Moominmama's Adventures: The Matanuska Glacier

Wherein Moominmama dons crampons and explores the inner reaches of the Matanuska Glacier...

Meet the Matanuska, a 27-mile river of glacial ice flowing from the Chugach Mountains of Alaska. 

Unlike alpine glaciers that hang from mountain slopes, this tongue of ice is created by ocean moisture as it delivers snow to the Chugach Range, and like all glaciers, over time, the snow compresses and squeezes out air molecules to form the dense glacial ice.

Moominmama learned it can take 600 years for the ice at the back to make it to the terminus or toe of the glacier, where my ice climbing adventure began with a long hike through the glacial moraine.

While Moominmama has walked on a glacier before, (the Athabasca between Jasper and Banff in Alberta), I've only seen the surface. 

The Advanced Trek offered by MICA Guides brought me into the features of the glacier, rappelling down  cliffs and walking along ledges to get inside the strange shapes that the ice forms as it moves along.

I loved this view of a blue keyhole from inside the ice cave.... and here is Moominmama tentatively making her way there from the outside, unclipping carabiners to get around an ice screw holding the rope.

While another member of my climbing group took his turn, we heard a sudden crack. There was no immediate danger, but it sure had us on alert. The creaks, cracks and groans make it very easy to believe that this mass of ice is alive! 

Indigenous people had a variety of practices designed to appease a glacier. Apparently in some cultures, you do not cook any fatty foods near a glacier, and you don't talk while crossing a glacier. (We did talk and maybe that was the problem!)

Beyond even the ice, there are chunks of rock that accumulate on the shifting surfaces that can slide off unexpectedly. Personally I would do whatever it takes not to piss off this magnificent glacier!

Here we are inside the slot canyon pictured above! This trek is probably one of the bravest things Moominmama has done in a long time! 

Not only is the glacier itself intimidating and shifting, with an assortment of icy holes, rushing streams and precipices, I had sharp blades on the soles of my boots and was equally scared of taking a chunk out of my calf if I stumbled.

Our guide took several pictures -- and in most of them I am assiduously looking down at my feet. 

Below is our guide, Julian, setting us up to rappel down an ice cliff, followed by a shot I took from below, having made it down safely myself.

The views on a glacier can be magical, but it is hard to communicate the scale without including a human. So I hope these photos provide some sense of this unique landscape. I saw only a fraction of the whole!

The day was awe-inspiring -- strange and scary in equal measure. But going onto and into the glaciers is the only way to see up close these vanishing beasts that have shaped almost everything in our natural, and now rapidly changing, world. And the icy blue is just the most ethereal color I know.

I remain thrilled that I was able to make this trek. Also glad to have my feet back on terra firma. And ready to do something a bit tamer next -- like visit a few museums in Anchorage!