Winter transformed from time of snow to time of ice.
Observation by Mike Brubaker:
It is still winter by conventional calendars, but nothing has been conventional this year. Record warm, record low snow, and maybe record high ice on the land, if anyone measures such things. Record or no record, Anchorage has become Ice Land. Walking through Kinkaid Park last night, I was struck by how much ice there was. It was really too slick for my shoe grips. Better for skates. Maybe we should be prepping the trails for skating rather than skiing.
Winter is looking up, for ice people - skaters, bikers, even kick sleds. But the snow wonderland that was Anchorage seems to have departed. And the snow people - skiers, sledders, mushers - are looking for ways to adapt. The snow-making crews have done an amazing job in making and maintaining ski hills and trails over the past two years. But the question is - if these conditions continue (see SNAP Projections), or it gets warmer or dryer, how can we preserve our snow activities and snow culture?
One way is to identify the most snow-friendly places and then develop any recreational infrastructure needed. Where are these places? They are up the hill or up the road, in valleys and forests, away from the sun and the warm winds. The old Fort Richardson Biathlon Center near Arctic Valley is one possibility. Venues like this - a bit more up hill, a bit more around the corner, may be the key for making our snow sports more ice-resilient. The sooner we realize this, the better our chance of preserving our snow culture is. It's important and urgent - we need to act before all our snow people have traded in their skis or the snow has melted.
