Lacking commercial value, this large pine and its ancient brothers eked out a living on poorly drained soil?  They grew while human immigrants clearcut the nearby spruce forest for timber to build towns and a delivery system for water to the Treadwell mines.  A recent drop in temperature firmed up the meadow snow enough to allow my visit to the old guy. He rises out of a bowl shaped depression in the snow formed by heat that radiated from his trunk and that of a court of brush and smaller trees attracted to his eminence.

Aki doesn’t pay homage. She is too charged by access to the snow covered meadow. Most of the time she can control her enthusiasm but once she burst across the meadows’ firm surface, releasing a happy growl.