Snowboarding in the Dark

Current Conditions
Temperature: 4F
Wind Chill: -10F

This weekend, I stepped out from a hall party to get some fresh air. Across the sky, nearly overhead, was a faint wisp of cloud in a long stripe. It fizzled down to a point at one horizon, and at the other, wait a minute... it's moving! That's not a cloud! Then I noticed the slightly greenish hue and a few dancing stripes that were unmistakable. Aurora Australis! I was reminded of my first and only Aurora Borealis sighting in Alaska this summer. That one became much more bright and active, but it fooled me initially, just the same. Soon there were thirty people outside, some of which had never seen an aurora.

I also learned to snowboard over the weekend. Five of us took a Pisten Bully out to the hill on Castle Rock trail and did shuttle runs for several hours. Unfortunately, this is not the best place to learn because you're confined to a narrow band of glacier so as not to find any surprises (crevasses) in uncharted territory. Turning is essential to keeping your speed in check, but I only had two Pisten Bully widths to work with, maybe 25 feet. And to make matters worse, there is a line of flags down one side and a couple very large jumps on the other. Sound difficult yet? No? OK, now turn off the daylight and ride about 20 feet behind a Pisten Bully so you can see where you're going. Oh, and don't fall down because you might not catch up. Yeehaw!

Getting ready to follow the Bully:

Actually, there was dusk light for the first hour or so, when I did most of my learning curve falling. It was enough to see the terrain and avoid the jumps. Just as I got comfortable though, the light disappeared and I started falling more due to its absence than my lack of ability. Still, I managed to avoid the now invisible jumps and only ran over one flag. Once we started following the Bully, I was only falling once or twice per run. But the couple times I let it get away were tough going in the overcast, new moon night. I'm still a little sore, three days later, but I can't wait to do it again on a clear, full moon night!

We still have a couple hours of dusk during the day, but it is definitely dark when I go to work and when I leave. For the first week after the sunset, because the sun was still just below the horizon, the skies would sometimes light up with all the colors of sunrise and sunset.

Wednesday, April 23
I made my first attempt at time lapse photography the day before the final sunset:



The sun slides right along the western slope of Ross Island and disappears behind Inaccessible Island. This would be the last time I saw a slice of direct sunlight.

Thursday, April 24
During the final sunset, only the top third of the sun would rise above the horizon, but from my viewpoint it was obscured by the westernmost flank of Ross Island. Some folks found excuses to travel out to Pegasus airfield, where they would have an unobstructed view.

Friday, April 25
The day after the sunset, I tried the timelapse again and got lucky when clouds rolled in unexpectedly and colored the scene brilliantly:



This video takes place over a full three hours! I took a picture every 90 seconds.