Alaska Day 10

It was back to being a bit chilly last night. I slept decently but I woke up at five, an hour before the alarm was set. I tried but failed to fall back to sleep. The fact that it’s never dark doesn’t help.

We watched the cats again last night before going to bed. They look so sad and lonely hanging out in the kitchen. I am sure they miss us maybe even more than I miss them.

It’s raining—again. And today is a terrible day for rain since we are doing an ice climb on the Matanuska Glacier. We had to be at the outfitter by nine o’clock to get fitted for our gear. I am not happy that I can’t wear my own boots. Hiking boots aren’t good enough. We have to wear mountaineering boots, but I absolutely hate wearing shoes that other people have sweated in. It grosses me out so much.

The other people in our group were a half hour late this morning. Therefore, we got a later start than we were supposed to, but the late start was not all bad. By the time we got going the rain had thankfully stopped. The clouds remained for the duration of our trek but that too was to our benefit. If it had been a clear sunny day, the sun reflecting off the glacier would have seared our eyes even with sunglasses.

Glaciers are considered navigable bodies of water. You can’t see them move because they move so slowly and sluggishly. However, if you are quiet and sit in silence for a while, you can hear the slight creak of the glacier moving. The only things that live on the Matanuska glacier are Alaskan wolf spiders and mice—pronounced meece (there is probably an accent mark somewhere). Mice is a type of moss and moss is one of the oldest plants on the planet. Glacial water—glacial ice that has melted—is pure and drinkable. And yes, we did drink it. The glaciers were formed before microplastic were suspended in the air and before we polluted the hell out of our planet. That healthy, non-toxic water is a reminder of what water was like before man. With the warming of the planet, the glacier is melting. We could see it. We could feel the soft ice beneath our feet. And there isn’t enough snowfall per year to renew the ice. While discussing it with our guide, he said that even with the evidence right in front of us, he occasionally gets “an aggressive Fox News dad,” who argues against the reality of living in a world where the ice is melting.

The glacier was beautiful. I know, in every Alaskan post I have gone on about the stunning views, but I am not exaggerating. Seeing the glacier up close was amazing. The glacier looks like water frozen in motion. Parts of it look like waves. As the ice melts, it creates holes in the glacier so that if you cut it open it would look like Swiss cheese. As the holes expand, they create crevices which fill will glacial water. These water filled crevices are called mulans. As the mulans grow and expand they carve their way through the ice creating channels and tunnels. While glacier ice might appear white from a distance, it has alway fascinated me that up close it has a bluish tint. Behind the glacier, surrounding it really,  are mountains, and looking towards Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, way off in the distance, we could see the snow covered peaks.

The first time I saw a glacier was in New Zealand, twenty-nine years ago. The first time I really experienced a glacier enough to be intrigued by them was in Argentina, twenty-three years ago. In fact, I was so awed by the Perito Moreno Glacier that while I was there I got an idea for a children’s book. That book marinated in my brain until G3 was about four years old. I then wrote the story for him. I tried to get an agent, but no one was interested in a light fantasy story that took place in Patagonia. Perhaps, this fall, while I am collecting unemployment and searching for a new job, I should revisit the novel and make another attempt to get it published.

It was a long day out on the glacier. We arrived at the tour company at 8:30 this morning. We got on the ice around 10:30—the other people in the group were late—and we didn’t get back until 6:00. In total we probably hiked around four—maybe five—mile on the ice. For most of the hiking, we had to wear micro-spikes on our boots to keep us from slipping. It was only when we had to climb the ice wall that we had to wear crampons. I had never gone ice climbing before. It was Kati who came across this activity while researching Alaska and she signed us up knowing would be something G3 would enjoy. The climbing was fun, it is the being let down that I don’t like because I have no control. I am also not a fan of heights which doesn’t help. Going down I am always afraid of falling. Going up, I am fine as long as I don’t look down.

G3 had a blast climbing. He said it was the best day of the trip. I guess ice climbing on a

glacier is pretty hard to beat. He was also really good at it. It was his first time ice climbing and he cruised up the ice wall. The guides were impressed with him. They were also impressed with all his technical questions. One of the guides really likes The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings—so much so he has a Bilbo quote on his torso. Once G3 found that out the two of them had a conversation about Tolkien while hiking back to the van. G3 was excited to meet another LOTR nerd.

We all got to do two ice climbs. But after the second one, knowing how much G3 enjoyed it, the guides let him climb a third time. On this final climb, he forgot to zip the pocket that held his phone and the phone fell down into a mulan. One of the guides repelled down the ice wall, stripped off his shirt (hence knowing about the Bilbo tattoo), and plunged into the ice water to recover the phone. (We tipped him well.) Surprisingly, the phone still works, but G3 needs to let it dry out for a while to see if he will be able to charge it. G3 was lucky. Some of those mulans are really deep and nothing that falls in is recoverable.

I feel beat up by the wind. On parts of the glacier the wind hit hard and it felt more like winter than summer. My feet also hurt. Walking four miles, wearing crampons, in boots that aren’t mine hurt my soles, especially my left heal. I am surprised that Kati’s knee survived the entire ordeal—both the trek and the climb. The best thing about the wind and the cold was the absence of mosquitoes. We didn’t see a single one the entire time on the glacier.

Due to lack of options—the late hour in the middle of nowhere Alaska—we ended up eating dinner at the Caribou Grill, the restaurant where we ate breakfast yesterday. While dinner wasn’t great, it was certainly better than their breakfast. Or maybe I was just famished after a day on the glacier.