The goal was to hike a little over two miles on the Matanuska Glacier about 100 miles northeast of Anchorage. The glacier is 27 miles long and very much still active and flowing – healthy - as glaciers go.
“This mountain range right here is one of the snowiest mountain ranges in the world gets on average, over 1000 inches of snow, some years up to 1,500 inches of snow. And it snows year-round. So it has very, very little snow loss. And all of that snow piling up year after year will compress into this glacier ice,” our guide told us as a group of about 15 of us looked out over the landscape that included tall mountains but most importantly the Matanuska Glacier.
We hear about how glaciers carved the earth – say during the Ice Age. Though it’s slow, it’s still happening here.
“As it’s flowing down this valley, it is tearing up those mountainsides. Glaciers leave behind very prominently, U-shaped valleys with big, long bottoms and big steep walls. As she’s going through, she’s tearing up those mountains and turning it into dust,” he said.
Hiking the Matanuska Glacier
We were among the final groups of the season. By early September, the weather can become too dangerous for glacier hiking.
To walk on the slippery ice, guides provided crampons, long spiky attachments for the bottoms of our glacier hiking boots.
Not always easy to walk in.
“Give your feet a little space. The teeth on these like to grab each other pants, the loops on your laces. So imagine there’s a soccer ball between our feet, and we’re trying to keep our feet about soccer ball length away,” the guide told us.
Where you step is as important as how you step. There are dangers hidden under the ice, and the guides told us not to wander.
Though there is danger about – this hike requires no experience.
But we had to be aware of dangerous deep holes known as moulins and gaps in the ice known as crevasses.
Guides set up ropes so we could get close to and navigate around a deep moulin, and helped us over a small crevasse.
Later we roped down a modest slope of about 50 feet.
Though the sun was shining, as we departed, it began snowing on the nearby peaks. Late August – but no surprise, between now and when the tourists return next summer it will take around 85 feet of snow of snow to feed and maintain the Matanuska glacier, where it’s a privilege to just go for a short walk.
To see more of John’s adventures in the Blue Ridge and beyond, click here.