Seward, AK - Ice Is NIce or a Really 'Cool' Hike

Today was one of those days where I’m happier to say that I’ve done this than I’m doing this. Got that? How about if I say: ‘When I look back, I’ll say “Wow, that was cool” but while I’m there, I’m not so sure.’

Well, Nancy, what did you do?

We hiked on a glacier. We donned cool hard hats, we put on crampons, we bundled up with wool hats, mittens, and down jackets and cramped out on a glacier, the Exit Glacier in Seward. We arrived 1 hour ahead of the hike as per instruction, we met our guide, Sage, got sized for our crampons and waited for the van. There were two others in our group, McKenna and Dawn, so we had a nice small group. Of course, everyone else was younger than I was so I’m hoping that I don’t slow down the group.

Boy, did we ever had a great day for our hike: I had signed up for this 10 days ago - after checking our iPhone weather app which gives a 10-day forecast. And, what a beautiful day we had. We had checked the pictures of the hike on the Exit Glacier Guides website and they were all in warm clothes so that’s what we packed: waterproof pants, fleece shirt, nylon jacket, light down jacket, etc. But the temps - in the high 70’s - were so warm that we packed only what we thought we might need on the glacier and hiked in our shirts and pants. Here are the 4 women, McKenna and her mother, Dawn, the nervous Nellie and our tour guide, Sage.

It was cloudy for the 2-mile hike up to the glacier but it turned sunny while we were out on it so we got some really cool blue-sky pictures. Sage pointed out little things on our hike like the watermelon berries that we could eat and the little red berries next to them that were poisonous. Good catch, Sage.

The temperature was so warm that we were hiking in shirts.

The flies on the way up were horrendous. Only hiking kept them away. Stop for a nanosecond and they swarm.

Here’s our first view of the glacier. Note that we are on the side of the glacier and above it. It’s always best to get onto a glacier from the side and above, not the bottom where ice might fall off - on you.

That’s the way it’s moving.

We turned a corner and, whoosh, the wind from the glacier hit us. Yep, the glacier is cold. Duh. Here’s Gary walking. Exit Glacier is receding and this picture shows haw far it has receded and how fast. The glacier used to hug the cliff on the right but note how green bushes and plants have already grown where the glacier left. Gary is hiking in moraine, the next area where plants will grow and some have already begun.

We put on our gloves, hats, those crampon things and then learned how to walk on them. Yep, we’ve put on warmer clothing.

Firstly, remember that a glacier is a river of ICE, it is not snow so you want crampons to hold you on it. Here are the 4 rules:

WALK:

        WIDE: walk like you’re bowlegged so that the crampons don’t get caught on your pants and you trip.

        HIGH: step high so you can come down hard on the ice and imbed those little crampons in the ice

        FLAT: walk flat so all of those 10 little spikes get into the ice

        LOUD; make lots of noise when your crampons hit the ice so you know they’re imbedded

And: always walk straight ahead, not sideways so you don’t twist your ankle.

Watch out for the crevasses

and the deep water holes.

You can get lost in those.

If you drop anything, wait until it stops before you try to get it. If it slides into a crevasse - tough.

Follow my footsteps.

Again, this is ICE, not snow. There is flowing water on this glacier but you can walk through it.
Then she asked: How are we all feeling? Scared? Worried? Nervous?Anxious? Oh, crap, I didn’t think of all the bad things that could happen when I signed us up for this hike.

        We could trip and slide all the way down the glacier.

        I could drop the camera and it could swoosh all the way down.

        I could fall into one of the deep holes filled with ice cold water and freeze.

        We could fall into a deep crevasse and never be found.

Holy Toledo. Call me nervous. Call me worried. Call me scared. Call me anxious. Am I out side my comfort zone? Miles outside.

But, I’m ready, let’s do this thing.

First, we’ve got to climb down the rocks and then up that side.



And, here we are on the glacier. Most of the rest here will be just pictures since there’s not much to say but just to marvel in the glacier and its attributes.

We saw moulins: a roughly circular, almost vertical well-like shaft within a glacier.

Rivers of ice.

We saw baby crevasses: cracks in a glacier caused by stresses in the ice.

And baby crevasses, getting ready to grow.

Gary got some water to drink.

We saw a strange snow gnome photo bombing this picture. Lots of strange things out on the glacier.
Looks like Sage to me.

She did keep the hike fun but she was always looking around for the best route and for things to show us as we hiked.

‘Nancy, move closer so you can see it better’, Sage said.

‘Nope, I’m happy where I am.’

But, Gary’s moving in. A real risk taker.

The group out on the glacier here is another group from Sage’s company but they are ice climbing with pick axes and all.

Before we left, I twirled all around to get some pictures of the scenery.





Sage picked up a piece of ice and we held it. Heavy since there were no air bubbles in it - like the ice in your refrigerator. They’ve all been pressed out. But so clear.

Finally our time was up on the glacier and we headed back down the hill.

Now, about that first line in the blog. Yep, I was happy to be down the hill, I was happy to be off the glacier. But, I’m glad we did it, Looking back, it was a ‘cool’ hike. I was out side my comfort zone but - that’s good. It’s good to be out side your comfort zone or else, it will only shrink. Widen your comfort zone, widen your horizons. You can do it.