The first thing anyone thinks about when they think about Alaska is the cold. Second to that, possibly very short days in Winter to compensate the long summer days. Now the cold view of Alaska is deserved, even if the great summers are a little less known.
Since arriving I have braced myself for the winter. I have asked advice from everyone about what to expect and how to plan and importantly what to wear.
Back in the UK, my winter prep would be minimal. I'd use a winter coat which is 3 years old of little use or possibly a water proof coat with changing layers underneath. Winter foot ware was very low on my radar. Why should it be? At worse in Britain it will snow for 2 weeks of the year. If it is really bad - work would accept a snow day off. So I always considered it best to wait until the January Sales to buy winter gear. When the January Sales were upon me - what small tolerance I have for wandering round busy consumer districts has been stripped by Christmas shopping a week earlier. In any case - spring will be here soon and paying £70 for a North Face jacket seemed redundant.
Now I'm guessing with Alaska - even my sissy southeastern part of Alaska - having snow from November through Feb the following year, Alaska has found a way to work around snow with no need to alert the American version of COBRA - if they even have one. It also is something I have to work through. My winter clothing is no longer a matter of comfort over personal economics. It is now about survival. So last Saturday I spent the most I've ever spent on a coat; $130 (£87). A heavy duty thing which when I tried on in the store - immediately drops of sweat poured over my top lip. It's a heavy canvass, which I'm told is also waterproof - though I'm not convinced about that.
Everything changes over winter. The cruise ships have all left Juneau, and the businesses supported by the cruise ships - most of downtown Juneau, feel this is a good time to shut down also. Who can blame them? This includes a Filipino burger stall called Manila Bay, near the Cruise Ship dock. The owner, I have met. In winter she goes down to San Francisco to look after her other business down there. Definitely who can blame her?
My base town of Haines, has turned into almost a ghost town. The tourist places which dot 2nd Avenue are redundant. The restaurants are closed - bar a few cosy soft lit havens. Winter is upon us all.
Those who saw Haines in the summer and said they would live there, found a way to before experiencing a winter, are now considering moving on. And it's the movers on who are making me proud of myself - or at least they will make me proud of myself. Because in four months from now, I will puff forward my chest and say I made it through an Alaskan winter. Of course my colleagues in Anchorage would scoff that this could be a source of pride. But for me, it will be something.
Lets be honest. I am living in two heated houses. Neither are isolated. My commute to work will be changing from the bike to the bus. The bus stop being a 5 minute walk from the house. On Fridays the taxi will pick me up and take me to the ferry - which I'm told chugs up the Lynn Canal to Haines whatever the weather - even if sometimes the ferry gets tossed around like a rag doll (I can occasionally suffer sea sickness).
However, I see the mountains behind my home in Juneau dusted with snow, and I can see the snow approaching. On my way home from work last week, I saw a rare break in the cloudy Juneau sky, and like a badly photoshopped picture there was this snowier than usual mountain, the mountain overhanging Mendenhall Glacier. It looked unreal. Like those old epic movies where the landscape was obviously just an impressive painting. But it was real, it was winter on its way. What was happening on that mountain, an flurry of wind and snow, will soon be down in the valley where I live.
Winter won't be spent as I imagined it back in the UK; gathering wood for a fire. Feeding the fire all night or waking to Artic temperatures. But I know it will be a new experience and will bring a few stories to tell. I am eagerly awaiting you winter, and I want you to give it your best shot.
Now all I need is a pair of Tuffs!
No comments:
Post a Comment