BOOTHY’S BLOG Alaska Day Six – Day One
Northern Lights tourism, just the hope of catching a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis draws many to the far north
BLOG | Chris Booth with Charlie Timmins & Fraser McDougall
The Alaskan experience affects everyone differently. Here, Charlie Timmins, Frasier McDougall and Chris Booth give their accounts of their first day at Points North Heli.
Chris Booth
Its been six days since we arrived in Cordova, Alaska, and I can’t stop eating. Pancakes, bacon, hash browns, brownies, cookies, beef jerky, calzone, cheesecake, percolated coffee – oh yes, lots of that. I can’t stop eating because when I get bored, I eat.
Due to a rarely seen wind event that has not abated throughout the entire week, Charlie Timmins, Frasier McDougall, Tony Harrington and I have been closed in for the whole time. After last year (when I went to Haines, Alaska) I knew what we would be in for, I was ready for some serious down time. The other boys though have brought with them a different set of expectations, trying to be productive and keep themselves occupied, they have found themselves banging their heads up against the wall. When high hopes from the eve are crushed for breakfast, it can be difficult to handle the swings.
Me though, I’ve just been eating.
Today the winds died down, or looked to, and our group got their first taste of the Chugach mountains. As it turned out we would be the only group, with the winds increasing again by mid-morning, precluding other groups from landing up in the mountains.
The excitement of being the lucky group was quickly tempered both by the fact that the wind left little else but hard pack, and that we had to get out of their quickly before winds got worse. So we made a quick but scenic descent down to the pick up point, in wind gusts up to 75mph.
We later arrived back to the Cannery at Points North Heli base, and it struck us that our epic heli trip in AK was not going to be like in the movies. Charlie looked defeated, Fraser was just quiet.
“mmmm, Lunchtime.” I thought.
Suspect
Charlie Timmins
After waiting around for the wind to die for maybe four days, it was relief to get out and fly today, if only for something to do. We weren’t expecting much in the way of soft snow, so it wasn’t too much of a blow to find everything was completely wind scoured.
The heli ride up into the mountains was one of the bumpier ones I’ve had, I think that maybe we flew today not because the wind had actually died but because the pilots and owners of the operation felt bad for us, so decided to just give it a shot. We got a run in (with a few hikes), and then escaped via an equally bumpy descent, just before the afternoon increase in wind… Can’t win ’em all.
Not much time left now before I leave, and it doesn’t look good. But like I said, you can’t win ’em all. It kind of makes the down days harder though, because you don’t have that light at the end of the tunnel, just a week of nothing leading into three days of travel. I have seen the potential now though and will be back.
Fraser making the best of the conditions
Frasier McDougall
The day started with a rush for the first heli, the wind had reportedly dropped enough to fly a heli!
Getting in the air things soon changed from the exciting atmosphere of going skiing to the very real and apparent threat of the unyielding wind. We managed to find a sheltered spot to land the crew. Greg, (our kiwi pilot) was the only one to drop a group into the Alaskan backcountry. With the other heli loads heading back to base we began down the glacier fields to scope out the area. A scarred hard pack greeted us, hammered by the wind there was nothing around that could be described as fresh snow. We snapped a few shots with the photographer before the wind picked up and ‘bugged out’ back to base.
The day ended with the remorse of not being able to ski those epic Alaskan lines but was a defiant introduction to the area’s prevalent weather. It is a flick of the coin to get the conditions you want. With three days left our fingers are crossed for the wind to drop and the skies to stay blue.
Contemplating a wind scoured Alaskan landscape
Heli time at last… even if it didn’t last
The view was rather good
Did we say wind scoured?
A bumpy ride in the heli
