December Dawns in the Mountains
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| Dec. 1 morning from overlook behind chalets. |
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| Skaters on the lake. |
This weeks Report from Chugach National Forest Staff, Irene Lindquist:
Skiing on many lakes is good. Skiing on most trails with rock skis at lower elevations is possible.
Ice skating on the cleared paths on Upper Trail Lake is good.
Trails traveling over passes have 12-15” of snow. Pulling a pulk is feasible.
Hiking our trails in all areas is very good if you wear gaiters or can keep what little snow there is out of your boots.
Ice on! Now for some interesting, at least for me, ice condition changes:
A week ago Summit Lake had 8” of ice under 5” of snow, the previous ten days had 8” of ice under 8” of snow, temps were in the 20’s, low 30’s. Ice thickness did not change for 11 days due to the insulating snow cover and warm temps. When temps changed to around 0-20 degrees F the ice began adding 1/3”/day. Ice thickness on Summit Lake is now 11”.
Cooper Lake and Grant Lake are freezing and adding about 1” of ice/day with no snow cover. Cooper Lake has 6” of ice, and Grant Lake has 2”.
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| Got the Evening Blues -Pinks and Whites |
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| The Wild Rose Decorated for Christmas |
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| Christmas Jay Bird |
