TECHNICAL DETAILS
Sony a7ii, Sony Zeiss 16-35mm f/4
1/160 at f/6.3 ISO 100 at 35mm on a MeFoto Backpacker tripod
THE LAST RAYS OF 2016
Up at the cabin to ring in the newness of 2017. We anticipated a leisurely (sic) weekend of outdoor activities, snow adventures and peaceful relaxation. And for the most part, that’s what we got, albeit with some aborted plans ultimately due to inclement weather. I wish we had more time to wait out the impending storm!
We drove up early on Friday and opened up our little log shack. It’s hard to believe that the cabin is now around 107 years old. I love to think of the winters it’s seen and the conversations that have echoed off it’s logs before I acquired it nearly a quarter-century ago. We’ve had some storms here as well. I remember most vividly a winter evening pre-children, when, in between residences and moving from Argentina to Boston, we spent a good chunk of the winter up here. Pre-internet, forecasting was a little tougher to manage accurately, but we’d nowhere to be. On that dark winter’s evening, we watched the thermometer drop from the low 20s above to -10°F in less than half an hour. Horizontal snow whipped in from the northwest across the lake on a howling wind. When we awoke the next morning, we were, quite literally, snowed in. Chest-high drifts blocked the path out the door, and the temperature had dropped to -23°F. The lake was like a rough sea with huge frozen drifts. We donned snowshoes and went out to explore, marveling at the conditions. It took weeks for local intrepid snowmobilers to craft a path across the lake, and we enjoyed a spell of unparalleled quietude, the absence of the whine of the engines from out on the ice was unique in my experience to this day.
So for New Year’s Eve this year, we again set out on the ice by snowshoe, this time cruising the shoreline down to Burntside Lodge while inspecting how our neighbors’ recovery efforts from a massive wind storm this summer were progressing. Repaired roofs were evident, but so were jumbles of downed trees, as yet unsawn.
We came back in for a brief rest, before heading back out. I wanted to be out on the lake for sunset to capture the last rays of 2016 across the frozen horizon. The temperature was hovering in the mid single digits above, with little wind. Shooting in the cold is always a challenge, with obstacles from diminished battery life to frozen fingers and sticky tripod legs to be dealt with. But this was a benign sunset. Despite the decent light, I opted for a tripod for this shot as it allowed me to keep one alternating hand under my parka and with feeling. Leigh obliged my posing directions, and we watched the sun glide down between the south shore and Indian Island, it’s last low-angle beam leaving a golden glow across the frozen surface.
For New Year’s day, we planned a lengthy hike and had provisioned accordingly. But this morning’s forecast, now with push-notifications enabled, is ominous. An 8- to 12-inch snowfall begins this evening, with winds to 20 mph. The accumulation is to continue into the day after, with ice and glazing anticipated to the south, making for treacherous driving conditions. We had planned to leave tomorrow after our long hike today. But, now with weather conditions looking to deteriorate, we’ve made the unwelcome decision to turn tail and head south today. The New Year also beckons back in civilization, with commitments and places to be. We’ll have to leave the snowed-in memories to the golden age of our youth.
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