Fairbanks, Alaska
So last week I got the chance to travel to Fairbanks, Alaska for a week. I flew out there on a Tuesday, and returned on a Sunday. I spent most of the time working with folks at ARSC, but had a chance Saturday to go out and just see the area. It’s a very different place from what I imagined and had seen on TV, but very interesting nonetheless.
Needless to say, it’s cold. Most of the trip it stayed just below freezing, around 27-30 degrees F. There was one occasion where we got to see snowfall, and it dropped to -2, but most of the time it was just slightly below freezing. Life at those temperatures, of course, entails many layers of clothing, coats, and gloves. Nothing too surprising there, but what really fascinated me was how differently snow in Alaska is from Snow in Mississippi.
I’ve seen snow in Mississippi about 3 or 4 times in my life. When it actually snows in Mississippi (not sleet, real snow that actually sticks on the ground) it typically melts before lunchtime. Stick your hand in the snow and you’ll pull back a big white icy brick of a snowball. I figured it would be the same in Alaska, but it’s quite different. The snow in Alaska is very "powdery" (Photo) and will actually flow between your fingers like really big salt or sugar crystals. The difference is in the fact that it stays below freezing so much longer in Alaska than in Mississippi. In Mississippi, the temperature quickly rises above freezing, causing the snow to melt and transition rather quickly between water (at the surface, exposed to the elements) and frozen (packed in with other ice & snow), leading to icy roads (snow melts to form water, and re-freezes to form ice sheets) and packed snow (surface snow melts & flows deeper, re-freezing to tightly hold the snow together). In Alasks, it never melts so that the snow sits on the road until the first car comes by and literally blows it off like sand. It’s very different, and leads to the snow sticking around alot longer on the ground. On less-traveled roads the snow eventually hits the same cycle of melt/freeze, leading to heavily packed icy roads, but most of the major roads aren’t a problem.
Also, they don’t use Salt on the roads in Alaska. In most northern US states, they use Salt on iced roads to move the melting point of the ice, melting the ice and making the roads more easily traveled. In Alaska, it’s far too cold for a few degrees to make a difference, so they actually use tiny gravel instead. While this does help provide traction on snowy roads, it also makes pristine windshields an incredible rarity (Note to travelers, when you get a rental car make sure you query the busted windshield policy). This eliminates the problems of rusting & automative deterioration usually caused by salt, but the extreme colds introduce the entirely new concept of "Winterizing" a car. I had heard of this before, but thought it pretty much meant a warmer for the engine & antifreeze in a few places. Actually, it gets so cold up there that you’ll notice every single car has a little electrical outlet hanging out the front. These are used in pretty much every parking lot I saw, where they have outlets stuck about 3-feet off the ground to plug in the approximately 2KW of heating necessary to keep the gas, oil, and transmission fluid from gelling at -40 degrees F. Also, I was told that in the coldest parts of the winter it’s not uncommon to see cars lined up along the side of the road as the fan belts shatter from the cold & tension, and it’s effectively pointless to replace them until it warms up.
One thing I heard of but didnt’ get to see (it wasn’t cold enough yet) was the "Ice Bridge" spanning the Tanana creek. When it’s cold, evidently they open driving across the river as a nice 10-20 minute shortcut into town. With the obvious safety concerns, how do you know when it’s warm enough that the bridge is unsafe and it’s time to close it? I was told that you look for the first "Someone fell in the ice" story in the paper, and that’s how you know. A bit scary if not entertaining. So with all the various automotive impediments, Air travel is pretty important. At the Fairbanks airport (they actually have 2 airports, one local & one international), you’ll see several smaller airlines that run frequent flights between various cities in Alaska, the most popular being Fairbanks to Anchorage. Air travel is a major industry in Alaska, and I saw planes in flight almost constantly.
So, enough about cars & weather. What do people do in Fairbanks? Well, I was surprised to hear that there is actually a Moose Hunting season in Alaska. Given the sheer size of a Moose (According to WikiPedia, ~1500lbs and 6ft at the shoulder), I was really wondering what kind of weapon does it take to kill a moose? I was told a 308 magnum works pretty well, but that killing them in surprisingly easy. The hard part is dealing with the 1500lb carcass. Apparently they have enough (very lean) meat to feed several people for an entire winter, so it’s usually a group affair. Fishing is also a big industry in Alaska. Everywhere we went, Salmon & Halibut were on the menu. Salmon can be caught locally, but evidently they’re about dead by the time they get to Fairbanks, while halibut tend to be a bit easier. Either way, they’re good. Alot of Crab was on the Menu as well (Alaskan King Crab), but I’m not much of a crab eater.
The trip was alot of fun, and I’m looking forward to the possibility of going back.. Unfortunatley, I was unable to see an Aurora while I was there, despite my efforts. With any luck, next time will be better 
[tag:alaska][tag:fairbanks]
