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The darkest day of the year has officially passed. Now, the days are growing brighter. Dozens of Juneau residents marked the occasion at Mendenhall Campground with a ‘light the night’ winter solstice event on Sunday, hosted by the Juneau Nordic Ski Club.
The sun set just after 3 p.m., casting a stripe of pink and gold alpenglow on the sheer peaks that tower above Mendenhall Glacier. Mary Ann Parke kicked into her cross-country skis and set off on the campground’s groomed trail.
“It’s just absolutely beautiful,” she said.
Ice crystals clung to her face as she returned from taking a few laps around the three-kilometer loop.
“It’s really fun skiing between the lights — they got them strung all the way up around the big loop,” she said.
Parke was there to support the Juneau Nordic Ski Club, which organized the event as a fundraiser.
As twilight fell, so did the temperature. String lights and ice lanterns illuminated the trail, shadowy figures of snow-laden evergreens and skiers bundled up in warm layers.
Although meteorological winter began Dec. 1 with the change in weather, astronomical winter officially began Dec. 21 on winter solstice — when Earth’s Northern Hemisphere tilts its furthest from the sun. The North Pole is shrouded in all-day darkness; the South Pole is bathed in all-day light.
Tristan Knutson-Lombardo is the executive director of the Juneau Nordic Ski Club. He clicked on dozens of battery-powered tea lights to place in paper lanterns along the trail.
“It’s to light up the darkest night and look forward to brighter days ahead,” he said.
For him, the darkest day signals the ski season. But it means more than that, too.
“Solstice has always been such a social occasion for me, so I think it’s just one more opportunity to gather,” he said.
He said volunteers run the club and groom trails around Juneau for youth teams to practice and race on. That benefits Juneau’s wider cross-country ski community of all ages.
“On a good winter and a good day, we could have close to 40 kilometers at different sites around town,” he said.
Finley Hightower made his way to a tent with homemade cookies and hot chocolate for sale. He’s a recent graduate from Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé, and was on the Nordic ski team his senior year.
“My younger brothers are still on the Nordic ski team, and I really enjoyed it last year,” he said. “It’s a great experience. It’s great fitness. It’s just awesome overall.”
Hightower’s here to support the team and join in the festivities.
Clint Farr sold finger and toe warmers to attendees as a volunteer. He said the passing of the darkest day is a sigh of relief.
“It’s the place in the year where I’m like, ‘hoo, I made it,’” he said. “The days are going to start getting longer. I feel a lot better. Time for a party.”
As twilight turned to night, people packed together like penguins. They sipped hot drinks, skied the loop and socialized. Farr called it a “resounding success.”
