Day Six - Anchorage & Matanuska Glacier
Today arrived VERY cold, -18 feels like -23, but it was sunny and cloudless. A stunner.
I headed off about 9.30, it's a two hour drive to the glacier but I wanted to give myself plenty of time as I'm not sure what the roads are going to be like. According to the travel/driving website 511.alaska.gov, driving conditions are "difficult" in Anchorage and "fair" further north.
The roads in Anchorage still have a couple of inches of packed snow/ice in places, but are mostly clear. You just need to be a bit careful turning corners and stopping/starting. Well, I'm careful, but mostly there are trucks thundering past at great speed. Four wheel drives with good insurance.
The drive north was stunning, mountains covered in snow, frozen rivers, and more mountains.
I stopped a few times for pictures.
I arrived at the Long Rifle Lodge at about midday, the woman taking the glacier walk recommended it for the rhubarb pie, so it behooved me to stop in for a slice. Or two. Washed down by luke-warm coffee. Ah well, you can't have everything. The rhubarb pie was fabulous, and I wasn't about to complain about the coffee with views like this !
I headed down to the meeting point with plenty of time to spare, and waited until Dr Sarah (she has a PHD from studying this glacier about 25 years ago) showed up at 2pm. We had to sign waivers absolving them of any responsibility, and then hopped in our cars and followed her to the car park a short walk from the glacier terminus.
We put crampons on over our boots, got a safety briefing (don't stray from the track AT ALL or you might drop down a crevasse, don't step in any water AT ALL, don't wander off by yourself, all the usual stuff) and then headed off.
It was really cold walking into the wind that was coming off the glacier, I was warm everywhere except for my face which was mostly exposed. But the wind dropped as we got closer and I ended up toasty warm.
The glacier is 27 miles long and is moving at 80 metres a year. It's also receding at about 10 metres per year, which is not too bad compared with some other glaciers apparently. We walked around and over various chunks of ice that had been forced upwards by the movement of the glacier pushing forward. It was beautiful. Pristine snow, blue ice, grey rock sediment, all in various shapes and sizes, glowing brilliantly in the sun.
We were able to walk into large cracks in the ice, and into holes carved out by water during the summer melt.
Too soon it was over. We were lucky enough to hitch a ride back on a trailer towed by a snow machine, that saved us about a 20 minute walk.
Then it was time to return the crampons say thanks to Sarah our guide and head on our way.
The return drive to Anchorage was perhaps more spectacular than the drive in, as the sun was now setting and lighting up the mountain range. the light powdery snow was being blown around, both off the mountain tops creating an amazing mist effect, and on the roads, making it quite hard to see the road at times.
I was back in Anchorage by 6.45pm and stopped to grab a burger and fries before I headed back to the motel.
I headed off about 9.30, it's a two hour drive to the glacier but I wanted to give myself plenty of time as I'm not sure what the roads are going to be like. According to the travel/driving website 511.alaska.gov, driving conditions are "difficult" in Anchorage and "fair" further north.
The roads in Anchorage still have a couple of inches of packed snow/ice in places, but are mostly clear. You just need to be a bit careful turning corners and stopping/starting. Well, I'm careful, but mostly there are trucks thundering past at great speed. Four wheel drives with good insurance.
The drive north was stunning, mountains covered in snow, frozen rivers, and more mountains.
I stopped a few times for pictures.
 |
| First glimpse of the Matanuska Glacier |
I arrived at the Long Rifle Lodge at about midday, the woman taking the glacier walk recommended it for the rhubarb pie, so it behooved me to stop in for a slice. Or two. Washed down by luke-warm coffee. Ah well, you can't have everything. The rhubarb pie was fabulous, and I wasn't about to complain about the coffee with views like this !
 |
| Rhubarb pie - delicious! |
I headed down to the meeting point with plenty of time to spare, and waited until Dr Sarah (she has a PHD from studying this glacier about 25 years ago) showed up at 2pm. We had to sign waivers absolving them of any responsibility, and then hopped in our cars and followed her to the car park a short walk from the glacier terminus.
We put crampons on over our boots, got a safety briefing (don't stray from the track AT ALL or you might drop down a crevasse, don't step in any water AT ALL, don't wander off by yourself, all the usual stuff) and then headed off.
It was really cold walking into the wind that was coming off the glacier, I was warm everywhere except for my face which was mostly exposed. But the wind dropped as we got closer and I ended up toasty warm.
 |
| Water is forced up through the ice and then re-freezes, as per this "lake" |
 |
| The black is sediment, ground up rocks |
The glacier is 27 miles long and is moving at 80 metres a year. It's also receding at about 10 metres per year, which is not too bad compared with some other glaciers apparently. We walked around and over various chunks of ice that had been forced upwards by the movement of the glacier pushing forward. It was beautiful. Pristine snow, blue ice, grey rock sediment, all in various shapes and sizes, glowing brilliantly in the sun.
 |
| Ice forced upwards by the pressure from the glacier moving forward |
We were able to walk into large cracks in the ice, and into holes carved out by water during the summer melt.
 |
| This was taken inside the crack looking back out through thin ice |
Too soon it was over. We were lucky enough to hitch a ride back on a trailer towed by a snow machine, that saved us about a 20 minute walk.
Then it was time to return the crampons say thanks to Sarah our guide and head on our way.
The return drive to Anchorage was perhaps more spectacular than the drive in, as the sun was now setting and lighting up the mountain range. the light powdery snow was being blown around, both off the mountain tops creating an amazing mist effect, and on the roads, making it quite hard to see the road at times.
I was back in Anchorage by 6.45pm and stopped to grab a burger and fries before I headed back to the motel.
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