iapetus

Ah, majestic Alaska! So magical it even makes New Jersey look enticing!

I can't believe it's been over twenty years since I visited! I've got to make it back sometime. I've even got family to see there!

hoshman

Although I travel all over the US - made my first trip to Fairbanks (for business) last week. Making my second next week. Tried 2 nights to go outside of town and see the lights, but no luck. Still saw LOTS and had a great time. A couple of comments to your questions.
- Clothing. 2 words. Layers and extremeties. Layers is obvious, but my biggest problem were that the gloves and footwear I brought ( although perfectly adequate in the lower 48) didn't quite cut it for Fairbanks.
- Camera. Couple of things with the camera. First be sure you can operate your camera with your gloves on. If not - you may want to wear a thin cloth pair ( think layers!) under your main pair. Second the main problem with digital cameras in cold is battery life. All batteries have shorter life in extreme cold. If you've got a pocket camera - no problem. For large cameras, I've seen the pros carry multiple batteries, or keep the batteries out and warm until they need them. A pocket hand warmer used specifically for your batteries can also help.
- Temperatures. I must respectfully disagree with the poster on cold. I too thought that below a certain point - cold was just cold, but that hypothesis for me at least proved faulty. There was a huge noticeable difference between 25 and 35 below, and I can tell you I can never use the word "cold" in the same way again. But I had the time of my life.
Final thing. For best advice on the sights - ask!. I've rarely found a friendlier or nicer group of people then the folks I met up there. Have fun!

oldpenny16

I would have rolled down the window and enjoyed the experience. Have done that! Have gone for a walk just to be out with the aurora and the night sky. Life is too short to miss it.

beckoa

1. Layers are key, wear your long underwear, and remember that "Cotton Kills". If it gets wet, it doesn't insulate, rather, acts as a heatsink.

2. Battery life is impaired greatly by the cold. Try lithium based disposable ones if possible, like Energizer's E^2, since lithium ones last longer in cold. Also, it probably would help if you had a tripod, and a nice long shutter speed. This is one thing I still want to photograph, and now finally have equipment to (I hope).

3. Yes, one can hear the Northern Lights when at their best. It is amazing when they change, from lighting the whole sky, to bands of color dancing across the sky, horizon to horizon...

4. It might be good to drive away from the city to have the "best" viewing of the aurora. The best I've seen it was north of Sutton, on the Glenn Highway between Anchorage and Fairbanks.

Good Luck!

alanh

I'm going up on a tour 15th-21st, specifically to see the aurora. I'll post how it comes out when I'm back. I've got 3 nights (18-20) planned for potential viewing. This also corresponds to the new moon.

ASflyer

I emailed runarut last week with some additional information and recommendations. Since it sounds like a few of you are heading North in the next few weeks, I've included part of the email below:

The Marriott is a great hotel (and the resaurant there is terrific), but the aurora viewing in town isn't as good as out away from the city lights. If you rent a car, its pretty easy to get out of town for better viewing. The Marriott would be a great location to watch the North American Open Race, which starts and finishes on Second Ave. It's pretty impressive to see the mushers take off with 14 or 16 dogs strung out in front of the sled. The Yukon Quest Race mentioned in the NYT article ended last week.

The other activity not mentioned in the article is the International Ice Carving competition. The Ice Park opened this week and the competition will begin in a week or so. There's a kid's ice park with ice slides and a larger-than-life size ice craving memorial to Susan Butcher. They've also recreated Stone Henge in ice. Sculpters love ice as a carving medium and apparently Fairbanks ice is the best. It freezes so quickly that there are no bubbles. Lights are used to illuminate the sculptures and the effect is magical. Photos really can't capture the beauty of the ice.

Another thing I'd highly recommend is taking a drive down through the Alaska Range. When our kids were young, we used to drive to the Paxson Lodge the last weekend in March for the Tail Ender Dog Race. We skiied and the kids raced. It was always an enjoyable weekend but the real highlight was the drive through the Alaska Range. I've been all over the state but it's absolutely the most beautiful place you can get in a car. It takes about 3 hours to get to the lodge but would make a great day trip. Head out early, drive through the mountains, have lunch at the lodge and drive back. Pick a sunny day to do it and you won't be disappointed.

And bring warm clothes. The key to appreciating Fairbanks is dressing for the weather. Being outside is not enjoyable when your feet are cold. And take all of your warm clothes with you in the car in case you have car trouble.

This is a great time of year to visit. There are few tourists, no RVs lumbering through town, the hotel rates are reasonable, and Fairbanksans are very upbeat because there's more and more daylight. There will be more than 12 hours of light by the end of March.

I look forward to reading accounts of your trips!

oldpenny16

We used to celebrate 'sun come over the mountain' day when the sun finally shown in our windows for the first time each year.

JGR01

RE: Layers of clothing and the view.

For many years, the Aurora has supposedly been credited with many magical powers.

The Japanese are very well known to travel to see the spectacle.

And according to their 'legends' .. concieving a child under the power of the Aurora brings great fortune to that child.

Not sure how many couples get naked to do this but ..

Quokka

True.

False. Those that bothered to read this thread and the links it mentions know that that's been shown to be bunk.

beaver

One thing to add from a person born/raised in Fairbanks who travels in and out lots.

Alaska #114/113 are the direct south/north flights from Seattle and are late at night. #113 gets into Fairbanks at about 1230a and #114 leaves around 100a. Once above the clouds, both of these flights make for excellent viewing of the northern lights - if they are out. Have a cup of coffee and enjoy the view!

alanh

Well, I'm back.

Here's the bottom line. The green smudge at the lower left is the aurora. Oh well.

We had three nights planned; the first there was no activity, the second is where we saw the bit above, and the third night was cloudy.

Other than an unusually quiet aurora, it was a nice trip. I was actually able to keep warm in the sub-zero temps despite being a Phoenix native. Long underwear, long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, heavy jacket, scarf, jeans, snow pants, gloves, stocking hat, fur hat, wool sock, waterproof boots. The main problem was keeping my face warm. Wrapping the scarf around my face worked, but my glasses kept fogging up.

I'm never going to use all this stuff again unless I go to Alaska again.

The nicest viewing area (even though there was nothing to see that night) was the Mt. Aurora ski lodge just northeast of Fairbanks. Heated, lots of windows, and subdued lighting.

uva185

I got back from a trip to Alaska a week ago. I saw the Aurora 1 night. I took a tour up to the top of a mountain from the Chena Hot Springs Resort where it was probably -30. They had a small building with a few heaters and hot chocolate. I only went inside for maybe 10 minutes out of the whole 4 hours we were up there. The auroral display started off slow but got better. I shot with a Canon 30D with the battery grip and I had no problems with battery life. It actually really surprised me they lasted!! Two other people attempting to photograph the aurora had their camera freeze. One guy had a Canon point and shoot camera and it froze after 15-30 minutes. That said if you dress right you will not be cold. You an look at the pictures I took here www.geoffreypalcher.com/alaska1f.htm

iapetus

That's a nice meteor that you caught in image 'IMG_1210aa.JPG'!!! ^

ASflyer

Nice photos of the Ice Park and North American Sled Dog Race too!

uva185

THANKS!!