So I just returned from a BIG two day adventure out on the Harding Icefield. I left with anticipation, excitement, and bit of nervousness, and returned with a sore body, exhaustion, and a sense of contentment.
The Harding Icefield is a 700 square mile field of ice and snow that feeds all of the 30+ glaciers of Kenai Fjords National Park. It is a vast desert of snow and crevasses, broken only occasionally by beautiful nuntaks (mountains that rise out of the snow). I was invited to accompany my co-worker Deb and her boyfriend Ernan over the 4th of July weekend and I quickly said yes, partially because my alternative option was staying here in Seward with the extra 27,000 drunk people who descend on the town for the holiday. We met up on the evening of the 2nd to talk logistics over Alaskan IPA, and on Saturday morning we were off.
The trail to the edge of the icefield sits at sea level and rises at about 1,000' per mile over the next 4.2 miles. The hike is gorgeous, as you begin in a dense forest teeming with orchids, birds, and bears and gradually make your way to the alpine where you are afforded beautiful views of the exit glacier. Our packs were quite heavy and I was psyched to put skis on my feet rather than carry them on my back. We arrived at the icefield with some good time to spare and made our way out onto the ice, carefully choosing a route that would lead us around the dangerous icefalls as we made our way to the nunatak where we planned on camping for the evening. The skiing was quite easy, though it began to get eery when fog descended on the icefield and we were forced to navigate in white-out conditions with only the GPS for guidance. Every once and a while a long narrow crack would appear in the snow, reminding us of the hidden dangers that we could encounter. Skiing in the whiteout was crazy, as the ground, sky and horizon all looked the same. I've been told that people sometimes come down with vertigo in these situations and can believe it because I couldn't differentiate between land and sky myself. After a few long hours of skiing we began to question our coordinate, so we decided to sit on our packs, break out the map, and grab a new one. We sat down to do so when all of a sudden the fog lifted the slightest bit and revealed our nunatak about 100 meters in front of us! Everyone's spirits lifted and we skied up to set camp for the evening.
The following morning I awoke to one of the more beautiful vistas I've seen. The fog had lifted in the night, affording us spectacular views of the ice we had skied across, the nunataks in the distance, and many glaciers in the distance. After a quick breakfast we broke camp and began skiing towards Lois' Spire, a rock route that sits atop of a nunatak, and one that we were eager to try to climb if the weather allowed...Which it didn't.
About 2 hours later we were skiing beneath a large nunatak that had deposited avalanche debris with pieces as large as refrigerators. It was a bit disconcerting but was necessary given the huge crevasses that loomed farther to our left. As we made our way beneath this peak and towards the spire the fog returned with a vengeance, obscuring everything from our sight, and eventually forcing us to follow our tracks back towards our camp in hopes that we would find sun and clear skies there. When we arrived back at our nunatak Ernan mentioned that it would be cool to kite ski, so that is exactly what we did. The wind was ripping in the direction we needed to ski to get home, so we grabbed a tent fly and some trekking poles, fashioned a sail, and let the wind carry us a few miles back toward home! It was super fun and our laughter was all that we left in our wake. A few hours later we were back on the icefield trail heading back to Seward, where I took a well deserved sleep and began writing this blog. I have posted photos of our trip on facebook, and would be happy to provide more exciting details if anyone wants to call/e-mail me. Enjoy the video I took when I woke up yesterday!
More Pictures Here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=455830&id=572250523&l=2672d66249
and http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=454869&id=572250523&l=5a9d0a2bf6
Cheers,
Mike
