Winter Experience - Ice Falls on Turnagain Arm

Ice Falls

Each year, as the cold sets in, the landscape in Alaska shifts from green to white.  One of the most dramatic shits occur when the seeps and small waterfalls freeze.  

Ice falls just off Seward Hwy

The frozen art created by freezing always has us stopping and pulling out our cameras.  Note of caution: many of the falls are very close to the road, the shoulders are very small, and cars are doing around 60 on very limited visibility turns--DON'T stop at those.   These falls in the Turnagain Arm were still flowing and freezing.  The sound of gently falling water combined with the slowly growing ice gave a magical feeling--even with the traffic bare feet from the ice wall.  The ice was all the colors of ice: solid white with frosted surface; translucent as drops of water kept the surface clear; bright green from mineral buildup.   Then, just after 11AM when the sun finally cleared the mountains, it added all kinds of reflections, redactions, and shadowing that could easily have you staring for hours (until the sun disappears).

Carol taking photos of the falls

There are several locations nearer to Anchorage that have wide pullouts and are more friendly to pedestrians.  Many are beautiful with snow and ice, but where we stopped had the best of the falls...  Although there was one place, barely 3 feet off the curb, where people were ice climbing on a huge wall of frozen falls; it was amazing, but a bit close to the road for my taste.  

When should you go?  Anytime there is daylight and the temperature is below 20 degrees.  But if you have flexibility, you should try to time it so the sun is above the Kenai Mountains on the the south side of the Turnagain Arm.   For us in November the time was around just after 11AM.  It also only lasted for about 15 minutes as it slid through a notch between two high peaks; but it would likely have made it above the higher mountain an hour or so later (there is no guarantee of that in winter as the sun stays very low to the horizon all winter).

Closeup of the falls

Expect it to be cold and dress accordingly.  My experience with dry winters in Colorado, where humidity is concept in a textbook, hadn't prepared me for the effects of the high humidity of the South Central region of Alaska.  The higher the humidity the colder it feels,and the cold seeps straight into your bones.  These icefalls are about 50 feet from an arm of the Pacific Ocean and the humidity most have been on the high side of 50% (in spite of a temperature below 20 degrees).  When took these pictures only lasted about 60 seconds before my fingers got really cold.  Carol was concentrating so hard it took her about 15 minutes to notice...


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