Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Mendenhall Glacier Trek, Juneau, 6/21

Happy Summer Solstice! In Juneau that means over 19 hours of sunlight. Each day seems to top all of the others and leaves us with the feeling that it can't get any better. Today was no exception! We began our day with a helicopter ride to the top of Mendenhall Glacier where a guide led us on a trek across the glacier. We only had three people total in our group, so it felt like a private excursion. We learned how to use an ice pick to climb an ice wall and how to safely cross the glacier with crampons. Because our group was so small, the guide decided to take us up to an area where no other group has gone, which required using a pulley system and rope to climb up a sheer wall of ice that was 50 feet high. Later we repelled down that same wall. The landscape of the glacier was different than we had imagined...it looked like a totally different world, full of sharp, spiked peaks of ice and clear-blue water that we could walk on! This was by far our most exciting experience!

1 comments:

Karen said...

Wow - the Mendenhall Glacier Trek photos are really unbelievable. I'm with Lauren, I want to dupicate your trip, however, maybe not the camping and glacier (ice wall) climbing parts. I'll have to share the photos of England and France soon. We took some good ones but they're not the National Geographic quality that yours are!

Thanks for the phone calls.
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Mom