Now there's a shortage of snow shovels.  With none available from the big stores in Anchorage, town officials are looking to Outside stores for help.

Here's the address of reader-submitted photos from Valdez: http://www.adn.com/2012/01/06/2249732/january-valdez-snowstorm.html#id=2249729&view=large_view

And for photos from Cordova:

http://www.adn.com/2012/01/09/2254598/reader-photos-cordova-snow.html


There are some phenomenal photos there  Well worth the time to look.

Now, farther north:

Photo of Russian tanker Renda as published in Anchorage Daily News.  US Coast Guard photo.

The town of Nome, where the Iditarod sled dog race finishes on the western coast of Alaska, had to look outside the US for help in avoiding a fuel shortage.  Northern Alaska is suffering one of the worst cold spells in memory.  A ferocious storm last fall prevented  the last fuel barge of the season from reaching Nome, and the town was faced with the possibility of having to bring in heating oil and gasoline by air.

The probability of nine dollar a gallon fuel staring them in the face, Nome looked for help from an unusual source:  Russia.  Specifically, the oil tanker Renda.

Weeks of negotiations passed before the ship was given special exemption from the Jones Act, a law that prohibits foreign registered vessels from sailing from one US port to another US port.  This is why US cruise ships have to sail from Vancouver, Canada, to ports in Alaska.


The tanker picked up one million gallons of diesel fuel in South Korea, then sailed to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Chain of Alaska and on-loaded 300,000 gallons of gasoline.  A hundred miles out of Dutch Harbor, bound for Nome, the tanker had to return to Dutch Harbor for a mechanical repair.

Three hundred miles from Nome, the tanker encountered ice.  Now, with the US Coast Guard ice breaker Healy leading the way, the tanker is about a hundred miles from Nome.  It is making around 5mph through ice as thick as three feet.  The hope is that the two ships can make it all the way into Nome.  There is some concern that the tanker might have to unload by laying fuel lines across the last mile of ice.

Now today, the farther-north villages of  Noatak and Kobuk have run out of fuel.  If you go to either of the links I've posted, you can look around the Anchorage Daily News site and find those stories.

Here's a link to more stories and photos about this amazing journey:


http://www.adn.com/2012/01/10/2256355/fuel-tanker-icebreaker-make-progress.html

Take the time to check out both of these stories.   Just put on a heavy sweater or a jacket before you look at the photos.

As for me, another blizzard is whipping through the valley and I suspect that my neighbor's yard is free of snow because it's all over here in my driveway.  I can't tell if we're getting new snow or not with the wind whipping around the 18 inches of powder that fell in the last two snowstorms.  That's on top of the three feet of heavier snow that was already on the ground.

The last time I looked, there was a three-foot drift in front of my door.  I didn't even bother looking for today's newspaper.  I'm not leaving the house today.  Nowhere to go, anyway.  The Seward highway to Anchorage is closed because of zero visibility and avalanches.

Besides, I doubt I can get out of my own driveway.  If the wind settles down, I might go out and take pictures.  Don't count on it, though.

Just another day at Muskeg Manor

My friends in Valdez are going to laugh at this.  I can hear them now.

Yesterday.  Clear and cold.

When I went to bed last night, it was 12 below zero with a brilliantly clear sky.  An almost full moon reflecting off the snow provided enough light that, if I had been so inclined, I could have gone skiing.  At 12 below, I was not so inclined.  Instead, I inclined myself in my little nest in the living room with a nice fire in the wood stove.

When I got up this morning, something felt different.

It was.  Very different.


Twenty above zero--32 degrees warmer--and snowing.  I donned my outdoor gear and waded out to the end of the driveway where I commenced a fruitless search for the orange plastic sack containing the daily newspaper.

Here's a question for you:  How does the newspaper delivery guy expect anyone to find a newspaper if he throws it on the ground during a snowstorm?

This is the end of my driveway as seen over the hood of my truck as I approach the highway.   The yellow thing is a newspaper tube, where my newspaper NEVER is placed.

I have no answer for that, but I do have a counter response.  If I can't find it, I call it in as "missed delivery."  I've heard it costs the guy $5 for every missed delivery.  For that I feel badly, but with a yellow newspaper tube at the end of my drive, I don't feel "home delivery" should involve a treasure hunt.

Early afternoon I decided to go to the post office and the dump so I donned all that winter gear again (a fleece jacket and low waterproof boots) and headed out in four-wheel drive.

 In downtown Moose Pass, the telephone guys were knocking snow off the phone lines before they sagged low enough to be caught by a passing truck.  This has happened a couple times in the last month that I know about.

Then I headed five miles south to the dump, which really isn't a dump but a site that holds large roll-off containers in which we place our garbage for transfer to a facility in Soldotna.

Trail River, just an open spot through the middle.

No place for the snowplows to put the snow.

Love it when the trees are bent like this.

Then, mission accomplished, I headed for home and snow-related chores.

Specfically, finish shoveling the snow off the wood shed roof before it falls down.  I'd previously done the front half.  In the rear, which you can't see from this angle, the snow was four feet deep.  As I worked, I could hear avalanches coming down the mountains, but couldn't see them because it was snowing.

Oh.  Did I fail to mention it was snowing?

Chores all done (actually, I was done before the chores were), I retreated to the house and that aforementioned cozy nest in the living room and a fire in the wood stove.

I am not shoveling the snow off my decks this year.

I figure I can enjoy the new rails from the inside.

Now, this is the reason my friends in Valdez (pronounced val-DEEZ) will laugh:  they have already gotten two feet of snow and are expecting lots more from this storm.  Valdez AVERAGES more than 300 inches of snow every year, with the record being 560 inches.

The 14 inches that fell here today would be considered a "dusting" in Valdez.

 Oh, hey.  Need some more of this?  C'mon, snuggle up.