Lunar eclipse Dec 17 Do'oh actually Dec 20-21!!

Totality is kind of in the middle of the night: I think it starts around 11:30 PM and lasts quite a while.  And who knows about the weather.  However it could be a dynamite chance to experience a total eclipse whilst XC skiing.  Oh yeah, skiing in total darkness is not like skiing by a full moon.  Still it could be a cool experience.

AMENDED: SEEMS I HAD THE DATE WRONG. MONDAY NIGHT!

The eclipse is Monday night Dec 20-21. Umbra starts about 10:30, totality about 11:40 to 12:50.
eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/OH/OH2010.html#LE2010Dec21T
DKoelle, excellent suggestion to be on skis for the full sensory experience!

While we're on the topic of the heaven's, this is a cool website as well. Forecasts Aurora Borealis .

Here's an old trip report about skiing from Camp Muir on the night of a total lunar eclipse:

www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...dex.php?topic=1903.0

It was a "cool" experience, in more than one sense of the word. Skiing by a full moon is awesome, but a lunar eclipse is problematic, if you're depending on moonlight to see your way.

While we're on the topic of the heaven's, this is a cool website as well.  Forecasts Aurora Borealis .

That's a really cool site. In addition to the forecast, it apparently lets you sign up to get email alerts (because who is going to keep checking the Aurora forecast page?). I signed up so will see if it is actually sending out alerts.

Yes. the Aurora site does send out alerts. I got one, looks like it may apply to Vancouver and vicinity.

Text:

A solar event occurred on Dec 14th that may produce auroral displays greater than our auroral forecast index 4, sometime after midnight (0836 Greenwich time) on the 16th of Dec. This means the shock may reach Earth sometime around midnight on Dec 15 in North America. Depending on the character of the disturbance following the shock, viewing may be good on the night of the 16th and 17th.
Auroral Index 4 means Kp=4: Auroral activity will be active. Weather permitting, active auroral displays will be visible overhead from Inuvik, Yellowknife, Rankin and Igaluit to Juneau, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Sept-Iles, and visible low on the horizon from Vancouver, Great Falls, Pierre, Madison, Lansing, Ottawa, Portland and St. Johns for North America.


This is the description of the event:
Time: 2010 12 14 1503 UT
Location: N16W55
Shock velocity: Vs = 1000 km/sec
Duration: Tau = 4 hr.
Solar Wind velocity: Vsw = 625 km/sec
Our model predicts the following:
Mach 4.3 shock will reach Earth 2010 12 16 0836Z
Total propagation time 41h 33m