above the ice field

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In June of 2004 I was lucky enough to be able to visit an incredibly alien landscape with a minimum amount of space-travel. During a 10-day Alaskan cruise, my family and I took a helicopter tour of 5 glaciers (Norris, Taku, Deadbranch, East Twin, and Split Thumb). These glaciers, along with hundreds of others, comprise the Juneau Ice Field.

Just after taking off from Juneau the luscious green valleys turn into vast expanses of white. Flying above the ice field is…surreal, to say the least. Hovering above such an ancient, pristine landscape is like nothing I have ever experienced. Having your entire field of vision engulfed with ice and snow so deep that only the peaks of mountains are visible above it completely separates you from your “known” world. And this was just the beginning of my adventure.

After soaring through and above the ice field, we started to descend. Yup…onto an actual glacier. I felt like I should have had one of those Mark V scuba suits on…you know the ones with the brass helmets and hose attached? Yeah…one of those. Though not as sci-fi-y, I settled for a normal life jacket, which one would not think entirely necessary on a solid floor of ice, until you start looking down all the immense crevasses. Now, I am as sure-footed as most, but standing on ice straddling a chasm that goes so far down you cannot see the bottom can get the nerves (and fear-driven mind) going a mile a minute. Though, with the crystal/sapphire/indescribable blue colors of the ice, there would be worse death-traps to fall into. The fall/slide down into oblivion would be visually appealing at least. Everyone loves to sled, right?

One day I hope to return to actually hike for the day around the glacier, which can be arranged. Until then though, I will have to settle for my iPhoto library (from which the attached photos are from).

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