Up on the slope

Been gone for a while now. Figured I would catch up a bit. Been galavanting around up above the arctic circle since July. I may have found my calling, finally.

Looks like the beat goes on while I am away. Keep up the good work. Lots of interesting reading material as usual.

Survival is a bit different up north. Dealing with a more "controlled environment". I can't provision the way I would like to. But it is not so bad. I take advantage when I can.

Anyways, I will try and post some while I am in town. We are just starting to get snow on the ground here in Anchorage.

Cheers

Welcome back home Big Ben. You sound good!

Good to hear from you Ben.

Growing season is kinda short above the Arctic circle. Might learn how to can seal meat though.

Stay warm!

Sounds like you had a good time! Take any pics?

Glad to see your smiling pixels. When you have a chance, please expand upon how things are different up North, I for one would be quite interested.

Not too much to take pictures of. I haven't seen much in the way of wildlife this year. A few foxes here and there, but the rabies rate on them is running about 80%, so you don't get too close.

Deadhorse is essentially an industrial zone. Flat land sprouting with pipe, corrugated steel buildings, gravel (sometimes muddy, sometimes snowbound) roads, lots of conexes and big rolling stock. No trees, no big rocks, no retail facades of any kind. The bigger complexes are set on pilings and still just corrugated or sheet metal siding. Lots of the structures are throwbacks from the 70s and 80s, as there is no real desire to replace or upgrade. In the summer, the ground is just tundra grass and water impoundments only loosely referred to as ponds and lakes. A short ride north, and you come to the edge of the sea. It is a barren waveless rocky beach. There are two rivers that flow through the area and both contain plenty of grayling and rainbow.

East is Badami, and then Point Thomson, just small depot type operating areas with an airfield and some storage space. At various times, these operating areas get busy with new exploration and development going on. But it is all just temporary. West is the Anwar refuge, no-man's land. The road ends a short distance out of Deadhorse going both directions, and no one drives on the tundra up here except in dire emergency or during ice road season. So you take helo transport or fixed wing if your destination is near an airfield. Not much to see anyways. Far enough west and you get to Barrow. I haven't been there yet.

Right now snow's on the ground. The air is getting dry, and the prevailing wind from the northeast comes and goes.

The food in the facilities is pretty good, albeit a bit rich. You can try and eat healthy. But every meal is a buffet, and they have "spike camps" open 24/7. Lots of fresh fruit, yogurt, carrot and celery sticks, but also lots of chips, hot dogs, soft serve ice cream with hot fudge sauce, and a 6 shelf cabinet full of cookies and pastries. They have a phrase in camp called the north slope 30, which like freshmen at college is about how many pounds people put on when they get up there. I have done well to stay within 10, but on my frame that is not much of a consequence. They have workout areas with decent equipment. If your schedule allows you can make use of them anytime of day.

In camp, the work schedule is 12 hours a day (minimum), 7 days a week. Usually the work day is a bit longer. Sometimes it is quite a bit longer. But the work is good. This far away from civilization, the politics and the bureaucracy don't interfere so much. It is still there, it is everywhere nowadays, but it is easier to get things done away from town. You have to be on top of your game to do the work without so much "supervision" and micro-management. At this point in my career, I am not interested in the politics or the management stuff; been there, done that. I want to keep my hands dirty and keep my edge. In town, sitting in meetings and debating endlessly who is supposed to do what will make you dull.

I think I will finish out my career on this assignment. It is as close to retirement as I will ever care to get. Despite the fact that it is against the rules to bring weapons up with us, there really isn't much need. It will take some time for the golden horde to reach us, and if the Russkies come over the top, nothing I could bring with me would change that outcome. My living quarters are smaller than what I had in Baghdad, and I share a bathroom, but no one is trying to shoot me or blow me up, and that is a good thing. At night I read or watch a little tv if I am not doing laundry, working out, or sleeping. Some days I stay late to play guitar as the hootch is not very soundproof and my neighbors would get annoyed with my practicing. To get from the hootch to the office is a 10 minute shuttle bus ride. The airport is 30 minutes away. The speed limit is 35 max, but in most places it is 25 or 20. It is down to 5 anytime you are around anyone walking or big equipment plowing snow or some such. They are all about safety now. Too much bad history.

Speaking of which, apparently things have changed quite a bit over the years. It is not the rough and tumble roughneck hangout it's reputation would have you think. There is no booze, no drugs, except by prescription, and no violence. Troublemakers get removed quickly, and security is fairly thorough about contraband. Nothing more than a 2" blade pocket knife, unless your work requires tools. Stuff still makes it in, but it is not nearly as common, and people are held accountable, potential employees are screened and vetted, so things have indeed changed.

3 weeks on, 3 weeks off. That's the deal. Work 26 weeks a year, get paid like it's a full time gig. Cut my expenses half the year while I am up there to boot. Now if I could just find a way to get my wife on with the same deal, the next decade would be pretty slick.

Any questions?

Sounds like a good gig!

Yes, a good gig. Of course, my rotation schedule has me away from home at Christmas, but the family agreed to hold "2nd Christmas" for me when I get back home on Jan 5.

It's hard to get that I am actually looking forward to going back to work next Monday. Not that I want to leave home, but for once I am not dreading returning to my assignment. Things just keep getting better up here for me.

Ben, I look forward to your report about the cold and darkness after your January rotation.

If you can say, what's your job duties?

Ben gives a pretty good overall summary of life on the slope.

Just a few minor corrections/additions to the geography. ANWR is east of Pt Thomson. ANWR extends from the east edge to Pt Thomson Field all the way to the Canadian border. The tiny Alaska Native village of Kaktovik is in ANWR, on the coast.

From Deadhorse the road extends east to Endicott Field, and west to the end of Kuparuk Field. It isn't a long road, but seems like it because the speed limits are low (and strictly enforced). A pipeline extends west of Kuparuk across the Colville River to Alpine Field, but no road so people going there need to fly. There is a small Native Alaskan village at Nuiqsut on the Colville River. West of Alpine Field is NPRA (National Petroleum Reserve Alaska), and Barrow is west of that (a long way west). Wikipedia has a nice map from the USGS showing the overall geography.

The Dalton Highway (the "Haul Road") runs south from Deadhorse about 400 miles to connect with the Elliot Highway, then it is another 70 miles to Fairbanks. The public can drive all the way from Fairbanks to Deadhorse. The roads leading from Deadhorse into the oilfields are not open to the public. Driving up the Dalton is a great trip (in the summer), but the only gas and other services are at two spots on the whole route, at the Yukon River bridge and at Coldfoot.

Because of the great distance, "slopers" (North Slope workers like Ben) all fly. The oil companies have their own private airline (operated by Alaska Airlines) to take workers to and from the slope. Alaska Airlines also flies regular commercial service to Deadhorse.

Oh quite right. ANWR is the no man's land to the east, and NPRA is the west side excursion zone. Unlike ANWR, NPRA is limited/restricted access, not exclusive. Sorry for the confusion. I am heading back up tomorrow.

I am a project control specialist. I do cost and schedule analysis to manage performance and changes to contracted work as a method of variance control. I also dally with contract and risk management.

I used to be a project/program control manager, but the politics and the non-stop meetings and currying was not what I wanted to do. I like to keep my hands dirty actually grinding the numbers rather than spend endless hours arguing with egos about what the numbers really mean. I am not an accountant, and accountants really struggle with project control work. Some people think I use a crystal ball, and if so, it is a darned accurate one.

Ben, is that storm in bound to Alaska going your way. If so good luck and prayers your way.Please keep us up to date?

BOATMAN
John

It is unlikely there will be much direct impact of that storm on mainland Alaska. Also remember that severe winter weather is not an unusual thing on the N Slope. Those facilities are well prepared for it.

People need to remember how big Alaska is. It is both huge in land area (twice the size of Texas), but also very spread out. Consider this map. The storm is in the western Aleutians and Ben is at Prudhoe Bay. On the lower 48 map that is roughly equivalent to a storm at San Francisco and and someone in Duluth.

Although the storm probably won't directly hammer the mainland, there will be indirect effects. Some reports have indicated that the storm may help push the polar vortex south, leading to colder weather in the lower 48.

I knew Alaska was big, but the map was eye-opening. Never saw it that way before.

There is a joke that Alaskans tell:

"We should split Alaska into two states. It would be easier to manage that way. And Texans would be really PO'd, because they would then be the Third largest state!"

It is true that in terms of land area, Alaska is a bit more than twice the size of Texas.

Got back into town on Monday. Finally caught up with everything that had to get done. The big storm didn't really have an effect on slope. We had a couple days last week of blizzard, and we went to phase 3 for a few hours (phase 3 means restricted travel). Not sure the two were related. It has been unseasonably warm up on slope and very little snow. Monday morning it was finally cooling off; down to -7 deg f.

Meanwhile, here in Anchorage, where's the snow? My daughter said it's not been this warm and dry here since 1976? We did get about 1/2 inch of snowfall today out on the east side of town. I keep telling the wife the snow will be here soon enough, and we will have to deal with it for months after that. But then I do not subscribe to the notion of global warming.

Tomorrow's turkey day, so it will be spent in the kitchen until 3:30, then the dining room until 4:30, then the living fighting the tryptophan nocturne while watching the Seahawks ruin thanksgiving for San Francisco, heh heh heh...

Time to buy up all the junk silver I can find in town. The silver market looks like it is about to burst, and the price won't be going back down. Scoop it up now, otherwise the Russians and the Chinese will have it all.

Next week is all about getting my archery set-up complete. I acquired a fine take down recurve bow while I was out of town (thanks to oldest daughter and wife stopping by Cabelas). So I need to get a few dozen arrows, some good broadheads, and various assorted accessories and tools. I signed up for the archery club up on slope and intend to take that recurve with me so I can spend my down time practicing and conditioning. A pretty good deal that they have an archery range for us. I wish they let us shoot guns up there too, but the bureaucracy will not support such an endeavor.

Gonna bake up half a dozen fruitcakes to take back with me next rotation. Looks like Christmas will be spent up on the slope. I am okay with that. My kids are grown and no grandbabies yet, so the wife and I will celebrate later when I get back in January.

Otherwise, I am networking with co-workers to arrange for some quality hunts. I missed every opportunity to go this year, and I'm not interested in repeating that. With all the time off I am up for, I think I can come up with some decent plans. Beef prices are jacked up. I guess my cattle down in Texas are paying off. I keep rolling that investment, so the herd keeps growing.

I'll keep posting while I'm in town. Up on slope I can't access the site without it costing me a boodle.

Welcom home and a very happy Thanksgiving Day to you and your DW!!

Well, I've noticed a trend with my work routine that is a bit distressing. It seems every time I come home, I end up with a cold. I am pretty sure I am catching it on the plane, although the curious part is I am not catching a cold on the way back to work, even though I am flying on the same planes. Consequently, I am going to begin utilizing some prophylactic on future trips home to try and avoid becoming infected.

On the brighter side, I have acquired a couple of takedown recurve bows and a method of transport suitable for taking back to the slope. It is absolutely amazing to me how little you can spend on a quality archery setup that is also quite portable. Using a fishing rod case made for dealing with the gorillas at the airport, I put together a heavy felt wrap for each bow, a pouch for the arrows, and a pouch for accessories. They all fit snugly in the case, and using a firearms cable type padlock, the case is quite secure. Since we are required to check our archery stuff separate from our regular checked baggage, I am fairly certain that my gear will survive the trip. Last time I went up, I took a new bag, and the gorillas managed to bust two foot pads off it right off the bat, the brutes.

I am making up a few fruitcakes to take up and share with the crew. In fact, I will be packing quite a bit this time for the Christmas celebration since I am staying over. Not too many sweets this time; the crew prefers meat products, like jerky, pepperoni sticks, smoked salmon. They keep eating like that, they are all gonna be on high blood pressure meds from all the sodium they are consuming, heh heh heh. I wonder if potassium chloride is as effective at persevering meat...

Went to see the nutcracker with the wife last week. We had balcony seating, and wouldn't you know a small tremor hit just before the show started. Being suspended like we were, the feeling was amplified enough we noticed, even though the tremor was pretty small. The show went on without event, and we enjoyed ourselves. We wore our fur coats (the wife's is shaved mink, mine was natural dark beaver). It was too warm for my coat, even outside, and I took it off to avoid sweating in it too much. It would be quite functional up on slope, but I am not taking a $3,500 garment up to work. I have a decent Carhartt coat that suite me just fine.

We finally got some snow here in Anchorage. About 4 inches since I've been back, enough to warrant breaking out the snow thrower and going over the operation with the wife. I hope it survives the season with her behind the controls! Due to the warmer temps, we have more ice on the roads than snow now, so driving is a bit more trouble. I loaded my pickup with 600 lbs of bagged traction sand and it really helps keep that beast under control. With studded snow tires and 4WD, it is quite functional in wintertime. I still haven't put a canopy on the back, but with a crew cab, I have enough room for the extra gear I pack for winter travel.

I'll post again before I leave. Cheers

A beaver coat? I am jealous.

the best beaver coat i ever saw was a zippered hoodie that a guy at the Vets Hospital was wearing.i never saw another one like it and all i could ask was it beaver and he said ya i got it up north and was out the door.

Trying to find someone to build me matching beaver mittens. My furrier says the market is tough right now. A lot of the people that make things out of fur are getting old and going out of business, with no one replacing them. Also, the Chinese are buying up furs for their manufacturing industry on a grand scale. So I may have to wait a while to get what I want.

Went to the archery range this weekend. Took the wife and let her shoot for the first time. She was apprehensive at first, but took to it right away and is now an enthusiast, despite putting a nasty string burn on her bow arm (everyone has to learn the hard way it seems). By the time we were done she was hitting the target at 30 yards just shooting a recurve. The son in law has a bow under the tree as well, so it looks like we will all be shooting together a lot next year. I am excited.

Cracked open a jar of corned beef hash I put up a year ago. Still tasty, and the taters were still firm. Put three over easy eggs on top and ate my fill. Found a bottle of chipotle tabasco to top it with and brewed up some strong coffee and now I am just kicking back and rubbing my belly. Life is good.

Well, I headed back up to the slope on the 15th. Spent a bit of time putting together some goodies to take with. Ended up filling my suitcase fairly well, and the bows made it up there no problem.

When I got back up there, I spent my lunch hours shooting 100 arrows at a time. My shooting didn't really improve much until the last week, when I was finally able to isolate a few problems with my shooting sequence that were throwing arrows out of the grouping. I could get 6 of 10 to group where I aimed, the rest would fly up and left or wide right. Two of the three adjustments were to correct bad habits I had learned long ago. These were plucking the string, and opening my shoulders toward the target. The third problem is old age, or in this case my eyesight not being what it was 26 years ago. Now that I figured them out and have made the necessary adjustments, my groups are consistently holding at 6 to 8 inches at 20 yards, and I expect slow steady improvement on that over time.

Really, it is the first shot that counts, so teaching my brain to ascertain distance and do the computations for drop at range without the aid of sights is what the practice is about. You practice consistency, and the precision will come. But accuracy requires variation. So I shoot at 10 yards, 15 yards and 20 yards. Eventually I will have to take my bowhunters certification so I can go hunting with my bows and arrows. I plan on acquiring another recurve so I don't have to transport the one I have now back and forth. That way I can go out while I am in town and do some stump shooting etc. I gave the wife one of the two recurves I had with a lighter draw weight so she can have some fun too.

They fed us filet mignon and king crab(I am still allergic to the crab, darn it). I ate double portions of the filet and it was perfectly cooked. They had sweets galore, and yes, I have put on more weight this time. I got home this last Monday and have been trying to shed some of the weight. Hopefully I can get it off and when I get back up on slope at the end of the month I will be able to continue. We lost power during a particularly strong blow one night a couple weeks ago. In the 45 minutes it took to get power back, my hooch went from 68 degrees to 48 degrees. They don't insulate those buildings worth a hoot. We sat there listening to the turbine generator wind up and down about a dozen times. Had they not got power back within time, they would've moved us to another camp or some such. Our power loss was localized, and with all the redundancy they put up there, the chance of a catastrophic loss would be pretty remote. Even so, under the most dire conditions we could just light a gas line off and stand around the plume. A 40 foot tall wall of flame puts out a lot of btus. There's so much gas up there I am not worried about running out in my lifetime.

I went ice fishing today and caught a nice 22 inch Pike. After taking it home and dressing it out, I determined that Pike are a scrap fish and I will leave them for eagle bait when I catch them from now on. Pike don't belong here anyways, and I would much rather catch and eat trout.

Still not sure which bow I will buy next. But I will keep y'all posted.

Stay warm and enjoy the winter sports until summer arrives. Be careful.

It is unseasonably warm here in Anchorage. Some of the lower peaks in the Chugach are essentially bare and the forest trails are still quite hikable with just boots. There's only about 3 inches of residual snow in the yard, and that is crusty and icy. I am expecting the weather to turn soon, but for now, our winter is very mild. Even up on the slope, the weather has not been as rough as usual. I am fairly convinced our weather undulates with the solar cycle. We've had a lot of solar activity in the past couple months, and I think that is having an effect.

Gonna head back up to the bulk foods store and get another couple bags of legumes today. With meat prices as high as they are, it is past time to get some moose and salmon in the jars. Since I missed my opportunity for it last year, I am working in earnest to make sure this year is a success. As with all things, it is all about networking to find the best value for money hunts and fishing ops I can. I will have a spring black bear hunt for sure in May, and a good chance to get on a moose this fall.

So that just leaves the salmon fishing. With 3 weeks off at a whack, I can borrow a boat and hit the rivers when the runs come, and try and make the most of the season. I am hoping to get at least 100 pints of moose and salmon in the pantry, as well as filling the freezer and replacing all the ham and sausage I have with good quality natural meat. We scored 40 lbs of ham at the grocery store on Thursday at 99 cents a pound. Up here that is a darned good price for quality ham. It is bone in butt, normally priced at $3.99 a pound, so we paid 1/4 the price. Ham is not a premium meat choice, but it does make a big difference in my legume pots (peas, navy beans, black-eyed peas, etc). Using it mostly for flavor, It also works ok for a jerky, though not in my top five. Dehydrating it and putting it through the molca-jete renders it as a fairly shelf stable meat product to use for casseroles and breakfast dishes.

Anyways, one week down, two to go before heading back to work. God I love this routine.

Well, getting ready to head back on to work on Monday. We are finally getting some snow here in Anchorage. Looks like about 5" overnight, and more coming down today.

The wife and I celebrated our 26th anniversary and her 52nd birthday on Thursday. Still going strong. All in all, this has been a pretty good off-rotation break for me. I bought a new bow to keep here at home, a 50# Bear Grizzly recurve. It is a good shooter, nice and smooth. With my overdraw I am pulling about 62# at my anchor point. That will be plenty for hunting, but really I intend to use my Bear Authority compound for any serious big game opportunities. I've eaten well, got a moderate amount of sleep, and still have a few bucks left in the account. Anytime I can have fun and not go broke doing it I am happy. I have been on the job now for over 6 months, and it is still good, so that is a big plus. But I am still wringing some Christmas spirit out of the new year. I have one piece of mincemeat pie left to eat before I go, the chimes on the clock are still playing carol music every hour, and the outdoor Christmas lights are still up and come on every night. With the new snow coming down, it gives me a real Vince Garibaldi moment.

As far as preps go, Even though I have augmented my arsenal, I missed the opportunity to stock up on more bulk foods like I intended. I will have to catch up on that next time I am home. I did manage to crank out another 10 lbs of breakfast sausage, this time garlic and sage, and a little hotter than normal. It was quite tasty, though a bit strong for breakfast. I also found a couple new sources for dehydrated instant refried beans. I'll put a recipe on the forum that uses them for a quick high energy meal.

I will post again when I get back in three weeks or so. Until then, y'all need to hold the fort.

Have fun and be safe.

Well, back home once again. Was quite hectic up on the slope this time. Found out BP made $12.1 billion in profit last year. The general conclusion is that oil production must increase with the lowering of prices, as volume now must make up for margin loss to keep profits up. The CEO is under pressure to keep making money for the stockholders, so there will be no cutbacks up on the slope. In fact, they are pressing hard for increased production, despite a mandate being handed down to intensify control of work processes. They may be cutting back in other locations, but up on slope, it is business as usual, and I was swamped the moment I got off the plane 3 weeks ago. It does make the hitch seem to go by quicker, and I am happy to have a break. However the pace destroyed my motivation to exercise, so that is a set back for preparing for my spring bear hunt coming up in May.

I did acquire yet another take down bow. I found a really good deal on a Samick Phoenix 2 from Lancaster Archery (no affiliation). This is a higher end "custom made" as they advertise it takedown, with superior fit and finish to the ever popular Samick Sage. The limb attachment is different, and in my opinion superior. I haven't shot it yet, so I will have to take it to the range, tune it in, and see how it does. I practiced quite a bit while up on slope and was surprised that my precision began to degrade. I decided to reset my shot sequence by forsaking aiming at anything and just focusing on my technique. I found that I have been getting quite sloppy by shifting my focus from the process of performing each step up to and through the release and on to the result of where the arrow is hitting the target. It seems counter-intuitive, but technique is really the key to consistent, accurate archery, with aiming really only a small part of the whole process. Once I started deliberately checking each step in my process, my shot groups improved quite a bit. I need to spend the better part of another month focusing on technique and not just on aiming for the bull's eye. That should reprogram my bad habits out and consistency back in. Instinctive shooting is a lot more work than shooting with sights. But it is far more rewarding for me.

After living in the same place for two years here in Anchorage, we are ready to move out of town. So we have been searching for places that suit our needs and budget. Looks like we should find something suitable in the next three weeks while I am home. It is so warm here now, it is mid 40s today, at least 50 to 80 degrees warmer than what I've been in. Wind chill had us down to -80 a couple days. Without a good ruff on the brim of your hood, you get an ice cream headache in about 30 seconds I found out. But wind chill is different from when the temp drops below -30 or so. Once that happens, my eyelashes start to freeze together and my nose fills with ice quick. I still prefer the cold to the hot, so other than being a novel experience, it is not such a big deal as long as I dress for it. I actually like bundling up for the cold more than having to don shorts and a tee and still sweating all the time. Just a weirdo I guess.

So I need to go get some more bulk foods for my supplies. I think I will be getting some more wheat and some navy beans and maybe more lentils, preferably red ones this time. I have to resist the urge to buy more rice. It is always an attractive purchase to me, but I have more than I should now relative to my other supplies. I should probably consider getting some garbanzos and some barley, and definitely more Crisco. For me, that stuff is a miracle fat. I have yet to see it go rancid, unlike my olive oil. It is also priced cheaper. I like coconut oil, except it adds coconut flavor to whatever I use it in. Sometimes that doesn't work. I can't use canola oil anymore. I will also need to pick up some beef fat from the butcher to render down for another batch of pemmican. I prefer tallow to lard, as it sets up firmer and seems to have a better taste.

That's pretty much it for now. I'll post again before I leave to update how things went on my preps.

Instinctive is the only way to go for me as well. If you haven't read Fred Asbell's books I highly recommend it. His DVD is useful as well. Let me know what you think of the new bow. I've been shooting a Black Widow MAII for over 20 years now. I really enjoy making my own arrows and gear as well. Best of luck in your bear hunt. I would love to go hunting in Alaska one of these days...

G

It took me a long time to learn how true that is with pistol marksmanship.

Almost time to head back up again. While I was home, I turned 30 lbs of beef into jerky to share with the crew. Previous consumption indicates that is their preferred grub. Also packing up new bow and more arrows. More books to read, some protein bars, and some new office shoes.

Looking forward to getting back to the routine. These three week rotations really keep the work fresh and break up the rat race rut that I used to work here in town. This routine suits me.

I will try and post one more time before I leave.

Well, I am back home again. The 30 lbs of meat turned into 6 gallon bags full of jerky. After the first week back at work, I was down to one full gallon bag left, which I stashed so some of the crew out on rotation would get some. My boss, an avid hunter and outdoorsman, pronounced the jerky as the best home made he'd ever had. Since I made a few variations by mixing different batches with different amendments to the basic recipe, there was something for everyone, but the most favored one was the basic recipe. Go figure.

I was quite swamped with work. I can affirm that, while oil companies aren't going after the expensive stuff or doing any exploration right now, they are full throttle on pulling as much of the cheap oil out of the ground as possible right now. The drilling schedule this year is way behind, despite running all rigs 24/7. We are backlooged in doing hookups and tie-ins, and more work is being considered. At just $40 a barrel, the oil companies can still make money on slope oil, and oil from the Permian basin, which is why things are ramping up here and why unemployment in west Texas is at an all time low. I believe Midland/Odessa has the lowest unemployment rate in the country right now. Profits drive the business, so when the price drops, the cheap stuff becomes an obsession for the CEOs, who must turn a profit no matter what or lose their job. So North Dakota and parts of the Gulf might be stalled for now, but I also see the price is starting to come back up again.

Looks like California and the rest of the wsst coast might be getting a break. Apparently that Cat 5 storm that blew through the south Pacific last month was so strong it change the ocean current and it appears to have initiated an El Nino. Historically El Ninos spawn lots of precipitation along the west coast of North America. This may also mean that next winter will be dramatically different here in Anchorage than this last one. I expect if the current indications hold, we will get lots of snow here. Of course, up on slope there is still plenty of the white stuff blowing around. Monday morning as I was leaving the wind chill had us down around -44 deg F.

So we are moving again. Anchorage rent is just too expensive, even though I can afford it, I had only planned on staying in town here temporarily anyways. I've been here 2 years now, and now that I don't have a daily commute to worry about, it makes no sense to stay here. So we found a place out of town that is more to our liking and far more affordable. We decided to finally buy a place as I don't plan on moving again for a good long while. Ultimately, we looked at about 30 or so places, and finally found a nice ranch style on half an acre that the wife said she would be happy with. I will eventually acquire a more remote and larger piece of land to build on, which will be my getaway destination for doing more manly stuff. I plan on building a decent cabin, putting in a well and septic, and stockpiling about 80 or so tons of coal. It is by far the cheapest source of energy up here, it is some of the cleanest coal on the continent, and it is easy to store for a long time. But that is all out in the future a bit. First, I have to pack up all my "stuff" and get moved out and moved in. Life has taught me to work smart, not hard, so I will be hiring some young apes to do the heavy lifting. I figure it will be cheaper to pay them to break their backs than the medical costs to take care of mine.

Looks like the bear hunt may be a bust this year. With the warmer weather, the bears are getting out early. I will likely be back at work and unable to hunt when the timing would be optimal. I don't want to eat fishy tasting bear, and if you don't get them before they get to the salt marsh and the coastline, then that is what you end up with. So I guess we will see what happens in the next few weeks. Normally it would be mid May when the bear hunting here would get going. Dealing with buying a house and generally not prepared for a hunt right now, I can't do much about it this time off, so I guess it will be moose and salmon that fill my freezer and larder this year.

I am saying good-bye to Direct TV. The wife finally capitulated and agreed we will find a more reasonable alternative to the extravagance. It is easier to pull her teeth than to wean her off her addictions. But I am a patient man, and making her face certain realities will eventually lead her to a reasonable and unavoidable conclusion. For me, it is one more noise maker eliminated. Besides, I have a collection of literally thousands of movies and tv shows, and we will still have the internet, at least until the govt takes that away from us. So she doesn't have to go cold turkey.

By the way, I am so pleased with my Samick Phoenix 2 recurve, I am strongly considering selling my Bear Grizzly and getting another Samick. The Grizzly is a nice bow, but it is not as smooth as the Phoenix. Then again, I may just keep the Griz and buy another Phoenix anyways. This archery thing really bit me bad. What can I say. Instant gratification.

Sounds great!

Ben, I've debated for some time whether or not to respond to your post. You are obviously quite enthused about your new slope job, and I don't wish to rain on anyone's parade. However, a couple of your statements are either misleading, or flat out wrong. I have worked in the Alaska oil patch for 30 years, in both exploration and development, for several companies, and the following comments are based on that experience.

Much of the current flurry of activity is from projects that were planned, financed, and approved well over a year ago, back when oil was >$100/bbl. Big oil companies like BP, COP, and XOM are giant behemoths. They don't turn on a dime, and it takes a good while for them to change course. For many projects already in progress, it would cost more to shut them down than to finish them.

N Slope drilling rigs ALWAYS RUN 24/7! The rig contracts are written so that the oil company pays whether the rig is making hole, or sitting idle. The goal for many years (seldom achieved) has been to have a full year backlog of rotary drilling well plans, and at least 6 months of coil drilling prospects. That gives the drilling managers flexibility to sequence wells in such a way as to optimize rig moves and minimize issues with sim-ops ("simulataneous operations") on a pad. My employer closely tracks and monitors NPT ("non productive time"). They have about a dozen categories of NPT. After every well we do an analysis of what caused NPT and how to shave a few hours off on the next well. Anyone who puts a rig on standby without a very good reason will soon be looking for a new career.

There is always a backlog. A few years ago the big bosses made it a key point in the annual bonus calculation to reduce well POP time ("put on production"). The backlog has been cut but it is still there.

The break even oil price varies from field to field, and project to project within a field. The companies will almost never publicly state that number for competitive reasons. Although a well that is already in the ground and producing may still make an operating profit at $40/bbl, the field as a whole won't make money at that price on a sustained basis. An educated guess would be that the overall break even oil price for most N Slope fields is probably somewhere around $40-$55 per barrel. No oil company invests money just to break even.

Sure had me fooled: Permian Basin sees five less rigs : "So far, industry and employment officials estimate thousands of oilfield jobs eliminated during the downturn, while it was reported Monday that Trican Well Service recently laid off 137 employees based in Odessa."

Alaska oil is by no sense "cheap stuff". The whole reason for the big Alaska oil tax debate last year was that people were getting worried that we were no longer competitive with N Dakota.

I understand that you are very happy in your new N Slope job, and I sincerely hope it continues to go well for you. In my 30 years working in the Alaska oil patch I have been laid off twice, and very narrowly dodged that bullet a couple of other times. It is no fun, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But stay clear of anyone who tells you not to worry at $40 oil. They are likely to fail their next random drug screening.

It would seem that my enthusiasm has led me to some incorrect conclusions about what is going on currently at the slope, and elsewhere. I had not considered that the backlogs were such an enduring trend and that the work is actually planned that way. It did seem that work had been significantly delayed the last half of 2014 while TAR work pushed us late on most of our projects. Also our work started to really pick up after the first of the year, mainly with projects that had been shelved for years suddenly being resurrected.

As for the Permian Basin, I did a little looking of my own after reading your response, and found this interesting graph:

Permian Basin drilling trend

As everyone can see, the rig trend has been falling this year, not staying the course. It was easy enough to see that in the short time I had to look to check on what I was told. I got that wrong, or at least the information I was given was dated.

My affirmations are suspect, and any conclusions I asserted are unfounded. I don't know what I am talking about when it comes to slope business or the Oil and Gas industry. I apologize for speaking about things I know very little about.

Thank you AKSAR. Your insight and correction are appreciated. From hereon I will refrain from making any statements about what may be going on up on the slope or elsewhere in O&G, other than personal activities.

Still, a good account! Sounds like you're having a good time. I'd love to work in a job that let me traipse around AK a bit.

Ben, no worries. The N Slope oil patch is a very complicated operation, with lots of moving parts. It takes awhile to get your head around it. I still learn new aspects of the business every day.

Oil is a commodity business, and in the oil industry we are at the mercy of the price of that commodity. Let's hope we all get through this rough patch OK.

Ben

so if you don't mind me asking ...

How is the Arctic Circle these days?

Pete

Well, where I am at it is a bit cold and barren, except for the industrial look of the various facilities that are up there. In the summertime there are waterfowl in all the little ponds around the site, and crows are more plentiful. The mosquitoes are obnoxious. But the air is always cool, even in summer time. That's what I've got from where I am. The Sag River runs near where I work and live up there, but it is a bit weird as there's not much vegetation along the shoreline, not like I am used to seeing in other places. No trees.

Thanks for the understanding on my ignorance. I heard that Conoco is bringing up two more drill rigs to complement what they already have at Kuparuk, but I haven't been able to verify that yet. That would seem to corroborate the notion that they are trying to increase production, but who can say? I'm going to make some hard inquiries when I get back up there next Monday and see if I can learn something more about what is going on.

As with all bureaucracies, they have such wonderful ways of making things complicated. It doesn't seem to get better with time either.