Snow has begun to accumulate on the mountains of the Coast Range across Lynn Canal from our homestead. This year we’re seeing something different. Snow has filled in a couple of features that have created strange markings on the face of The Mountain With No Name.
It looks like “VII,” or perhaps “VH” early on—the cross bar of the H has since disappeared. Mostly, it looks like a check mark and two hash marks.
I’ve been snapping photos of it every few days, just because it’s something we have never seen in more than five years of watching the mountain. My favorite shots came from an evening when the sun going down between two peaks to the west of us created a spotlight effect on the markings.
The Mountain With No Name, with cryptic snow markings (Photo: Mark Zeiger).
A closer look . . . (Photo: Mark Zeiger).
What can it mean? Probably that I have a lot of time on my hands for staring at the mountains.