Actually, he's from the Yukon, and he just got back from a three-day
ski/camping trip up the west side of Lake LaBerge (of Cremation of Sam McGee
fame) where he encountered Upper LaBerge, an abandoned historic village that
boasts a building with a rather unique preservation problem. (More to follow
upon development of photos).

Spouse, seven year old child and dog made up the party, and we spent two
comfortable night in our tent at around -15 degrees C. (That's 5 F). The
trail we were on turned out to be a popular dog-mushing route, so our
biggest adventures centered on making occasional mad leaps off the trail and
wrestling our dog into the snow, hoping the teams wouldn't notice her. Once
they did, and got hopelessly tangled up in my "pulk" (a sled attached to a
skier via a rigid frame; the only way to go!). Fortunately no dogfights
broke out, my dog escaped, and all were on their way within about 20
minutes.

We had intended to stay one night in a "Quinsey" hut. Now there's an
ephemeral form of architecture! It consists of a mound of snow that has been
left to harden, and then hollowed out to form an artificial cave. They are
much warmer that igloos, tents or lean-tos, because there might be 2' of
snow acting as insulation. They can be any size, multiple rooms, you name
it. One could wonder how to preserve, not so much the structure itself which
is a bit of a lost cause come spring, but the techniques of construction
(same goes for igloos and other inherently temporary structures, such as
lean-tos and brush shelters of all kinds). One does not have the physical
form to use as a model for future generations. Somehow a photo doesn't
completely do it justice.

                -----Original Message-----
                From:   Kathy Follett [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
                Sent:   Wednesday, March 17, 1999 7:06 PM
                To:     [log in to unmask]
                Subject:        Re: What good is having a guy from Alaska on
this list ....

                ... if he leaves?