Just for fun Photos from the Edge!

The blog has a way with getting out of control i.e. behind the times! I let it go far too long and then I just need to get myself up to date.  Below are photos to get me up to date here in blogger-land!  The ol'photo essay time!

Miss Sadie and I out on the ski trail in Jan.  Skiing on the backcountry touring gear which is really my favorite gear to be on 99% of the time.

The ski crew here!  Adults and dogs all out for a ski meeting up on Top of Picnic Hill. Skier to the far right grew up skiing out here with us and now has a family and the cutest little baby ever---time flies!

Ski practice on the Dragon's Belly side of the Dragon's Back.

Doing what we do skiing!  Cold temps as dogs are in jackets and booties in Jan. On skate gear heading in from ski practice across the tundra.

Skiers on the south end of the Dragon's Back after one of our many storms this year. Looking south across the tundra.

Miss Tally bring it home from a ski out to Picnic Hill.

Ski practice on Picnic Hill after skiing Worm's Wild Ride.

Back in Jan. we did a ski tour on a rather brutal cold day with winds.  We skied up Picnic Hill and down to Picnic for hot drinks, snacks, and a fire!

Heading down to the fire and a well-earned break!

Just one of those wonderful moments that makes you stop for a second and be grateful for all you have in life.

Let's face it if we all did this the world would be a better place!

Miss Sadie: I dropped this photo into an App that makes it into a watercolor painting how cool!

One of our grown-up skiers here during Christmas skiing with us on a typical cold day!  On our Picnic Hill Tour.

Cold, wind, and early setting Jan. sun!  Heading out on our Picnic tour.

Drifts save our lives out here!  We ski on them and we hide behind them!

A nice warm one -30ºF! As I write this we really need a nice cold one for the Iditarod!  

Shoveling snow on the ski trail!  Like normal sane people shovel snow on the tundra so we can ski!  My husband the stellar ski trail groomer!

Oh Frost day I love it when the world looks like this----a sure sign of no WIND!

Miss Tally who is waiting for me during the morning work out---"Are you done yet!?"

Studs on my FatTire Bike and I love them!

Winter sunset . . .

Iditarod! Lets get mushing!

These photos are from yesterday.  I was down on the beach and if you look at some of the previous posts you will see photos of our winter storms.  This is what the beach looks like now.  It is covered in sea ice that was pushed up from our storm surges.  It varies in depth from 5-8 feet thick.  Norton Sound should be covered in this sea ice but it has been warm with several storm surges from the west this winter.

 Massive chunks of sea ice which shows just how thick this ice can be!

I am hoping to get the fat tire bike down here on the low tide and buss up the beach.  There is this sandy stretch for as far as you can see heading north!  Normally there would not be open water!

On Thursday of this week, this was all under water.  Once again a storm surge from the west pushed water up the river and caused massive overflow.  This is the Iditarod's checkpoint in Unalakleet. I post photos of this as we get closer to the 1st racers arrival.  I biked down to check the slough for water and whether or not we could have ski practice over on the Dragon's Back.

This photo shows the area that was under water on Thursday.  The water drained off overnight and yesterday (Friday) it was fine to ski, bike, or snowmachine across. 

SKIING!

Skiing is in full swing out here on the edge!  I am loving it!  We have 7 practices a week up and running.  This gives me Sunday as my only day I don't ski with kids in theory.  Saturday's practices were just rearranged to help lighten the load to one ski technique and to reduce the age group spread.

So far we have had great early season snow, howling winds, severe wind chills, wonderful afternoon light, and our beloved Dragon's Back is HUGE this season.

This post was started January 19th and not finished, updated or touched!  Skiing has a way of running away with us here!  Or is that skiing away or sliding away . . . the point is even though I am not working full time I am busy and just never got back to this post!

Update March 2nd, please keep in mind this is a quick update a bit tossed together but sometimes life is just tossed together!

1.  Skiing has been great, we have had a lot of overflow this year on the slough, weird storms or strange predictions of storms and that never arrive. We have a good amount of skiers around 50 kids I am guessing.  A strong race team of about 18 skiers.  The new snowmachine is a treat and my DH who grooms for us is loving this fancy new snowmachine.

Lots of stormy weather and overflow in Jan. and Feb. 

This storm caused the beach to be covered in huge chunks of jumbled up ice.

Then, of course, we have winds that cause other issues for us.  Lots of drifting which means a lot of trail work.  We tried to ski but all we did was walk to our starting point, winds were over +40mph. I put on my skis and we skied hope with the winds pushing us all the way.  Visibility was so low and winds were extremely high!

Overflow on one of our trail access points!  This is such a challenging place to ski!

2.  I am subbing enough. I do enjoy being in the classroom with no strings attached to collecting data and testing all small children all the time!  I enjoy walking in teaching and leaving! 

3.  I am very grateful that I am skiing a lot.  Some days I can get in 2 skis.  One early in the day with "The Girls" and then a ski practice as well.

4.  Yesterday, I finally printed out my rough. I mean ever so rough draft of a story/book I am working on!  This is a bit of a personal goal/challenge for myself.  I plan to self-publish at some point.  Right now I am a very long way from even thinking about publishing this story.  I am enjoying the process and learning something new.

5.  I am posting some photos below of winter and what not.  Then I am going to write another post for the Iknitarod which is a Ravelry group that follows the Iditarod Dog Sled Race which starts today!



Looking at the Iditarod checkpoint. 
 

Wonderful light and setting sun across the tundra.

The beach covered in jumbled up sea ice that should be frozen as far as the eye can see. 

Overflow--this is water that is pushed up the river into the slough under the ice.  It comes up through the cracks along the edges of the river and slough.  The ice is below this surface water.

Same location photo was taken the next day!  It still boggles my mind at how rapidly things can change here!  Below the storm and flood warning for the storm that arrived Feb.11th or so.

The happy groomer with the new Arctic BearCat a wonderful machine!







Yesterdays, Whale Back Mountains glowing in late afternoon light from the Dragon's Back ski Trails.