Aurora 極光, Coldfoot, Alaska

2015-03-09

Fook Wong and eight BCS Travel Buddies went on a 12-day Alaska Arctic trip to see the Aurora Borealis - Northern Lights.   He took the following video in Coldfoot, Alaska.   Fook was so cold that the tip of his left ear and his fingers snapping pictures were frozen at -30°F temperature during the trip.   He and the rest of the team did survive the trip and and appreciate the warmer California climate.


2015-03-09 AURORA 極光
Video by Fook Wong
Music by Debussy: Preludes, Book 1: No. 8. La fille aux cheveux de lin.
(6m45s)


Stanley took these pictures when he landed in Fairbanks, Alaska


He was a new member of the BCS Travel Buddies


The tour was conducted by RoadScholar, a not-for-profit program led by local experts from the
University of Alaska.   Stanley was so excited to prove he could stand on ice on a frozen river


Before heading north, the team stopped at the annual World Ice Art
Championships ice sculpting contest in Fairbanks, Alaska,


Stanley had no idea how cold it would be in
Coldfoot, Alaska when the wind started blowing


En route, he stood under the 800-mile long Trans-Alaska Pipeline coming from Prudhoe Bay in the North Slope of
Alaska to Valdez Bay.   The diameter of the pipe was 48".   The vertical poles were thermosyphons which were special
heat pipes that conduct heat from the oil to the fins at the top of the pipes to avoid thawing the permafrost


It was Stanley's first Aurora Northern Lights sighting which
appeared at 60 to 120 miles above the earth's surface


Joe Kua took this Aurora picture outside of the hotel
Photos courtesy of Joe Kua



The famous annual Alaska Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race from Fairbanks to Nome was about to start in two days


The musher and his 7-paired dogs will cover a distance of 1,000 miles in 8–15 days


The winner will bring home US$50,000 prize money plus a brand new pickup truck
Photo courtesy of Lance King/Getty Images


Stanley petted a husky before he joyriding his sled in Coldfoot, AK


In the last Alaskan evening, the team drove further north to Wiseman, AK
inside the Arctic Circle at 67.41° N where he saw this beautiful aurora.
Wiseman had a population of 14, ten years ago
Photos courtesy of Joe Kua



Joe Kua took this rare "redder than red" aurora picture
Photos courtesy of Joe Kua


Entering the Arctic Circle on Dalton Highway, Alaska at latitude 66° 33' N
Photo taken by the driver
Camera courtesy of Joe Kua's Canon EOS M









Return to Travel Buddies 博愛之旅 Home Page