Winter alpenglow on the mountain that towers over my home. Alaska’s winter scenery is truly unparalleled.
In the season of the least light, Alaska makes sure it's extra magical.
Low to the earth, never reaching more than a few degrees above the horizon, the glowing orb of the sun seems so much more distant as it both rises and sets across the southern skyline in a shallow gentle arc. Casting through so much atmosphere refracts the light into fantastic pastels, a glowstick brush that looks like how I imagine Winter's smile must feel. Looong daytime shadows echo the duration of the nights...but today is the day that the cycle resets and that glorious bringer of light and life and warmth begins to return.
Alaskans especially celebrate the Winter Solstice because we've earned it, felt it in our bones, lived it through the extended darkness. Soon enough we'll be basking in the glory of its warmth and illumination again, with that heightened appreciation that living in such dramatic grandeur naturally imparts. Happy Solstice everybody. In the year ahead may we all bring more light into our lives.
You don’t need a mountain to get stunning Alaska winter light - any tree will do!