12.22.2008

The Pursuit of Clouds

Yesterday night I got off work around 8er, spent an hour in the computer lab, walked outside and saw these nacreous clouds hanging low on the horizon. There were a bunch of Christmas holiday parties going on, one of which I probably should have gone to (the kitchen party), but I'd rather go chasing clouds. Parties happen all the time around here... nacreous clouds aren't that common.


Beyond all the junk you can see them. You can notice their changes about every 5 minutes. Often when the sun sets they turn real beautiful colours due to the tiny size crystals that make them and their associated refraction attributes... but as you know the sun doesn't set for another month and a half. Oh Geez.


Hiking towards the nearest big hill I came across some cool snow patterns created by aeolian (wind) erosion.
Came to a big hill, not too big yet not too easy, I picked the steepest side and went at it slowly, carefully, but steadily.

Made it to the top in about 30 minutes. Took some deep breaths, turned the volume up on my mp3 player, laid back and enjoyed the show.

I began taking photos of the northern side first, hoping that the nacreous clouds (south side) would morph into something really wicked, but my camera battery died and all I got from the journey were pics other than nacreous... oh well, just know that they were pretty.

Looking NW.

Look N.

Looking N. Cool cloud top on the mountain.

Looking into heaven.