Dirt is Beautiful
Yeah. I said it. I love dirt. Rather, I love silt. Glacial silt to be specific. Glacial silt is velvety, the granules are so small that it is more like a powder, or talc. A few weekends ago, Jena and I went out to the Matanuska Glacier. Watching someone who has never seen a glacier before (other than in photographs and videos) standing atop one is a a great experience. Something changes in a person when they witness something so gigantic beneath their feet. Something that has seen so much history. Something that starts as a light, ephemeral snow flake. It is hard to conceive that that same snow flake can slice through a mountain, carve valleys, and transform a landscape completely over many millennia. The things that glacier has witnessed; ice ages, devastating...
Ice Climbing on the Matanuska Glacier
Wow, what a Saturday! Tim and I spent the day out on the Matanuska Glacier with two other novice ice climbers (Mike and Nichole – both of the US Army). Our guide, also named Mike, was from MICA Guides. Thatsa lotta Mik-a’s (said with very poor Italian accent). We met at MICA’s headquarters above the glacier just after 9 am. After meeting our fellow climbers and guide, we geared up and drove out to the glacial terminus. For me, Matanuska Glacier has always been a special and awe-inspiring place. This is not just a river of ice, it is the mover of mountains, a carver of deep valleys, a shaper… in this land of extremes. We hiked over the glacial silt covered landscape for a while, then put on our crampons once we reached the ice. Our guide...