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WINTER SCIENCE
by Air
I
have for many years tried to
properly explain and categorize
Western winter, and I am still at
a loss for words. On one hand, it is
America’s winter wonderland, our
playground of snow sports, extreme
cold, rough storms, and genuine
risk from dangerous winter weather.
On another hand, it can seem
downright pleasant in Wyoming
compared to lake effect winters near
the Canadian border in New York,
where I grew up. There is even a
family from the Midwest in Alpine
that enjoys coming to Wyoming to
escape the miseries of winter.
I have come to appreciate that the
duality of characteristics makes
winter incredibly varied in Wyoming,
leaving something to see and explore
every time the weather changes.
It is no mystery that the higher
the terrain, the more snow falls.
This maxim holds true in the entire
Mountain Time zone, sometimes
with differentials of snow being
as varied as summits receiving six
times the snowfall as neighboring
valleys. Our land use patterns
derived of homesteading mean that,
for the most part, our towns, homes,
and cities are located in sheltered
valleys, with occasional passes that
offer forays into alpine scenery that
become worlds apart from day-today life below. Where the difference
in the summer may be a hot day
merely becoming warm or slightly
cool at altitude, winter presents
a dichotomy where it can be the
difference between a blizzard and
chilly day, sometimes life and death.
34
Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine | Winter & Holiday 2016
By Garrett Fisher
Images by Garrett Fisher
The problem is, I would actually
like to see this activity, up close and
personal, and am too uncompelled
to ascend thousands of feet by foot
each time to do so. It is one thing
to know that the mountains have
received their first snowfall at a
distance. It is another to actually
stand in the snow in September
(or midsummer in exceptional
circumstances) and take it all in.
The onset of winter, while autumn is
in full force, has become my favorite
time of year, largely because I can
get close on a recurring basis with
the airplane. Perpetually optimistic
about temperature, I set off with
a light coat, climb a few thousand
feet, and cruise along whatever
mountain range is the subject of
my focus, snapping photographs of
pronounced texture. In early season
snowfalls, each rock and undulation
of terrain is evident through light
snowfall, as compared to midwinter
and late spring, where snowpack is
deeper and makes the appearance
of the mountains smooth. Naturally,
after a few hours of exposure to
cold, flying with the door open
for better photographs, my poor
planning gets the best of me and its
time to land in a hypothermic state.