!!!Bryce Canyon in Winter

by Mike Reyfman,
member of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

9 April 2012

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

While standing next to me on Inspiration Point overlook of The Bryce
Canyon, a buddy of mine once said: "My brain is lagging". I remembered
that phrase very well. This computer slang gave the best description of
what was happening in our mind. Truly the Bryce Canyon is not just
another attraction in the USA; it is one of the very few places on our
planet that puzzles our human mind unable to find logical explanation
and process visual information. So if you ever happen to be in The Bryce
Canyon — don't panic. Remember, you weren't teleported, you did not
loose your senses, and you aren't hallucinating. This gigantic forest of
orange and rose asparagus is very real.

[{Image src='01_Bryce Canyon.jpg' caption='Bryce Canyon' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='563'}]

The unique stone city was created by the water and wind millions of
years ago. The series of architectural ensembles made of multi-colored
sandstone is positioned in several bowl-shaped amphitheatres packed
tightly with towers, spires, temples and minarets of red, orange, pink
and cream shades.

Of course, we couldn't miss this World Wonder, and after very careful
preparation and planning, we finally got our flight permit. We decided
to wait and photograph right after the snowfalls, because The Bryce
Canyon looks more mysterious in wintertime than in the summer — when
covered with snow canyon walls reflect the sun that lights up candles on
tops of the spires with a special glowing light.

In spite of the fact that the night temperature in The Bryce Canyon
often stays around -20-25 °C, and in the daytime it is usually +1-5 °C
above freezing point, snow is still very infrequent here.

Sun and the winds quickly "eat up" the snow, which only stays deep
inside the amphitheaters away from the direct sunlight.

[{Image src='02_Bryce Canyon.jpg' caption='Bryce Canyon' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='450'}]

We missed two snowfalls: the first time, my pilot Maria, had a gig some
place elsewhere, and the second time I had pressing matters I could not
put off.

When finally schedules of my pilot, the nature and myself had come to an
alignment, we faced a unique situation with the weather: massive cold
front was approaching from the Pacific. Weather forecasts reported a
100% probability of snow. However, the problem was with something
completely different — the anticipated amount of snow was by far greater
than we desired. We had to photograph within the short 12-hour window
between two snowstorms coming from the ocean.

Maria's letter below will give you a better picture of what was in store
for us. She sent it to me right before I was to fly to our meeting point
in Phoenix, Arizona:

"I checked the aviation weather for Friday one more time. It looks a
little better now. The clouds should be high enough to get under, at
least until early afternoon. Then the storm moves in. It will be a
strong storm with a lot of snow and high winds. I'll be grounded until
the storm moves out on Sunday afternoon.

If you still want me to fly you there tomorrow, I'll try. But we MUST
stop at Wickenburg to get my blade covers. I can't let the blades be
exposed to rain/ice/melted snow.

You'll also need to get me to the airport several times during the day
on Saturday to make sure the blades aren't weighted down with snow.

You'll be paying me to sit around at Bryce for two days doing nothing -—
I can't fly on Saturday and if you want a morning flight at Bryce, you
won't want me to fly on Sunday. Although you might get some ground
photography in on Friday, Saturday will be completely overcast, cold,
windy, and snowy. Not good conditions for photography. Sunday morning
probably won't be much better. Monday is the only day that looks good -—
and it looks VERY good, with light winds and only 37% cloud cover. It
even looks good at the Grand Canyonthat day. We should knock off Bryce
early and head straight down there.

I don't think this is a good idea, but I'm worried about not being able
to get up there on Sunday before nightfall. If I can't, the whole trip
is wasted.

E-mail me if you get this tonight or tomorrow morning before you leave.
Call me when you get into Sky Harbor. Don't worry about my room at
Ruby's. I'm sure they'll have room for me. We'll likely be the only two
idiots up there."

[{Image src='03_Bryce Canyon.jpg' caption='Bryce Canyon' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='563'}]

Everything that came next, was just like in an action-packed thriller:
Having spent the rest of the night in preparations, I left home in a
hurry at 3am in the morning, and at 4:30am I was already boarding
Chicago-Phoenix flight. I called Maria the moment we touched the ground,
and by the time I received my baggage, her lightweight bright red
"Robinson" was touching down at the helipad near the control tower.
Giving way to a few Boeings and Airbuses, as per dispatcher's
instructions, we began the 4-hour race to The Bryce Canyon with the
storm. The wind was working against us, and we had to land at The Grand
Canyon for refueling. After The Grand Canyon, we rushed our way to Bryce
and landed there at the very moment they announced that the local Bryce
airport will be closed for the next two or three days due to harsh
weather conditions.

The following two days were filled with raging storms, multiple trips to
the airport in zero visibility, driving snowy roads and endless waiting
for an evacuator that barely got us out of a ditch full of snow. On
Sunday evening, we discovered that ducting rotor compartments of our
helicopter were completely iced inside. It took us several hours of
careful "picking" and a few dozens of buckets of boiling hot water that
we carried 400 meters from the airport building (a proud little wooden
cottage with a crew of 1 person, the director, who lived in a house just
100 meters from the runway) to do the trick. By the time the ducts were
cleared from ice it became dark, the sky cleared, and the temperature
dropped significantly.

Finally, it was early Monday morning: the temperature was -25°C and
clear endless sky was filled with flickering stars. Being accustomed to
the warmth of Arizona prairies, the starter of our helicopter made an
unclear sound and went silent. A spare battery, which we brought with
us, did not improve the situation. Something deep inside this
warmth-loving Arizona bird was hopelessly frozen. We managed to find the
only local owner of a mobile diesel heater and warm up our
covered-in-tarp "heli". In one and a half hour we removed the doors and
took off! Only a little bit of work was left — the actual shooting.
Neither the -25°C temperature, nor the wind that was already beginning
to pick-up were able to stop us. The Bryce Canyon was photographed.

Special thanks to pilot Maria Langer, who helped me to make this happen:
http://www.flyingmair.com

[{Image src='04_Bryce Canyon.jpg' caption='Bryce Canyon' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='450'}]

Note On Geography:

Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern
Utah in the United States. The park covers 145 sq km. Despite its name,
the Bryce Canyon is not exactly a canyon but a giant natural
amphitheater created by erosion along the eastern side of the
Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures
formed by wind, water, and ice erosion of the river and lakebed
sedimentary rocks.

[{Image src='05_Bryce Canyon.jpg' caption='Bryce Canyon' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='563'}]

Bryce Canyon sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Grand Canyon
and Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 2 400 to 2 700 m,
while southern rim of Grand Canyon is 2 100m above the sea level. This
is why the climate and the ecological profile of the park are so
different from its neighbors.

The Bryce area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named
after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area
around Bryce Canyon became a U.S. National Monument in 1923 and was
designated as a national park in 1928. Comparing to Zion National Park
and the Grand Canyon, this remote park receives relatively few visitors
that come here for the opportunity to take unforgettable landscape
pictures.

\\ \\
[3 Panoramas of Bryce Canyon in Winter|Geography/America/United_States/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Bryce_Canyon_in_Winter]










[{SET customtitle='Bryce Canyon in Winter (AP)'}] 

[{Metadata Suchbegriff=' ' Kontrolle='Nein'}]