I just had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel with a BBC film crew to the North Slope of Alaska. Their goal is to film Arctic foxes in Prudhoe Bay, AK. This trip covered 500 miles along the Dalton/Hall road made most famous by the reality TV show “Ice Road Truckers”. Along the way we stopped for two days in Coldfoot, Alaska at the southern base of the Brooks Range (Google Map Point B) and filmed within Chandler Shelf/Atigun Pass (Google map point C) before finally making it to Prudhoe Bay (Google map point D)!!! The road-trip through the Alaskan tundra land was truly incredible, and I’m excited to tell you about it :).

I thought I would ‘open up’ with the footage I shot while driving the roads of the Dalton Highway.  Because the footage is shot while driving there is only so much I could do, but I hope you enjoy the scenery! I patched it together in hopes of bringing the feel of the road to you.  Description of some of the finer points of the drive can be found below. Both the video and text follow a day to day format which ties them together.

DAY 1

Just north of Fairbanks you are surrounded by pines heavily laden with snow. They resemble free-standing cotton candy. Their white juxtaposition against the blue sky is tremendous! Unfortunately, the wind had blown the snow off the trees for the rest of our trip, so this was our only opportunity for these snow-covered pines.

The road is never, ever short of vistas and views. Here you can see a long vista as I crossed over a ridge north of Fairbanks. I converted this shot to black and white to add contrast to the mountains in the background.

Crossing into the Arctic Circle is a big deal! We are officially in the land of the ‘midnight sun’. The last time I crossed into these realms can be read about here : THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN. From here on out the trees become short and stunted. And the winter days become long! Somewhere near this area we crossed the ‘farthest north spurce’. It’s a fairly arbitrary point, but represents the last tall tree between it and the Bering Sea.

The sunset just south of Coldfoot, AK. After driving through light blowing snow and cloudy conditions this eruption in the sky was truly incredible!! The blowing snow added depth to this picture which you cannot get on a clear day.

DAY 2

Day 2 started off with clouds and snow. The goal for the day was to film sequences for the ‘making of’ the documentary, as well as to head to Chandler shelf and Atigun pass for scenic photography.  It was just matter of finding the ‘perfect’ scene which was just a little better than the last! Lets face it : there is incredible scenery everywhere!

I am not sure what this knife-edged mountain is named, but at one time I knew. If anyone reading this could tell me it would be much appreciated! I am standing on the Dietrich River  for this picture – hopefully that can serve as a landmark.

We reached the top of Chandler shelf after competing with snow removal ‘blowers and blades’ on the way to the top. At the top cold, windy conditions buffeted us. A sun-dog stood sentry over the mountains as if to re-affirm the cold.

DAY 3

The goal of Day 3 was to make it to Prudhoe bay. We departed at about 7 AM.  As we passed back through Chandler Shelf a beautiful sunrise greeted us, as did the blowing snow! It can be seen in this picture. I focused this shot in the foreground to capture the sailing ice crystals. These small daggers are rough on the skin and eyes.

Continuing snow and blowing conditions made Atigun Pass a bit dicey for the big rigs going through. They decided to go one-at-a-time to ensure they did not endanger anyone else if they went off the road. When it came to our turn to head up the pass we closely tailed an 18-wheeler who busted drift for us at the bottom. The road conditions improved as we reached the top of the pass, but big drifts cut by blades along the sides of the road were a reminder that were lucky to be coming through!

After clearing the pass, the conditions were still windy but the skies were clear. Here’s a nice little poser in front of the northern Brooks Range. The ski-goggles were my driving companions as well as protection from the outside wind!

One of the items that will show up in the video is the Alaskan Pipeline. While driving the Prudhoe it is an ever-present feature on the landscape. This pump station is responsible for pushing the oil over the Brooks Range, wow! The pump stations can also cut off the oil in case of an emergency anywhere in the pipeline reducing the threat of a spill. The pipeline was built from 1974 – 1977. Since that time it has shipped crude from the North Slope.

The tundra is really just a cold, white desert. This picture , which includes the hood of the trusty ‘Golden Colo’**. You can see the northern face of the Brooks range and not much else but snow in this picture!

** A note : Golden Colo was my radio name during the trip. The BBC suburban was a bit conflicted on which radio name they wanted. Fiely opted for ‘RubberDuck’, but the Brits, Toby and Tuppance, wanted ‘Broadsword’. This gave me a lot to work with. Throughout the trip they were interchangeably known as “RubberSword” and “BroadDuck”.

The view from north of Toolik Field Station was just as nice as any. Here a frosty sign warns truckers that a steep hill should be expected! You can see Toolik Field Station and Lake in the background. For more reading about when I visited Toolik for a couple days you can read here : TOOLIK.

Every foot I went past Toolik was officially the farthest north I have been!

DAY 4

Although it’s not reflected in Day 3, we made it to Prudhoe! Sorry if the suspense was killing you. Here’s a sunrise on a cold, windy day in Deadhorse, AK.  On this morning the winds were sustained at 20mph and the temperatures hovered at about 30 below F. Even residents of Deadhorse admitted it was a ‘cold day’.

Our lodging at Deadhorse Camp. These ‘camps’ are the Deadhorse equivalent of a hotel. This one served good food, although there were some aspects of it which were less than desireable.

Drilling in the Arctic

Of course Prudhoe Bay is known for its drilling. In some cases drilling in the North Slope has become very controversial- I am sure you are familiar with some of those views. However, here’s some of the meat-and-bones of drilling in the Arctic that I learned.

Pictured below are the oil-derricks. They are far,far,far different than their western counterparts. I’m thinking of the ones that look like giant dinosaurs and move up and down on a cam. This is just a hunch, but I’m guessing these derricks are different due to the bitter cold. Metal becomes very brittle at cold temperatures, so moving parts are a liability! These small huts are likely more reliable.

There are several drilling rigs set up in Deadhorse. These drills puncture the Arctic and insert a casing. Believe it or not, this rig is actually mobile!! Once it it done drilling it is packed down, moved off and a derrick is created. The oil drilling rig can be wheeled or FLOWN to another location. Whoa!!

The Flight Home

All too soon it was time for the flight home. I hopped on this snazzy charter plane and headed south. The flight only takes 90 minutes to get to Fairbanks. A stark contrast to 20 hours of driving over the Brooks range!

The flight over the Brooks range was incredible. I stared out the window the whole time trying to observe what I could about the landscape. I did find some cool and unique things! Below this lake has a river that flows all the way through it. The river can be seen through the snow as it crossed through the lake. Interesting – it doesn’t follow a straight line even through the lake. You can also see the large delta it has created in the lake through the years and the trees growing on it.

I am very interested to know more about the circular bands perpendicular to the river. Any thoughts anyone? How could they have formed?

And finally, a look over the Brooks range as we passed on by. Breathtaking!

In summary, this trip was truly incredible. The only part was a lack of wildlife – although that’s not really unexpected in the winter. Possible animals could have included Musk-ox and Caribou and Arctic Fox. We did see moose and ptarmigan, but couldn’t stop for pictures of them. I wish I could have stayed on longer, but was pulled back to Fairbanks due to class, work and other commitments. You can only forget about the real world for so long. I can’t thank BBC and Jonathan enough for letting me tag along. Truly incredible! This Alaska premier will be showing on Animal Planet in about a year. I don’t have TV, so keep an eye out for me! 🙂

If you’ve made it this far through the post I figured I would include a gallery of images from the trip since this is a ‘picture heavy’ post.

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