For the last month, it has been snowy, dark, cold. Dusk creeps in at 3 PM, a mid-afternoon burglar intent on stealing the light, and dawn arrives timidly and reluctantly at 9 AM, and if clouds or snow obscure the sun, it is gloomy at high noon. And it isn't technically winter, yet. Not until December 21. A Floridian fresh off the plane would argue that winter must already be here.

But late autumn can be indistinguishable from winter in Alaska. It varies year to year. There is no such thing as an average autumn here. This year, for example, the bright leaves weren't ready to drop when the big winds came. As a result, after the winds left and didn't return, the colorful foliage lasted much longer than usual. And everyone remembers, or thinks they remember, back in the day when snow came in September and stayed until May. But recent years have been milder and snow often arrives later and more sparsely. But not this year. A few light snows gradually and gently covered bushes and grasses. Then it began to snow more seriously and cold weather made the snow light and crystalline. It was ideal for skiers: cold and dry enough to blow snow on ski runs.

Even Alaskans are surprised, especially if it is snowy and cold, to realize in early December it isn't even winter yet. 

The early snow was too light to fully bury bushes and grasses. But the message was on the wall, and these stalks and shoots were given only a brief reprieve.  They went gracefully, sometimes with a dusting of seeds from the birches.

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A transiting moose walked down the front walk.

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Moose leave a deceptively small foot (hoof) print, given their size and need to traverse deep snow four months a year.

Maybe a different moose: chewing after browsing, in early morning in the back yard.

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Finally upright, the recumbent bull walked off, and when the curious photographer went out the front door to see where it had gone, the bull was, to everyone's surprise, only a few steps away, heading south on the front walk. These two shots are full frame, no cropping. The bull was almost too close to allow the lens to focus.

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The full moon made an appearance a day later.

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The UAA alpine Ski Team trained at Hilltop, the in-town ski area, since Alyeska wasn't yet open.  Chloe Margue, a junior from France, demonstrates forward pressure. Winter is still two weeks away.

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Team Captain Georgia Burgess, a senior from Calgary, leads Nicole Mah, a sophomore from Vancouver, and Rebecca Fiegl, a senior from Austria.

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Margue, again, getting on edge early in the turn,

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and Margue, again, leading Didrik Nilsen, a junior from Norway, and Nicole Mah.

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4:28 PM sun:
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Drills: one ski

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hops:

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There was a brief glimmer of good light, enough for a sunset panorama created from a 10-frame sequence. EF4A5621-Edit

Soon after, new snow covered the upper surfaces of branches, but left the undersides bare. The resulting graphics illustrate the structural complexity of a few "simple" trees. When photographed from below, the visual tangles are particularly striking. 

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The images in all the recent "Fall" posts are collected in this gallery, "Fall 2020":

https://bobeastaughimagery.zenfolio.com/p724815947