After getting outfitted with hard hats (or brain buckets, as Jake called them) we drove to the face of the Matanuska Glacier…….
And put on our crampons (spikes for our shoes)……
And started up……Waking on a glacier is amazing! It is the only way to get an up close and personal look at the glaciers.
What you do not see from a distance is the moraine, or dirt, that is picked up by the glacier and covers the ice…..
And the water that runs over the face, forming rivers and moving rocks and dirt around.
The Matanuska Glacier had a lot of hills and valleys to walk…..I was glad that we had the crampons on our shoes!
Jake did a good job explaining the different facets of glaciers…..
And showing us the more hidden aspects of glacial ice.
He even showed us how to inset a ‘tap’ into the glacial ice and get clean water!
The group was just us four – Dave and Laura, me (Sue) and Fred. It was great to have such individualized attention.
I am always struck by the beauty of the glaciers…..and, of course……that blue, blue ice……
Breathtaking beauty! You just have to stop and try to take it all in.
It is such a joy to get to share this with Laura and Dave…..
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