Whirlwind summer

Since moving to Alaska my summers have always been busy with field work, trips, gardening, fishing, and blueberry picking, but this summer has been exceptionally busy. Since returning from Greenland a little over two weeks ago I've been to Gulkana Glacier twice - once to be a witness for a wedding ceremony (in the pouring rain) and once to teach a glaciology field course (also in the pouring rain). Now that I've been in Fairbanks for a total of two weeks this summer its time to hit the road again. This time Jason S. and Elvira are coming up from Oregon to join Inari, myself, and Syosaku (another glaciology student) on a hiking trip up in the Brooks Range. The plan is to hike west from the haul road into Gates of the Arctic National Park about 70 miles to the the town of Anaktuvuk Pass. From Anaktuvuk we will catch a smallish plane and fly back to Fairbanks. The one catch is that the other Jason had a very untimely bicycling accident a week ago and initially thought that he had broken his ankle... At the moment its not clear how that will affect our trip, but I'm sure we'll figure something out. At any rate, we're excited to have our first visitors that aren't family and aren't named Take. Photos and stories to come.

United 93

Inari and I went to see United 93 last night. Wow. It was much better and more powerful than I expected. It's definitely not for the light hearted. Watching the movie was probably the closest that I've come to having a heart attack. And I wasn't alone - the theater was completely silent after the movie ended, everybody was speechless. Maybe it was still too early to watch a movie about 9/11, still too painful, though the movie was very well done. I was worried that it would be a typical heroic Hollywood movie, but they did a really good job of just tellling the story - or showing it.

Schweiz

I ended up spending a little more than 5 days in Switzerland with Tinu and Elsbeth, and their 1-yr old daughter Lena. (Tinu and Elsbeth used to work in the glaciers lab in Fairbanks). They were very hospitable and really went out of their way to show me around. We did several hikes in the mountains, even spending one night in an alpine hut. Though not nearly as remote as the mountains in the U.S., the Alps are definitely impressive - and very accesible. Its very easy to travel by train to a trail head, and then hike up and over the mountains to a different town where you can catch the next train home. And of course the mountains are incredibly steep and beautiful. Its no wonder that hiking is the Swiss national sport. The huts make hiking a lot more enjoyable. You could easily do a week long hike or ski trip and only need to carry some extra clothes and lunch food. The huts have everything else you need - food, water, and beds. Here are a couple of photos from my time in Switzerland:


Eating fondue in the warm sun with Keith, another glaciologist from Fairbanks who also happened to be visiting Tinu and Elsbeth.



Can you spot the hiking trail in this photo? (Hint: it starts in the lower left corner and zig zags its way up the steep mountain.)

The coolest thing

We happened to be in Ilulissat during Greenland's National Day, which, maybe not too surprisingly, falls on the summer solstice. There were many festivities, including traditional drumming, singing, and dancing. The highlight, though, was the outdoor rock concert near the ice fjord. Somehow it was very Greenlandic - most people were carrying around bloody plastic bags full of seal meat that they cooked over small fires made of heather. The music was sang in Greenlandic and in between acts the mayor gave out cultural awards to people who were doing something to maintain Greenlandic culture. (The whole thing was in Greenlandic, so I'm not really sure what was going on.) But in other ways the atmosphere was very European or American. The kids had clothes on that made them look they could have been from southern California. The music varied from pop to grunge to alternative rock. The first band had a 60 year old lead singer (a woman) who started the show by yelling "Hello Ilulissat!". At that moment I knew this was going to be a great afternoon.

During the last act (the Mike F. Thomsen Band) there was a little kid dancing next to the stage who really knew how to dance. I and just about everybody else there with a camera started filming him, and that made him even more excited to dance and show off his moves! Click here to see for yourself - once you open the page download kiddances.mpg. The video is 7 Mb, so it might take a while to download if you have a slow connection. I've watched it about 100 times and I still find it hilarious.

Scoring bohemian points

While I was in Kangerlussuaq waiting to return home, Martin went on to Nuuk, the largest town in Greenland, to give a talk about our research. The woman who invited him to Nuuk thought that it was ridiculous that Air Greenland was refusing to change our tickets to Copenhagen, so she stormed into the office and demanded that they change our flights. They gave in and changed Martin's ticket, but they weren't able to change mine since I wasn't there.

Martin flew back through Kangerlussuq en route to Copenhagen. I met him at the airport, thinking that he'd be spending the week with me. It was then that I learned that he was flying on the next flight to Copenhagen, which was scheduled to depart in one hour. I ran back to my room and packed everything as quickly as I could. Then I came back to the airport and "stormed" into the Air Greenland ticket office and asked a third time if they might please change my ticket. But this time I had the name of somebody important and the knowledge that they had just changed Martin's ticket. 10 minutes and a couple of phone calls later I had my boarding pass and I was cruising through security and up the stairs onto the plane. I had made it! But how would I spend the next week? I was becoming skeptical that I would be able to change my return flight to Fairbanks to an earlier date, and besides, I thought the best thing to do would be to take advantage of a free flight to Europe.

Martin and I arrived in Copenhagen Monday evening (June 26) and found a place to sleep. The next day we met with one of the most well-known Greenland geologists (who is Danish and lives in Copenhagen) to discuss recent changes in the Greenland ice sheet and also to try to track down some old aerial photos. No luck with the photos, but it was an interesting conversation that culminated with cake and coffee. Yup, I'm learning how to drink coffee. I figured that all Ph.D. students have to drink coffee. Besides, its pretty good with a little bit of sugar.

Later that afternoon I returned to the airport to figure out how I'd spend the rest of my trip. I called up my friends in Switzerland and asked if they'd be around over the weekend - they said yes, and that'd be happy to show me around. 10 minutes later I had a ticket to Zurich, but the flight wasn't leaving for two days. That gave me time to see a little bit of Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is a really nice city with lots to see and do and its easy to get around. Everybody speaks English (better than I do), so there's really no point in asking somebody if they speak English. In some countries, people are offended if you assume that they speak English. In Denmark, people seem to be offended if you think that they don't speak English. The streets are very lively - you can sit and have a drink at one of numerous outdoor cafes while you listen to a street musician or watch some other performance. But you have to drink slowly, because Copenhagen is expensive and most people probably can't afford to drink several beers in a row.