A tale of a frozen family

Here’s another weekly dose of useless Alaska knowledge

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline moves up to 88,000 barrels of oil per hour on its 800 mile journey to Valdez

The fishing and seafood industry is the state’s largest private industry employer

Dog mushing is the official state sport. The Alaska Legislature adopted it in 1972

 And for today’s lesson, lets discuss Prudhoe Bay.  I figure since my area of responsibility at work is all of Prudhoe Bay, this would be an easy one to cover.

Despite the harsh climate, drilling activity and the oil industry have led to increasing development and settlement of the Prudhoe Bay area.

There’s a joke in Prudhoe Bay that “there’s a woman behind every tree.”  Of course, it’s so far north that there are no trees at all.  There are, however, a few female workers which I’d estimate constitute less than 5% of the workforce there.  Most are found in engineering (waving my hand), administrative, or housekeeping occupations.

Here’s a picture of the one and only forest in Prudhoe Bay!

Virtually none of the 3,000 workers on the North Slope actually live there, except for a few Eskimos from the surrounding villages.  Employee transportation to and from Anchorage is provided at no cost by the oil companies, who operate a pair of Boeing 737s for that purpose.  They make between 3 and 5 flights a day, 6 days a week.  For safety, the aircraft have flight attendants, and they also offer snack and beverage service, just like a regular airline (although alcohol is served only on the flight home, never on the way up.)

Shift work is usually 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for the duration of your hitch.  The most common shift is 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off.  But there are some that do a one & one, some do a three & three, and then there are some poor souls that do 6 weeks on and 2 weeks off *gasp*.  More power to them!   2 weeks at a time up there was LONG enough for me!

For those lucky enough to have some free time, there is some recreation available, the quality of which depends on your employer.  Some contractors are housed off field and live merely in glorified atco units (a small trailer) For those that work directly for the oil companies, they can work out in a gym (with swimming pool), see a movie in a small theater, or play piano.  Contractors usually just have a TV room and possibly a smaller gym with some workout equipment.  In the summer, you can go running or hiking outside, and even fishing for char or Arctic grayling in one of the local rivers. Alcohol is not permitted in Prudhoe Bay, partly for safety reasons, and partly out of deference to the native Eskimos, most of whose villages are dry.

Sleeping arrangements come in two different settings.  There are dormitory-style, with two or more to a room, and a common restroom/shower area for each sex down the hall. (Facilities for females are usually smaller, as there are simply fewer of them.)  Or if you are lucky (like me) you get your own private room.   The bathroom is shared with the next door neighbor (who were always men in my case) but all in all, I had some pretty nice digs!  

Here is an example of what a camp looks like.  This isn’t the camp I stayed in. (this is much much smaller)  I guess it never occurred to me to take a picture of it.  I was always too depressed when I was on the outside (coming on shift) to care what it looked like, and going off shift, I was too excited to be leaving to take a picture! 

My offices were in the same building that my camp was in, so when I came to work I literally didn’t have to step outside once the entire 2 weeks I was there.  Comes in handy when it’s 80 below!

Being that far north, you also experience extreme daylight (or lack there of).  Here’s some more tidbits.

Longest Day:
63 days, 23 hours, 40 min.
Official sunrise: 12:09 AM - on 20th of May
Official sunset:11:18 PM - on 22nd of July

yes… you read that right… 63 DAYS folks!

Shortest Day:
1 hour, 3 min.
Official sunrise: 11:42AM - 24th of November
Official sunset: 12:27PM - 24th of November

and on the flip side:

Longest Night:
54 days, 22 hours, 51 min..
Official sunset: 12:27PM - 24th of November
Official sunrise: 11:18AM - 18th of January

Yep.. again.. that is 54 DAYS! with no daylight.
 

Shortest Night:
26 min.
Official sunset: 11:43PM - 19th of May
Official sunrise: 12:09AM - 20th of May

And of course, we can’t forget the weather…. the coldest day recorded was 28th of January,1989 - Temp of minus 54 degrees F and Wind speed of 31 knots (36 mph) - Gave a chill factor of minus 135 degrees F.

What we were talking about… oh yeah.. the camps!  They always had the best steaks…. speaking of steaks.

The food services are what makes life on the Slope truly bearable.  In most camps, restaurant-quality meals are served 4 times daily (to accommodate 24-hour operations) and it is all you can eat.  The cooks are so amazing, and accommodating.  When I was early on in my pregnancy with Emma, and my morning sickness was WICKED, the morning cook would have what I ate every morning (oatmeal and watermelon) boxed up for me and ready to go, so I could just run through the buffet line and grab it from him.  The smell of all those eggs and bacon in the buffet was BRUTAL for a couple of months.  Friday is normally steak & shrimp day, and for special holidays, lobster tails are served.  In addition, the oil companies provide what are called “spike rooms”–these are large snack bars (almost like small convenience stores really) that include: sandwiches, soup, chips, hot dogs, nachos, fruit/veggies, small frozen pizzas, donuts/cookies, ice cream, and beverages among other things, available 24 hours a day.  And incredibly, it’s all free–you can take whatever you like, as long as you’re not obnoxious about it and abuse the privilege.  The spike rooms are open to all workers and business visitors to Prudhoe Bay.  Why do the oil companies do this?  Well, part of the reason is to make a bleak, remote place seem a little more like home; another reason is that doing hard physical labor in subzero temperatures for 100+ hours per week burns an astronomical amount of calories.  Still another reason is that field units are encouraged to keep stocked with food at all times in case a winter storm of unforeseen severity strands them for days, miles from the nearest camp (it’s happened.)

Wow… so I’ve written a small novel, and we still haven’t gotten off the topic of camps yet.   I guess we’ll do a continuation of Prudhoe Bay next week and venture outside the doors of the camp and out and into the oil fields!  So for now…

to be continued.

It’s Tuesday again, here is more useless Alaska knowledge

Nearly one-third of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle

The Alaska Highway was originally built as a military supply road during World War II.

The state boasts the lowest population density in the nation.

Alaska is a geographical marvel. When a scale map of Alaska is superimposed on a map of the 48 lower states, Alaska extends from coast to coast.

Today, we’ll focus our energy on Mt. McKinley.

Isn’t it purty???

Denali (The High One) is the Native (Athabascan) American word for North America’s highest peak, Mount McKinley in the mountain chain called the Alaska Range. Denali was renamed Mount McKinley for William McKinley, a nominee for president, by the Princeton graduate and gold prospector, William Dickey. Dickey was one of the hundreds of prospectors seeking gold in the 1896 Cook Inlet stampede. He had written an article for the New York Sun where he described the mountain as the highest in North America at over 20,000 feet.

“When later asked why he named the mountain after McKinley, Dickey replied that the verbal bludgeoning he had received from free silver partisans had inspired him to retaliate with the name of the gold-standard champion. ”
Mt. McKinley: The Pioneer Climbs
by Terris Moore

Since the turn of the 19th century, the official name of this great mountain has not rested in peace. In 1914, following his historic first ascent of the mountain in 1913, Hudson Stuck wrote in the preface of his book, The Ascent of Denali: “Forefront in this book, because forefront in the author’s heart and desire, must stand a plea for the restoration to the greatest mountain in North America of its immemorial native name.”

In 1980, the name Mount McKinley National Park was officially changed to Denali National Park and Preserve. The State of Alaska Board of Geographic Names has also officially changed the mountain’s name back to Denali. Negotiations continue today to officially return the original native name to this magnificent mountain. (from the Denali park website)

Climbing routes

There are many different routes up Denali some extremely technical. Denali’s most used route is the West Buttress route (80% of all climbs), which has seen more than 20,000 climbers, Roughly 50% of the climbers have reached the summit.
Until 1997, about 400 accidents were reported on the West Buttress route, which claimed the lives of 34 climbers, mostly while descending. 

“The fact that the West Buttress route is not technically difficult should not obscure the need to plan for extreme survival situations. Of course, some climbers manage to get up and down in perfectly nice, but rare period of weather; when back home, they encourage others to climb this ‘easy walkup’ of a mountain. Little do they realize that it was only by sheer luck they weren’t trying to keep their tent up in the middle of the night in a 60mph wind at 40° below zero, with boots on and ice axe ready in case the tent suddenly imploded. Because of the non-technical reputation of the popular West Buttress route, it is a terribly underestimated climb.”
— Peter H. Hackett, M.D., from “Surviving Denali” by Jonathan Waterman

Height

6194 meters or 20,320 feet. The difference in the barometric pressure at northern latitudes affects acclimatization on Denali and other high arctic mountains. Denali’s latitude is 63° while the latitude of Everest is 27°. On a typical summit day in May, the Denali climber will be at the equivalent of 22,000′ (6900M) when compared to climbing in the Himalayas in May. This phenomenon of lower barometric pressure at higher elevations is caused by the troposphere being thinner at the poles.

Climbing seasons

Snow and weather conditions for climbing major Alaska Range peaks are usually best from May through July. Colder minimum temperatures and strong northwest winds commonly occur in May. Late June and July are warmer but more unsettled. By late July, travel on the lower glaciers is made difficult by melting snow bridges over crevasses and by more inclement weather with heavier snowfall and increased avalanche danger. The highest success rates occur in June. April is an excellent month for many of the lower peaks with conditions often cold and clear while the winter extremes still linger on Denali and Mt. Foraker. The coldest weather on Denali is found from November through April with average temperatures ranging from -30F to -70F recorder at the 19,000 foot level. It is not uncommon to find it -50F at the 17,200 foot camp in early May.

Winter climbing in Denali borders on the ridiculous more because of its unfathomable risks than because of its mountaineering challenge. Some of the world’s best climbers have either disappeared or perished form literally being flash frozen! In winter months, the jet stream, +100mph (160 km/h), will often descend over the mountain’s upper flanks. Combine this wind with the naturally caused venturi effect that doubles wind velocity in such areas as Denali Pass and you will find one of the most hostile environments on this planet. The combined effect of ferocious wind and extreme cold easily and routinely send the wind chill off the charts.  (from the Denali park website).

Okay… do you feel good an edumacated on the mountain now?  

Here’s a few more pics in closing, just for a good aaaahhhhhhh factor

But this one is the COOLEST.  It was taken by NASA from the space station! 

I figure since lots of folks are intrigued by Alaska, and I have folks reading this who actually aren’t FROM Alaska (who knew!) that I would dedicate one blog each week to something interesting about this beautiful state.

So… here is some boring trivia.

Alaska officially became the 49th state on January 3, 1959.
The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times.
Alaska’s most important revenue source is the oil and natural gas industry                                                                                                                     Alaska accounts for 25% of the oil produced in the United States.

Our latest claim to fame is our “hot Governor”.  Her “hotness” has been the focus of many a national talk show host since her moving into office.

Here is our “hotty”

I have to say, I hold a special place in my heart for Governor Palin since she stopped me in the grocery store a couple of years back to tell me that she LOVED my glasses.   She had my vote :)  I mean obviously, she has GREAT taste!

Okay, enough of that.  Let’s move on, shall we?  Since the Iditarod is coming in the near future, and my father ran in the first Iditarod, lets focus on that, for the purposes of today’s blog.

The Iditarod

What does Iditarod mean?  No one can seem to agree exactly on this.  The three that have been quote the most are:

Iditarod means clear water and was named by the Shageluk Indians for the Iditarod River.

The word comes from the Ingalik Indian word HaIditarod which was the name for the river on which the town was built. It means distant place.

The name Iditarod came from an Ingalik and Holikachuk word hidedhod for the Iditarod River. This name means distant or distant place. This word is still known by elders in the villages of Shageluk, Anvik, Grayling and Holy Cross.

 What IS the Iditarod?

The Iditarod is a 1150 mile dog sled race.  It is considered “The Last Great Race on Earth”.   Racing over some of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. A race extraordinaire, a race only possible in Alaska.  (from Iditarod.com) 

The race runs from Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days.

Each year they give out the red lantern award, which my dad’s race partner won on the first race and STILL holds the record (which I doubt will ever be broken!) See the blog entitled “dad” for the details.

Here’s a couple of pictures from the race start and finish.

The winner of the Iditarod wins a cash prize (last year was $69,000) and a new Dodge pickup (valued at $40,000).    Personally, I’m just not sure that even those winnings are worth enduring this kind of punishment!

So there you have it boys and girls.  A quick little run down of the Iditarod in Alaska.  There will be a test on Friday (okay.. not really!)