Text and photos by Yvette Cardozo
Vol. 13. No. 2
A hazy soup, obscuring the city of Fairbanks, forced our jet to circle in a holding pattern until the tower was able to clear it for landing. “That’s ice fog,” my seatmate said. The pilot announced, “Welcome to Alaska, the current temperature is minus 43. Hope you’re all bundled up.”He didn’t mention that we would soon experience iced eyelashes that would seal our eyelids shut.
Yes, I did want to experience Alaska in winter, but visiting during the decade’s worst freeze was not part of my plan. But actually, when you’re dressed for frigid, the whole thing is, well, fun, sorta.
Fairbanks during a solid freeze is like visiting another planet. Things work differently there. Triple thick insulated windows have gas between the panes. Nobody turns their cars off. Locals just leave ’em hiccupping in parking lots. Children go outside for recess until the temperature dips below minus 20, Soap bubbles freeze, so does a mug of coffee-just toss one into the air.
Electrically charged sun particles interacting with the earth’s magnetic field plus various gasses found in the atmosphere, release an energy of colored light, known as the northern lights. International visitors come to the northern reaches of Alaska and Canada to observe the magic of this unique interaction. I was one of the most enthusiastic observers.
After dressing the role, my goal was to photograph the northern polar lights. That meant standing outside like a night owl at two in the morning in minus 45 for, say, a total of three or four hours. I piled on the clothes: two sets of long underwear, top and bottom, then a fleece vest covered with a sweater over heavy insulated pants and a monster-thick jacket I named “Brute.”
Wearing glove liners covered by thick, insulated mittens and “bunny boots”, the “official” Alaska state winter footwear, I was good to go. Of course, I added chemical hand and foot warmers.Two balaclavas, a neck gaiter and a wool hat covered my head.I was warm enough, except whenever I removed the gloves to change camera batteries, which happened distressingly often.
There are basically two things to do in Fairbanks during mid winter: watch northern lights and commune with the ice.It is one of the world’s best places to view the aurora borealis, which exists in a donut around the earth’s magnetic north and south poles. That band, by sheer coincidence, lands squarely in the skies over Fairbanks most of the time.
Those mesmerizing colors, said University of Fairbanks aurora researcher Dirk Lummerzheim, depends on the gas being struck by the electrons. Low altitude oxygen makes the most common color, yellow-green. Higher oxygen makes red. Ionized nitrogen makes blue and neutral nitrogen makes purple-red ripple edges. All this happens in a band between sixty and one hundred and twenty miles above the earth. The lights can usually be seen in a fairly narrow belt typically one hundred miles wide.
That’s usually. If the aurora is really active, the band can reach as far as the tropics. There is a story about a Roman emperor who saw a red sky to the north and sent troops to help a burning city only to find nothing on fire. Aristotle saw enough auroras to come up with a theory that they were caused by light leaking out of crystals in the sky.
Since 1999, the University of Fairbanks has had an aurora forecasting website, www.gedds.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast, which looks at sunspot activities during the previous month in order to make an educated and relatively accurate guess on the forecast for lights. An active forecast rates a “four” on a scale of zero to nine.
I spent three glorious sleep deprived nights watching fabulous iridescent lights. The high point was my experience at Chena Hot Springs, where they’ve gotten aurora viewing thing down to a fine science.
At 10 pm, we climbed into a train of snow buses and thirty minutes later and 1,700 feet higher, arrived at a heated yurt surrounded by conveniently photogenic spruce trees. Japanese tourists love northern lights, and we had a full contingent.
Half of them, dressed in red Antarctic-type parkas, others in matching blue parkas, huddled around the yurt’s two propane stoves while their guide stood on watch. Every so often, the door would burst open, the guide would shout something cryptic and the whole mob would dash outside to stand there gasping with delight and, in several cases, trying to take pictures with their flash cameras.
The lights were truly spectacular … rays of glowing green spread across the entire sky in writhing fingers that flowed, curled and reformed into folding curtains tinged red on the bottom. Normally, it’s just a colored haze but at times this night, it solidified into rivers of striped green sand that flowed across the entire sky.
I photographed it against the line of trees, against the people and, best of all, against a really picturesque wood building that turned out to be the outhouse. But there was far more to my trip than northern lights.
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PAWS For Adventure specializes in nighttime aurora dogsled tours.”The dogs really like to run at night,” said co-owner Leslie Goodwin. “It’s colder and more exciting because they don’t know what’s around the next corner.Indeed they do.
Leslie bundled me up, wrapped a sleeping bag around me in the basket and we were off. Mushing at night has a special quality … the crunch of snow under the sled, the trees appearing like black spikes frosted in white, gliding past as and our breath curling around ours head in thick clouds as the stars above glittered bright and hard.
To the north, a faint glow slowly condensed into a milky green haze. Then it took shape as small, curling curtains and finally settled into a band, like a green rainbow across the sky.
The next morning, I watched the start of the Yukon Quest, a dogsled race that covers 1,000 miles between Fairbanks, Alaska and Whitehorse, Canada. Four-time-winner Lance Mackey’s dogs were on another level from the others. They howled and strained. Frost hung from their lathered fur. They kept looking back, standing on their hand legs, eyes bulging.
They wanted TO GO! Lance, as expected, ultimately won.
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Back in Fairbanks at the Grand View Bed and Breakfast, www.grandview-bb.com, my base when I was not at Chena, there were more northern lights to be photographed from their deck. Morning brought the opportunity to watch a moose and her yearling dig for back yard grass.That last afternoon, with temps still hovering around minus 30, I hit their hot tub.
What bliss … lounging in the hot water, steam curling around me as I watched the far off Alaska Range turn rose and purple in the setting sun.I had finally found the perfect combination for winter life in Alaska.
If you go:
While most winter tourists come to Fairbanks in March, when temperatures tend to be more reasonable or just below freezing, there are those that want the “real” winter experience. For them, early February during the start of the Yukon Quest is a good choice. Beware that temperatures can and often does dropped to 40 below zero.
Though many bed and breakfast operations offer decks for aurora watching, several companies specialize in northern lights trips and guidance. Among them:
PAWS For Adventure Sled Dog Tours which includes mushing your own team by day or taking an aurora ride at night, www.pawsforadventure.com.
Chena Hot Springs Resort, sixty miles from Fairbanks, offers winter activities including sleigh rides, soaking in the hot springs, dogsled rides and aurora tours, plus the Aurora Ice Museum, www.chenahotsprings.com.Mount Aurora Fairbanks Creek Lodge, twenty miles north of Fairbanks, includes dinner and aurora tours to SkiLand, a local ski hill that offers an “aurora cam” for people to watch the lights, www.aurorawebcam.com, a Website that requires a yearly fee.
In March, Fairbank’s main event is the World Ice Art Championships attracting carvers from thirty countries who design two hundred sculptures including ice slides. Best viewing is mid March, www.icealaska.com.
For general information on visiting Fairbanks in winter and places for renting serious winter clothing, contact the Fairbanks Convention and Visitors Bureau, www.explorefairbanks.com.
PHOTOGRAPHING NORTHERN LIGHTS
Digital cameras make photographing northern lights easier than film. Film captures less than you see. Digital captures much more. Even mediocre lights on a digital camera look fantastic.
As for how to do this … you need a tripod, of course, and a camera that will allow long exposures. Use the widest angle view or a wide angle lens.Set the camera on self timer so you don’t have to trip the shutter. Or use a shutter release. And bring lots of batteries … half a dozen at least … along with a small flashlight.
Open your lens to the setting that lets in the most light. Then try an assortment of exposures, depending on how bright the lights are. Usually, you will want to start at ten seconds at an ISO rating of 400and progress to longer exposures. Finally, frame your lights with trees or people.
For further information: contact mary@peachin.com