The glacier is alive and moving this week. The layer of ash that it received from Mt. Redoubt this spring has changed the way it melts. The ash coats the glacier and I am thankful for the new engine in the pisten bully which allows us to ski on a trail of white. The few ash spots we do have are enough to threaten to put you on your face.

Because of the rapid melting we already have crevases opening across the face of the glacier. Our trail avoids the aggressive ones . There's a pattern to how the glacier breaks apart and the trails are designed to skirt the largest. Still, we're skiing across fractures, the pisten bully plows a snow bridge over them in the morning but by afternoon they melt out and we can imagine the depth open below us.

The glacier is so huge it makes me feel so insignificant up here, skiing around on a narrow ribbon of its surface.

Labels: eagle glacier