Webhost digitalinet – a review.

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A kayaker runs the huge whitewater of the first of 5 Class V rapids on the Baker River, Patagonia, Chile.

hey Folks,

So whilst I’m locked down in the dungeon of Anchorage, waiting on the mechanics to tell me my van is fine, and any possible breakdowns were/will be my own doing, I’m dealing with another issue. My backpacking/guiding website, Expeditions Alaska was set up, with the help of a friend Bugsy, a fantastic artist from Atlanta (now in LA), years ago, and hosted, at the Bugs’ recommendation, on digitalinet.com. Well, it’s been an adventure, but digitalinet can go to he**.

Their website indicates 24/7 tech support, and toll free phone support. Their website fails to provide any phone # or contact information, other than a standard form to fill out, at all. Not even an email address. I did, via extensive Google searching, extract a few of phone numbers that were supposedly related to digitalinet.com .. 2 of them were no longer working, the other 2 both yielded immediate voice mail messages, and I couldn’t get anyone to return a single call from either of them. Continue reading →

Winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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A snow covered glacial moraine, black and white photo, in early morning light, mid winter, on the Kennecott Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

So one morning when I couldn’t catch the apparently fugacious Mt Blackburn – shrouded by cloud, it’s ironic that such a magnificent and colossal mountain might be so clandestine. Yet so often, that’s exactly what these mountains are; shy, reclusive, and hard to photograph. So I turned my lens toward the ground, shot a few abstracts like this one, of a snow-covered glacial moraine. I really liked the curves and the play of Shadows & Light (a “must have” album, Shadows and Light, by Joni Mitchell, the band is one of the greatest assortment of musicians ever to tour together!). I knew when I took the photo I’d convert it to black and white, as there was little color in the original, though the shadows do take on a nice blue hue.

Moraines definitely look WAY prettier in the winter, covered with fresh snow.

Cheers

Carl

Chugach Mountains Sunrise, winter

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Sunrise over the Kennecott River basin and the distant Chugach Mountains, in winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Here’s an image looking south towards the eastern edge of the Chugach Mountains, in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. The glacial moraine in the foreground is the edge of the Kennecott Glacier. I’d hoped to get up to Kennecott early this particular morning and catch some alpenglow on Mount Blackburn, which I did, but a pesky cloud obscured the very peak of the mountain, and I need get back there and reshoot the images. It was kinda frustrating, to be sure, catching a magnificent peak like Blackburn (16 390′ high) in awesome light, before dawn, glowing magenta and red, and not quite be able to see the peak. I’ve made 3 attempts so far, once it was completely clouded in, this time, and the last time it as minus 45deg F – the snowmachine I borrowed wouldn’t start – well, after it DID start, via a preheater (hairdryer plugged into a generator-powered AC socket) and an extra battery, warmed in my cabin the night before, it took 30 minutes just to get it warmed up enough to turn the tracks, by which time I’d missed the light I was looking for. Maybe sometime soon I’ll get another crack at it – the last week or 2 every morning was overcast enough that I knew Blackburn wouldn’t be visible.

Hopefully I’ll be back in the park soon, and get to do some more shooting.

Cheers

Carl

Alpenglow, Wrangell mountains in winter

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Alpenglow on the Wrangell mountains, including Donoho Peak, Bonanza Ridge and Jumbo Ridge, the Kennecott and Root Glacier, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Well, it’s been a nervous last few days, but here I am in Anchorage. I managed, through sheer luck, to get all the way back to town with no real drama. A little tweaking of cables and a lot of grace, and my van started, and drove me and my buddy Charlie and his 2 dogs, Keba and Musa, all the way back to Anchorage. I’m still in a little bit of shock. My van seems to have some kind of mystery virus, that nobody is able to diagnose. There’s a possibility, one mechanic told me, that it’s as simple as 2 cables poorly soldered together. Which 2 remains anyone’s guess.

I’ll be here (hopefully only) a few days, and then head back to the cabin. Continue reading →

Notes from My Father

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Hey Good People,

Well, here it is, the long-ago promised and highly sought-after follow-up to my dad’s earlier notes about my parents and my recent trip together here in the US. I’ll post it below, only this time, for integrity’s sake, I’ve interspersed a few points along the way, to verify and clarify some of his words. The prequel to this, tales from the first part of our trip, can be found here.

Final Jottings on Our North America Trip

My apologies for the delay with the second instalment. Unfortunately I had some serious affairs of state to attend to, and if you knew how serious our state’s affairs are, then you would understand. Another factor was my agonising over what to buy my wife for Xmas, but I think she really liked her Mars Bar (candy bar) – and it was the extra large size. Continue reading →

Donoho Peak, Wrangell-St. Elias, Alaska

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hey Folks

Well, I’m back in the woods, living the quiet life. This image is from a trip I made up to Kennecott a few weeks back, hoping to get a nice morning shot of Mt. Blackburn. I had no luck with Blackburn, so I shot Donoho Peak, instead, along with various other images. This is Root Glacier in the foreground.

It’s been pretty cold here the last few days, so I haven’t spent much time on the computer .. the owners of the house are away, and so the house has no heat. I come over, check my email, (solar power!) and head back to my cabin. Today I turned on a little propane heater, which I’m nearly sitting on, and it’s still freezing! The days are unbelievably clear, but it’s way cold. What’s most frustrating to me is how nothing seems to work well in the cold. The tripod legs stick, the camera fogs up ( I couldn’t even read the historgram yesterday), ad infinitum.I can’t imagine what it must be like trying to start and deal with an automobile.

I’m heading back to the cabin to get warm.

Cheers

Carl

The Last Post? Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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A creek flowing in fall, Skolai Pass, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

I’m heading bush in the morning, so it might be a while before I can get to the blog. I’ll try my best to keep up regularly. In the meantime, here’s a photo I took one afternoon on our Skolai Pass Photo Tour this last fall.

This trip I’ll be gone a little longer, and have some new ideas for images, and places to visit, so hopefully I’ll get some interesting photos. I also have a new 12v battery and an inverter so maybe I can use my laptop more than once a week and get some downloading and image processing done from time to time. I’ll be skiing a bit too, so that might help me get to some previously unvisited vistas! I’ll also have lots of clothes, as the temperature’s been WAY down low over that lately, so extras might be a good idea. If anyone wants to come visit, please let me know via email, and bring fresh veggies with ya!

I’ll also try to maybe post some of the stuff I’m writing over there, rather just blasé notes about my blunders in the park. I don’t know interesting it might be, but I’ll give it a whirl. If you’re REALLY lucky, I’ll post it all in Spanish. 🙂

 

If you’re wondering where Skolai Pass is, It’s in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve.

Cheers

Carl

Mt Drum photo, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Mt Drum and Mt Sanford Rise over the Copper River Basin and Willow Lake,, Wrangell St. Elias national park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

OK, here’s another trivia; these 2 mountains, Mt Drum on the left and Mt Sanford on the right, are volcanic mountains.

Mt Sanford is a shield volcano. Shield volcanos are the result of low viscosity lava flows (free flowing) that build up over time – the lava flows and flows, hardens, flows, etc, and the mountains gradually grow. They tend to have a lower profile with shallow, kind of sloping sides .. they become broader mountains, typically, and are sometimes mistaken to be entire mountain ranges.
Continue reading →

Porphyry Mountain, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska

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Fresh powder snow covers the young spruce along the Kennecott River in winter, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image I took one of my first afternoons in the park this last time. I headed out from the cabin around 2pm, and took this maybe 45 minutes later.I was back in the cabin by 4pm, well after sunset had faded. The days are getting longer now, and I’m keen to spend some more time poking around the hills seeing what I can find. Hopefully we’ll get some more snow soon, as a few windy nights had blown most of it off the trees and shrubs right before I left. Most of the snow, it seemed, landed on the road, making the drive out somewhat, uhhmm, memorable.

The mountain on the left is Porphyry Mountain, which rises above McCarthy, and that is the tip of Sourdough Peak off in the background, which lies southeast of McCarthy, overlooking the Nizina River before it enters the Chitina River. Sourdough Peak is the one I posted a photo of the rock glacier from recently. The riverbed I’m looking over here is the Kennecott River.

Cheers

Carl