Helicopter Ride, Herbert Glacier, and Winter 2010-2011

First, to explain the videos:
My last flight down from the glacier was one I’ll never forget. Occasionally, the helicopters will fly up or down from the glacier without tourists. My flight down was one such case, which meant that I had a private flight down into Juneau with one of my favorite pilots, Melinda. Melinda is an athletic, spunky 24 year-old who can fly with the best of them. When I loaded into the helicopter, Melinda looked over, and said, “Ok Ryne. It’s just you and me, where do you want to go? We can fly anywhere.” Instead of taking the normal route back down the glacier, we turned north and flew up over the icefalls and over to the Eagle Glacier one valley over. It was PHENOMENAL. I played tourist and took two short videos of parts of the flight, but they just didn’t do the scenery justice. It was absolutely stunning. I think I could get used to having a private pilot chauffeur.

Otherwise, life on the glacier this past week has been either one of two extremes: overwhelmingly busy or at a stand still. One of the days, we had 88 people visit the glacier, which means I gave eight one-hour tours in a row. Let’s just say that I started to sound like a tape recording. On the bright side, the day flew by. All the rest of the days were completely weathered. Four days of whiteouts, while relaxing can become a bit monotonous, especially when you run out of books. I had to resort to reading poetry… I know- I was desperate. As the pictures show, Alaska and Prancer lucked out and got to spend some time lounging in my tent and keeping me company.

The big news in the life of Ryne is that I’ve decided to postpone the Iditarod for another year and move up here to Alaska! I did not feel that I would be prepared for the “Last Great Race” by only giving tours in Michigan, so I accepted a job handling for Aliy Zirkle (the first woman to win the 1000 mile Yukon Quest) and Allen Moore up in Two Rivers, outside of Fairbanks. This way, I’ll get some more time on the runners and spend a winter with a true racing kennel. Not to mention, I will live in a cabin with running water! What a concept. I’ll fly up to Fairbanks on October 10th, which means I’ll have a week at home to visit the family! I can’t wait! (And yes, Vanessa, you’re included under the ‘family’ category, so I’ll be visiting you too!)