Tag Archives: tundra

First Arabesque

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As all of our ballet fans know the winter season of famous ballet performances is nearly here. Yellowstone National Park, long known for its support of the arts has hosted the most famous of all the ballerina schools the, L’école du cygne de l’excellence.

And as if things couldn’t get any better they have managed to bring in perhaps the most famous Swan performer dancing today, the Diva herself, Olga Vasiliyevna Lepeshinskaya.! What a coup! There was celebration long into the night when the park rangers in charge of this seasons performances found out the news. The Supervisor himself after learning the Diva had accepted the position leapt to his feet, did a few pirouettes and a show stopping impromptu stutter step on pointe and threw his champagne glass into the fireplace. There was some excitement at the lodge that night, I can tell you.

Our Siberian princess, who flew in directly from the innermost reaches of the Siberian tundra took the name of Olga Vasiliyevna Lepeshinskaya as a tribute to her favorite Russian dancer. Of course it wasn’t Russia when Ms. Lepeshinskaya was dancing, it was the U.S.S.R. and that rascal and all around bad boy, Stalin himself was in charge. Things were tough for our ballerina because unless you were an exceptional dancer Stalin would normally just kill you. But as adversity makes you stronger we are glad Ms.  Lepeshinskaya survived and that her talent lives on in our star performer today.

Of course given the talent assembled for this seasons performances what other program could they perform but Coppélia with its primary character Swanhilda. We won’t give the story away other than to say it is a comic opera and well worth the admission fee. And as always it will be performed at the Yellowstone river bend at the North end of the Hayden valley. There will be bleacher seats available and for you opera diehards that hold season tickets the lawn chair area will be provided with security and a roped off area to commingle during the intermissions.

We part today with an image of the diva rehearsing. Here she is shown in the middle of the First Arabesque and preparing to Pirouette, then advance into a Grand Jete and of course this leads to her famous awe-inspiring Tour en l’air which won her namesake the Order Of The Red Banner Of Labor not once but twice. Our current Diva has been awarded the Prima Ballerina Assoluta one of the highest and rarest awards given. This is only the second of these awards given in the last forty-five years. We are so honored to have her here for this incredible season of song and dance in Yellowstone National Park. Get your tickets now and see you there.

Note:  Please remember nothing but North Face or higher quality down jackets allowed into the lawn chair area. Thank you for your support and join us for Coppélia and a night to remember.

 

 

Hiding In Plain Sight

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Mountain goats aren’t really known for being stealthy. They don’t have a lot of need to be. There aren’t that many predators up here at the top of the world at over 14,000′ to get them so they usually just hang out not caring very much about who sees them.

Yet Nature, who is in charge of animal protection here in this world, has chosen to give them life saving camouflage anyway. When you enlarge this image by clicking on it, and you know you should, you’ll see that even with them standing out in plain sight your eyes will drift right over them and you’ll often miss seeing them. This effect is even more pronounced when the herd is scattered out and the individuals take on the coloring and look of the boulder field they like to forage in.

Occasionally a coyote and on the rarest of occasions a mountain lion will find its way up here in the hopes of catching a lamb or a sick billy-goat but they’re usually so whacked out by the lack of oxygen up here that their efforts are half-hearted at best. Still the camouflage is there in case they need it.

This is Mt. Evans by the way, and it is 14,264′ up in the air. It is also one of the tallest of our national parks with all kinds of neat facts that you can read elsewhere about how cool it is. The road up here is not for the squeamish and will often involve some or all of the passengers in your vehicle crouching on the floor to avoid the sheer terror of the incredible drop offs just inches away from your tires. Drivers Pay Attention! Gravity is not your friend up here.

For those of you who are going to ask “Is that blue real?” the answer is no. It’s actually bluer than that. I had to tone it down in Photoshop from the real color because it is SO blue, and that is the famous Colorado blue you hear about, that my staffers walking by catching a glimpse of it on the monitor would be frozen in their tracks, stunned into immobility, so totally hypnotized by it blueness, that they would be paralyzed and fall over in what we call the Blue Coma. Since some of you may be viewing this on portable devices and doing things like walking or chewing gum I thought it best, in the interest of your safety, to bring it down into a more tolerable color.

Soon and that is in a couple of weeks, the ewes will start having their lambs and the tourists will start arriving to see them. The park opens later in the year than most other parks because this geography and weather up here are similar to arctic conditions. There’s tundra scattered around everywhere with arctic plants growing and biting winds and fast-moving storms that race in just to catch everyone unaware, so they, the people in charge of these places, want to give the inquisitive tourists every chance of making it up and back down alive. Plus the roads are mostly snowed shut until sometime in mid June. But life is an adventure and you’re alive or should be so jump in the old Celica and get on up to the top of the world. There’s views, and vistas, and far-reaching sights that will make you say “oh Wow” or even “Holy Moley” and you can see the Mountain goats hiding in plain sight. It’s worth it.