Tag Archives: driving video

Snow Phenomenon

Below you can see the unique snow phenomenon that Jack saw on the Dalton when he came over the top of Gobbler’s Knob a few weeks ago. The first video shows him seeing it and the low sun casting alpenglow into his cab. The second is a compilation of clips of it with real audio of he and another driver discussing it and other things. The third (at double speed) is coming up and under it and the blowing snow on the road. And the fourth is later that day, just a beautiful drive going south at 4x speed.

Jack believes the snow phenomenon was a localized wind storm that kicked up snow into what looked like a cloud or even a mountain from far away. It was a windy day overall.

Jack pulls over for an oversize load

About an hour after leaving Prudhoe Bay, Jack meets a pilot car for an over-sized load so he stops at a pull-out and waits.  You’ll see the trucks in back of the big load go around it, then a truck that will be traveling faster than Jack goes ahead of him.

The big load is a 400,000 pound mod (modular unit) and there were four 70,000 pound push trucks to get it from Fairbanks to the last hill which is about 60 miles south of Prudhoe.  Only one push truck is needed to get it the rest of the way into Prudhoe and that’s the one you can see here.

(Your volume needs to be turned up on this one.)

The road is cleared!

Recently the Dalton was drifted shut near Slope Mountain.  This video starts right after 2 blades (graters) clear the road and one parks in front of Jack.  If it weren’t for the plowed path, you can’t really tell where the road is unless you watch the delineaters, those reflective markers on each edge.