I’d been waiting for months when I finally got the call from Alaska last March: Wild ice was on.
A roughly two-week high-pressure window of cold and clear weather had frozen Portage Lake, the terminus of Portage Glacier, some 50 miles southeast of Anchorage, and it was solid enough to skate on its wild — or natural — ice.
“Skating A-grade ice under a glacier really is a ‘take off work now and just go to it’ type of treat, even for us Alaskans,” said Paxson Woelber, who owns the Anchorage-based skate manufacturer Ermine Skate.
A few months earlier, I had purchased a pair of Ermine Nordic skates, long blades similar to speed skates that affix to the bindings of cross-country ski boots. The compatibility allows skiers to get to remote ice, then switch into blades to skate without changing boots and, as Mr. Woelber put it, “get you off the rink.”
While figure and hockey skates are designed for maneuverability, including directional changes and tight turns, Nordic skates are designed for distance. The longer, faster blades require less effort to propel, and their stability makes them more tolerant of natural conditions like bumpy or weedy ice.
But the problem with Nordic skating or any kind of wild skating — which is defined as outdoors and on naturally formed ice, regardless of the style of skate used — is finding good ice. Wild-ice seekers extol late fall and sometimes spring for freezing conditions without snowfall, which degrades ice.
“That’s why it’s so magical: It’s fleeting,” said Laura Kottlowski, a former competitive figure skater based in Golden, Colo., whom I called in my search for wild ice. TikTok and Instagram videos of her jumping and spinning on high alpine lakes have gone viral, and Ms. Kottlowski teaches her combination of winter mountaineering and ice skating as Learn to Skate Outside.
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Bilt Rewards is announcing a partnership with Alaska Airlines as the travel and rent rewards program's newest airline transfer partner. It's possible to transfer Bilt Points to Alaska Airlines at a 1:1 ratio. Extra perks will be available later this year. For example, the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® card will be able to earn double Alaska miles on qualifying rent purchases later this year.
Alaska Airlines CEO Ben Minicucci says the court ruling that blocked the Spirit-JetBlue merger has increased the chances that the Alaska-Hawaiian Airlines merger will receive approval.
Next month’s total solar eclipse, which will pass directly over a wide swath of North America, is drawing an awful lot of interest from folks who are willing to travel to see it in all its glory. In order to do so, they need to place themselves somewhere along its path of totality—geographic locations from which the sun will appear to be entirely obstructed by the moon’s shadow passing between the Earth and its nearest star.
Somewhere between Iceland and the fictitious kingdom of Westeros sits the land that time forgot. On a map it’s called Greenland (aka the world’s largest island), model habitat for the Game of Thrones’ White Walkers. Arrive here in early March and green is the last color that comes to mind, however, for the landscape palette is decidedly white, save for a few gray rocks that nose their way out of the ermine blanket of snow. It’s a land where ancient muskox still roam as they have for 60,000 years, undoubtedly waiting for the next great extinction to see what new cast of characters will emerge.
Semi-private jet company JSX is offering a luxurious way to see the total solar eclipse next month with a sweepstakes that will give 12 lucky space fans the chance to see the phenomenon from the air for free.
The best Alaska cruise excursions can range from the thrilling to the serene. Passengers can fly on sleds led by huskies, ogle bald eagles and salmon-gobbling grizzlies, and soar over towering glaciers in a helicopter. And the best part? All these activities are planned for you as part of the cruise itinerary—as a way for travelers to sample the diverse wonders of The Last Frontier in one fell swoop.
Boeing has not been fully cooperative with investigators looking at January's door plug incident on board an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9, the lead investigator of a federal probe into the company said Wednesday during a Congressional hearing.
Global Travel Collection anticipates cruise bookings will significantly boost business for their advisors, with one agent already securing over £1 million in sales during their first year of booking cruises.
Last month, I was just wrapping up a short but sweet family vacation in Hawaii with my husband and our 9-year-old twins. It had been mostly uneventful in the best way, and we spent our time perfectly balanced between relaxation and light adventure — swimming in the pool and the sea, horseback riding, doing archery, and eating well.