Hypothetically...

A CAT. So let's say, hypothetically, that you had a pet... maybe a cat. A dear, dear sweet cat that was your companion and friend. And one day your cat became quite sick. So sick that you knew instinctively it was dying. So of course you began contacting local vets to find care for your cat. And you learned that the necessary treatment would cost about a thousand dollars up front; a thousand dollars that you simply didn't have. But then you found one vet, one vet out of many, that would treat your cat first, and then work out a payment later... but you would need to get your cat to their clinic.

A ROAD. And let's say that this clinic was 150 miles away. Did I mention you were in Alaska? So yes, vets aren't exactly a-dime-a-dozen and in this case, the particular vet was a few towns away. So you carefully gathered up your cat in a warm blanket and began to drive and drive, hoping you would make it in time.

AN AVALANCHE. And let's say after 100 miles, you came to a massive avalanche blocking the road. Yes, an avalanche. You're in Alaska, remember, and it's winter, and it happens to be unseasonably warm and so there are avalanches. Not just whimpy, fluffy, powdery, avalanches. Big, wet, chunky, mountain-sized avalanches.

What would you do? Stop, defeated, and begin the drive home, knowing your cat would die? Or forge ahead, over chunks of snow and ice, and hope that somehow you could make it to the other side and get help?

Last weekend, this very same dilemma faced a woman living outside of Valdez,  for reals. Now some of you may remember that Team Leslie has ventured to Valdez before - two times, actually - and Ice Cream Newton has driven along the famed Richardson Highway through the spectacular Keystone Canyon complete with towering waterfalls and glacier-topped mountains, a highway providing the only road access to this Alaskan port city. For a week now this Highway has been closed, 42 miles of it, due to enormous slides that have not only covered the road with snow hundreds of feet deep, they have dammed nearby rivers causing lake-sized flooding along even more of the route.

From http://www.alaskadispatch.com

So what did the woman do, when she reached the first avalanche blocking her path? Unbelievably, she went for it. Put the cat in a backpack and went for it.

Have any of you ever tried to hike 42 miles? Needless to say (I hope), the preparations are significant. Food, water, layers, shelter... But attempting to hike 42 miles, in Alaska, in the winter, over avalanche debris, with only a small backpack, carrying a dying cat?!?! Yikes.

There were people who tried to turn her back. Department of Transportation folks working on the damaged road, blasting some of the debris, tried multiple times to send her home explaining that the road was closed and extremely dangerous. In the end, after making it 5 miles, she was transported to Valdez via a DOT helicopter, arrested, and thrown in jail. The cat? Picked up by the vet, treated, and saved. (Animals lovers, you can exhale.)

I find the commentary about this fascinating:

"God bless that woman! Anyone who loves animals would have done the same thing."

"That lady is psycho! She could have killed herself and the folks out there trying to work on the road! She should have to pay for that heli ride."

"What's wrong with those other vets? They should have offered to treat her cat!"

"People shouldn't own pets unless they can pay for them... this woman is ridiculous."

 Hero? Nut-job? Either way, only in AK. 


To see impressive video footie of the road, watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acUoAZiyMv4#t=77

To learn more details about the hero/nut, read: http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20140129/woman-says-she-tried-cross-avalanche-clogged-road-valdez-save-her-cat

Polar Opposite

SO, HOW ABOUT THIS WEATHER WE'RE HAVING? No matter where in the country you live, everyone is talking about the weather. And not just because you're in an awkward social situation and it's your fallback. "Wow, you smell amazing. Would you want to? Uhhh... I mean... this weather is crazy, right?" Our family in Florida is digging out their fleece layers; our family in New Hampshire is humbly bemoaning their below-zero temps; our family in Chicago has likely blown away. But here in Alaska? Balmy. Raining. Melting. Down-right unusual.

I went for a skate ski this weekend and had to avoid the tufts of grass poking out as I careened around the corners. Indigo just mastered her snowplow stops and turns at the Alyeska ski resort, in the rain. The organizers of the annual Winter Games extravaganza here on the Kenai Peninsula (remember the coolio ice slides from last year?) are fumbling about in a quite a tizzy - you see their tens of brilliantly carved ice sculptures created around town are melted, sad, stubby remains. It feels like we've moved farther South, not farther North.

Spring-like conditions!

Wet snow makes me fast!

They call this a bear riding a salmon? (note the lack of jacket or hat)

Since climate is generally defined by patterns observed over a 30 year period, I'm biting my tongue and holding back from making any scientific conclusions - but I am certainly joining the crew of folks remarking on the weather (defined as the current atmospheric condition) we're having so far this year. Yikes-a-mundo.

Fear not - J Leslie is looking into it...

All that said, Team Leslie has managed to kick off the New Year with some solid snowy moments, most often gleaned by climbing to higher elevations, like many folks need to do. Our favorite back-country yurts still provided a lovely white backdrop to the holiday break, and our neighbors' sledding hill provided an epic few days of play before the warmer air blew in and made a waterfall in its place (video of sledding should be visible on blog site).

The higher you climb, the more freshies you find.

Sledding in the boreal neighborhood.

These days we're spending a lot of time skating (at indoor rinks - we'd fall through on the local lakes), swimming (at indoor pools - it'd need to warm up just a bit more to get those lakes steaming), and waiting to see what the next climate, I mean weather, report holds!

Good luck to all of you in the Lower 48 and beyond... if you need a break from the snow and cold, consider The Alaska Adventure!

Having fun - rain or shine!