Memórias Brasileiras

Antes de conhecido o "ski-mountaineering", estes servir de exemplos de minhas memórias favoritas. Minha vida brasileira, brasileirisma, e minha irmã brasiliera.

Dairy Queen Delight

(Minya Peak - Delta Range - Sep 2009)

Labor Day turned out to be an ice-cream lovers dream. Three days to attempt Institute Peak. A cloud capped Institute encouraged us to set our sights on the ever delightful corniced peak of Minya. The peak was swirled like the tastiest vanilla soft-serve on a hot summer day.
Highlights:

(Orca VW Bug!! - Free Willy's Alaskan Cousin?)

(Glacier camping - in summer requires rock removal)

(Little did we know the peak would soon be cloudy)

(Up, up and away)

(Phooey! Not enough pickets and a CLOUD)

(Kick-stepping our way to the frosty cornice. September snow is incredible!)

(Great views of the Deltas on our way down)

Sunday Slop

Late Season Reminds Me to Make the Best of It
(evening ride after a long Sunday storm - late Aug '09)

Autumnal Arctic

Pipeline Perspective

Languid Light

Muddy Mischief

Juxtaposition

Waterski the Arctic: It just had to be done.
Ben and I successfully waterskied one Arctic Lake.

Friday night: Clear skies and calm water
Air Temp: 60°F (15.5°C)
Water Temp: 60°F (15.5°C)

(in water getting ready)

(whoosh, such fun!)
...
Then we did it again two days later.
Sunday morning: Fresh snow and wind
Air Temp: 25.3°F (-3.7°C)
Water Temp: 55°F (13°C)

(Ben and I limber up)

(whoosh, such slightly colder fun!)

Poetic, is it not?

The Pawn of Your Affection

React, retract...Check.
Like a game of Chess
Was falling in love with you.

The Bishop played the part
Guarded, protected the heart
Strategically shielded the King

Pressured points of persuasion
Titillated with temptation
The Queen took the Knight

"... I did not see it coming," she said.

Checkmate

One Pack of Marlboro Lights Please

I think I'd like to start smoking. With Alaska on fire, I feel like I should at least get a nicotine buzz from all the smoke.

Despite very few wildfires in the Arctic or even within 100 miles of Toolik, we have spent much of the past 2 weeks smothered in smoke.

(click image to see detail)
The yellow indicates area burned. In less than 2 weeks the burn scar across Alaska has increased from 1 million to now 2.5 million acres. Most of the fires are in the interior part of the state. Toolik, which sits 300 miles north of many of the largest fires, has been thick with smoke when the wind blows from the south. Many days our horizon is just a pale blue.

Taken from a time-lapse camera looking out my Toolik office window.
Sunday, Aug 2
Wind direction: N
A rare day of clear skies and clean air.


Monday, Aug 3
Wind direction: S
This is typical of what we get these days.

Liar Liar...Alaska on Fire

Smoke looms over the Tanana River.

This year marks one of the worst wildfire years for Alaska in the past 50 years. Over 1 million acres have burned in the state. The state's largest fire, over 200,000 acres, is burning just 50 miles south of Fairbanks. This pales in comparison to 2004 in which over 5 million acres burned across the state, but it lands in the top 15 worst burn years in the past 50 years. And it's not even August yet.

July 21, 6:30 pm

Fire burns south of Fairbanks

July 22, 7:00pm
Winds shift and Fairbanks disappears.

A Day of Play in the Brooks Range

In the Mood

Dreaming of dancing

In far away places

(Tango w/ Mike on Muldrow Glacier - Denali, 2008)

(Forró w/ William - BBQ, Piracicaba, Brasil 2004)

Post-Processing

Would this be a crime?
To free myself from time
Clear post-processed dates
Promptly from my plate
Linger on the Midnight sun
Awaken deep in freedom
No more stale cold gray
Nothing left to do but play?

Is there another dance?
To boldly take the chance
Abandon responsibilities
For endless possibilities
Letting go of one
Holding on to none
Not needing to define
Would this be a crime?

Três Volcanoes Dance in Loneliness

(Pico de Popocatépetl, Mexico, Dec 2007,
as seen from Pico de Iztaccihuatl)

Canta, veja
Cinder ruptures the lonely
Um, dois, três
Magma smothers all sense
Sozinha, solteria
Eruptions rip heart's core
Bata o congo
Lava intoxicates stimulation
Apaixanda
Volcanic ashes fall to lust
Dança da solidão

(Pico de Orizaba, Mexico, Dec 2007)

Spring Floes-n-Woes

As I recover from my crazy concussion of last week (I have learned that I suffered a Grade III concussion. Not the kind you want to have), the local environment has been underwater and under ice with plenty of folks suffering far worse than I.

Eagle is a small village that will never be the same due to an ice jam in the Yukon River causing major flooding and huge icebergs. My friend Brian was working there for Department of Environmental Conservation, as part of their Haz-Mat crew. Check his blog to hear what it was like on the ground: Mother Nature Flexes Her Muscles.

The local newspaper made a slideshow of what can happen when air temperatures skyrocket to over 70°F for a week straight like they did last week.
Spring Flooding

While we really enjoyed the warm sunshine and amazing warmth (well my friends tell me it was an amazing week - I slept thru it), the rivers have had a hard time managing all of the springmelt.

Selection is Natural, So They Say

Selected as a sacrificial child for the gods
Never to know freedom, only to accept fate,
Trapped as a dolphin caught in a tuna net
Floundering for air, only to drown,
Pinned as a zebra calf taken by the lion
Calling out for help, only to be left behind,
Ensnared as a moose cornered by the wolf pack
Fighting back for life, only to be devoured,
Caged as a songbird that only wants to sing
Singing for hours, only to have wings clipped,
Gated as a branded heifer put to pasture
Grazing for survival, only to be slaughtered,
Tangled as a butterfly wing in a spider web
Fluttering for escape, only to be prey,
Natural selection takes it toll, one has to go.


Selecting to destroy the datalogger
Apr 2009

Office Window

What do you see out your office window?
Here's 2 hr time lapse of what I see.

Geometric Memories

The three-sided summit rises sharp and wily,
Corniced creatures stretch to touch the void,
A stable slope holds from slipping into freedom,
Fresh powder on slab compresses the past,
Footprints kicked w/ silent suffering drift in,
Retraced steps tramp freely on crust,
Traipsing along place, time, moment,
Captured on film and over-exposed,
Always pausing to measure the angle.

Assessing the angles on Triangle Peak (Apr 2009)

TrevO cuts a line up first slope.

My turn to break trail.

Fun w/ the sun.

Corniced creatures thwart the attempt
to reach the three-sided summit.

Denali Fly-By

This just in:
There was a fly-by while we were on Denali - back in May '08.
Click for higher resolution shots.
These show OUR trail and camp!!
What perspective, hard to believe that was me.
WOW!