# Glaciers,... the Amazing World of Ancient Ice !!



## Alaska Boss

Well, a few days ago, me and a couple buddies decided to go explore one of the biggest glaciers we have in our area,... and since we had a near-perfect day, we decided to try & go where few others have ever been,... to drive right into a glacier and check out some ancient ice that human eyes have never seen. Of course, the ultimate goal is to come back & tell about it, so we weren't going to do anything stupid,... but right now is the time of year when a person can go places that are not accessible at any other time. So,... we loaded up & took off across some lakes,... way up ahead is the mountain range that holds our destination,..


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## Alaska Boss

Then we finally made it to the big lake that is fed by this glacier,... this lake is almost 30 miles long,... several hundred feet deep,... and has a fairly big river the empties out of it,... so it takes a big water supply to keep a lake like this full.... which would speak of just how massive this glacier really is,... so, we took off across the lake,... a few others had been here during the course of the winter,... but we saw no other tracks where we ended up....


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## Alaska Boss

We'd stop every once in a while,... to take a few pictures, etc. I took over 300,... one of the other guys took over 600,... I'm not going to post them all... but there will be a whole pile of them in this thread,...


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## Alaska Boss

The lake is kinda L-shaped,... and once we got to the inside corner of the lake, we just followed the shoreline,... working our way towards the glacier at the head of it,...


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## Quality SR

Nice looking pictures AB. What was the temp during your adventure? Keep the pictures coming?


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## Alaska Boss

Then finally wayyyyyy up ahead,... there it is! This glacier is far far bigger than what can be seen from the lake,... as a matter of fact, the part we were able to see is just a little chunk of the whole thing....


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## Alaska Boss

Every so often, we'd come across a small creek that emptied into the lake, and many times the area right there would stay open water thru-out the winter,... sometimes you can see fish swimming around in it,... and many other animals stop by to check things out as well,.. like these fox tracks tell us,...


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## Alaska Boss

ooooops,.. forgot the pics,....


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## Alaska Boss

Quality SR;1035377 said:


> Nice looking pictures AB. What was the temp during your adventure? Keep the pictures coming?


I think it was maybe in the teens when we left,... slowly getting warmer as the day went on,... but then clearly getting colder again as we got up onto the ice. We actually were at this glacier about 5 years ago,.. but didn't go into it like we did this time. Also, the snow got deeper & softer as well the closer we got,... plus you have to be careful about thin ice on those little creeks too,...


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## Quality SR

Alaska Boss;1035381 said:


> I think it was maybe in the teens when we left,... slowly getting warmer as the day went on,... but then clearly getting colder again as we got up onto the ice. We actually were at this glacier about 5 years ago,.. but didn't go into it like we did this time. Also, the snow got deeper & softer as well the closer we got,... plus you have to be careful about thin ice on those little creeks too,...


What a difference from the sub zero temps you had this winter. It must feel like summer already.
Who went in?


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## Alaska Boss

We continued on,.. coming up to the end of the lake,... and the glacier kept looking bigger,.. and now it appeared that a cloud system was forming over it,.. which was bad, because not only does it not make for good picture-taking,.. we need to have very good visibility to safely travel around this thing,...


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## Alaska Boss

As we came off the end of the lake, we started running up on these small foothills, and encountering rocks and boulders strewn about all over,... clearly evidence of past glacier activity & ice that use to extend down closer to the lake,...


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## Alaska Boss

We could see that these clouds were forming right here in this valley,... apparently having a valley full of ice was causing enough of a temp difference that the clouds formed as air flowed over this valley,...


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## Alaska Boss

So, as we were climbing over these smaller hills, covered with rocks, etc, they appeared to just be hills,... until suddenly we came over a couple that showed what they were really made of,... solid ice!


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## Alaska Boss

As we went farther in,... the ice got "cleaner" and more greenish/blue,... but we didn't know that at this point,... we haven't seen nothing yet,...


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## Alaska Boss

We noticed that a small snowslide came down just to the side on the mountain as we went by,...


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## Alaska Boss

As we kept climbing,... the crevasses in the ice were getting bigger & deeper,...


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## Alaska Boss

We started out on the extreme left-hand side of the glacier, knowing that we would always hit a dead end where we could not go on any farther,... so we would have to go back,... cross over toward the right a ways,.. then go back up again,... trying to find some route that will allow us to go up farther than anyone else may have ever gone....


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## Alaska Boss

We tried several places to get up & in farther, but always hit some barrier that forced us to go back & look again,...


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## Alaska Boss

And then, sorta in the middle of the glacier valley, we found an area that was much more open and flat,.. at least for a ways,... and not only could we see that we could go into the glacier a lot farther now,... but this was the beginning of some spectacular ice bergs & formations,... such as this chunk,... both of my buddies are 6'4",... just to give a size reference as to how big some of these ice cubes are,... and remember,.. there is most likely at least several hundred feet of ice underneath us as well as what's sticking up,....


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## Alaska Boss

And the good thing was that as fast as the clouds were forming, they were also dispersing,... so it stayed very nice the whole day,... which was very important, so we could not only pick our routes very carefully, but also keep from driving off into some bottomless pit,...


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## Alaska Boss

And it's amazing how some natural ice formations just take on a resembulance of other things,... like this first picture reminded me of a couple of humpback whales breaching,... the 2nd photo has an appearance of dolphins jumping,... or maybe I was just getting air sick, and seeing things,...


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## Alaska Boss

Then we found a rather dirty chunk that was melting a lot more than the others,... and right away I saw that it had 2 holes in the top with icicle spikes coming out of each one,... and covered with icicle tinsel on the outside,...


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## Alaska Boss

And then to contrast that with the pure whiteness of a heavy snow drift that had some very unique swirls in it when it formed,... like a thick covering of frosting on a cake,....


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## Alaska Boss

We traveled on,... and around each bend was just another amazing ice chunk,... each one totally different, and seemingly more unique than the last,....


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## Alaska Boss

The farther we went, the higher we climbed,...


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## Alaska Boss

As we got higher & farther onto the glacier,... the landscape almost had an erie appearance of another planet,... some small frozen ponds, but there were no animal tracks of any kind,... no plant life of any kind,... just ice & snow....


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## Alaska Boss

Every once in a while, a certain chunk just had a blue-hue all it's own,...


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## Alaska Boss

Then on a couple of the small lakes that were on top of the glacier, we saw some pressure ridges that had formed earlier in the winter,... showing that even in the dead of winter, there can still be some movement of all this ice,...


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## Alaska Boss

It seemed at times like we were going to be stopped again,... but we managed to find a path thru it all & continue on,....


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## Alaska Boss

Then I found a chunk of ice that had formed into somewhat of a cave,... so I had to check this out,...


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## Alaska Boss

I climbed inside,... and when the other two saw that I didn't get killed,... they checked it out too...


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## Alaska Boss

We continued on,... and just more ice,...


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## Alaska Boss

Many places couldn't even be accessed on foot safely without ice-climbing equipment,...


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## Alaska Boss

Once in a while I'd find a beautiful channel,... like a paved highway thru this foreign landscape,.. only to have it come to a dead-end,.... :crying:


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## Alaska Boss

The farther we got up on the glacier, the deeper the snow got as well.... at least in the places where the wind didn't blow it all away,...


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## Alaska Boss

Some more pressure ridges,...


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## Alaska Boss

More unique ice chunks,... I know this may be getting boring,... but hang in there,... the best is yet to come !!!


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## Alaska Boss

Then we found one of the most unique things I've ever seen on a glacier,... this huge, almost perfectly round hole bored right thru this big chunk of ice,... this is called a "moulin", a French word meaning "to mill",... this just does not look to me to be something formed in nature by itself,.. but it is,...


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## Alaska Boss

Apparently what happens is this,.... when lakes form on top of glaciers, which they do all the time,.... all that water will eventually find a crack in the ice, and work it's way all the way thru to the ground underneath. Then, as the water tends to melt out this crack, and the head pressure of the lake above it forces the water to run thru faster & harder,... the water starts to create a swirling action, similar to your toilet bowl,... the faster it flows thru this crack, along with the swirling motion, the water acts almost like a drill bit and "bores" it out, and if it lasts long enough before the lake is drained, it will turn this crack into a round hole,... and from what I read can be as big as 10 meters wide,... altho this one here is the biggest I've ever found (this one is about 6 feet). This huge gush of water that drains out a lake that had formed on top of a glacier to the ground underneath it, tends to act as a lubricant that allows for the glacier to travel more and/or faster.


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## Alaska Boss

I decided to climb up above it, and took a picture of my buddies on their sleds from the top... and they took one of me looking down thru it at them. It was too steep to try and slide down thru without cramp-ons,...


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## Alaska Boss

More spectacular chunks of old ice,....


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## Alaska Boss

and more,.....


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## Alaska Boss

here's the remains of another old moulin that has been split in half and is laying horizontally....


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## Alaska Boss

Here you can see how a small moulin was started in a crack in the ice when this whole chunk was still part of the main glacier,...


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## Alaska Boss

Some ice statues,...


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## Alaska Boss

Here's a huge chunk of ice that looks like something you might see at a theme park,... and it has at least 2 different moulins in it at different angles even!!


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## Alaska Boss

We continued to work our way in,... and to the right,..


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## Alaska Boss

Just more & more spectacular chunks of very old ice,....


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## Alaska Boss

This was like the sun shining on a crown of ice on top of a huge ice berg,....


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## Alaska Boss

Then, suddenly,... I found what was the coolest thing I have ever seen in or on a glacier in my whole life,... and I have been around glaciers all my life,... but this was an ice cave like I have never seen before,... there may well be ice caves better than this one, but I've never seen it,.... or pictures that had a deeper blue then this ice right here.... :bluebounc:bluebounc:bluebounc

(my buddie's camera captured the color better than mine,... and every picture in this thread are completely natural & untouched)


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## Alaska Boss

I went in first (I always have to go in first,... :realmad,... and the feeling of seeing this beautiful ancient frozen water for the first time by any human was almost uncanny,.. in places you could see into the ice maybe 10 feet,... seeing air bubbles, etc that have been trapped there for who knows how many years,...


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## Alaska Boss

The depth & richness of the deep blue color of this ice was just unreal,.... we just sat there for a long time drinking it all in,... it's like, how can ice be this deep of blue??


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## Alaska Boss

Then down along the sides it almost looked like human features had been carved into the ice walls,... like maybe we had entered some ancient temple of an unknown civilization,... :salute:


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## Alaska Boss

Well, after that,.. we continued on,... but nothing had the same appeal as that ice cave,..


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## Alaska Boss

We were now as far into the glacier as we were probably going to get,...


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## Alaska Boss

We continued to work our way to the right,... going in as far as we could,... but by now we had twisted our way thru and almost across the whole front face of this glacier,...


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## Alaska Boss

We just could not penetrate in any farther no matter how many places we tried....


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## Alaska Boss

We finally reached the far right side,... and had no where else to go,... so we had seen all that we could see from foot of the glacier,... and what a day it had been !!


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## Alaska Boss

As we were about to turn around & head back towards the lake,... we just reflected on the majestic sights we had been privledged to witness on this day,.... and all the unique & artistic beauty of nature that lays hidden & unseen by almost the entire planet,...


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## Alaska Boss

As we approached the lake,.. I stopped by the last little chunk of ice that is still trying to exist on it's own,... but I'm afraid that this little guy may not be here when the first new snow falls again next September or October,...


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## Alaska Boss

Then suddenly a coyote came running across in front of us before we hit the lake,... jolting us back into the reality that we were still on planet earth,...


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## Alaska Boss

Then after a long but fast ride across the big lake,... we were back at the edge of the shoreline where we had started that morning,... pausing one last time to look back on what a great day we had,... and all the undiscovered beauty that still lies hidden,.. even in our own back yards,... and vowing to come back again someday,.. before we're too old to do anything except talk about it,... and look at the pictures on Plowsite! :waving::waving::waving:


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## onsight

Absolutely Awesome ! How many miles did you ride that day?


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## Alaska Boss

onsight;1035451 said:


> Absolutely Awesome ! How many miles did you ride that day?


I think I put 91 miles on my sled... :waving:


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## chevyman51

those pictures are awesome thanks for sharing


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## JohnnyRoyale

Amazing pics as usual. Thanks for sharing.


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## Mr.Markus

Great pictures!.... Are you hiring???


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## heavychevy01

Awesome....just awesome


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## Outty330

Something most people would never see in a lifetime simply spectacular Alaska Boss!!!


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## nicksplowing

all i can say is AMAZING & THANKS SO MUCH dave :salute:


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## KSikkema

That is so incredible! The awesome-ness of God's creation is amazing!


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## 2COR517

KSikkema;1035555 said:


> That is so incredible! The awesome-ness of God's creation is amazing!


Amen to that!

AB - what elevations did you start/end at?


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## alex94

wow. that blue in the cave is absolutly ridiculousy beautiful. that would have been a very fun ride to go on. it seemed like you covered more than 90 miles. i bet it was 90 miles of 100% joy. i would make that an annual ride. great pics.


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## Burkartsplow

WoW is all I can say about those pictures. I cant tell you how much we all appreciate the time you take into going on these adventures and sharing with us what you see. Thanks again.


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## big_belly4ever

wow thanks for sharing


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## deere615

Wow! Just beautiful especially the cave. Even all the other ice that just has a blueish hue you dont see that around here. Did it get cold at all riding in the open that far? I remember you saying you have hot air that blows on the windshield.


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## T-MAN

Dave, that was great ! Thankyou for sharing, your a lucky man.


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## Quality SR

onsight;1035451 said:


> Absolutely Awesome !


Ditto



Burkartsplow;1035623 said:


> WoW is all I can say about those pictures. I cant tell you how much we all appreciate the time you take into going on these adventures and sharing with us what you see. Thanks again.


I agree 100%. Not boring at all, but simply amazing.  Thanks for sharing with us.


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## wewille

Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing!


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## Luther

Breathtaking.........

Thanks so much for sharing. :salute:


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## Dano50

WOW!!! That has got to be one of the most breathtaking threads I've ever seen. I'll be sharing that with quite a few people. Thanks for posting. What an adventure! Looks pretty dangerous, too.


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## JD Dave

TCLA;1035750 said:


> Breathtaking.........
> 
> Thanks so much for sharing. :salute:


x2 totally incredible!!!


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## basher

Lucky for me this 14 (sorry 15 forgot the birthday) year old girl turned me on to this. I almost missed a great thread. Amazing pictures.

Thanks AB from me and the kid


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## T-MAN

basher;1035818 said:


> Lucky for me this 14 (sorry 15 forgot the birthday) year old girl turned me on to this. I almost missed a great thread. Amazing pictures.
> 
> Thanks AB from me and the kid


Did the 15 yo girl from Miami get banned ?


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## basher

T-MAN;1035834 said:


> Did the 15 yo girl from Miami get banned ?


The privacy provisions of the Homeland Security Act prohibits me from commenting with out a signed witnessed notarized release not in my possession.


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## CGM Inc.

Awesome! Where about is this glacier? I have been in Alaska 3 years ago....just wondering.


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## Inverted99

Thanks for posting your pictures, it was a lot of fun to see.


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## MIDTOWNPC

Those pictures are amazing. Its best that I probably dont go there. I tend to have this problem where I see Ice and I start laying the salt. lol :laughing:

Totally awesome. You have a nice camara btw.


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## Alaska Boss

2COR517;1035615 said:


> AB - what elevations did you start/end at?


I'm not sure what the elevation is there,... I would guess that it would be somewhat in the ballpark of where I live, even tho it's over 100 miles away,... none of us had a GPS with us, but I would guess probably between 1500'-2000'.



KSikkema;1035555 said:


> That is so incredible! The awesome-ness of God's creation is amazing!


And that it is! As one continues to better understand the world around him and how it is so intricately tied together,... how this glacier forms, and all the effects it causes,.. from the life that is encompassed with this huge lake,... all the salmon that run up the river,... and everything that is involved in keep it all existing in so many balanced cycles,... it even leaves me, who's seen stuff like this all my life, in awe of the One who could design and bring this all together,... 



deere615;1035638 said:


> Wow! Just beautiful especially the cave. Even all the other ice that just has a blueish hue you dont see that around here. Did it get cold at all riding in the open that far? I remember you saying you have hot air that blows on the windshield.


Not cold at all,... but then again, this time of year is always so nice after riding for the last 5 months in -20° to -40° ave. The problem for us late in the year like this is over-dressing,... we just naturally dress for at least -20° conditions,... so when it's +20°,... you have to deliberately wear clothing so you won't get too warm,...



Dano50;1035757 said:


> WOW!!! That has got to be one of the most breathtaking threads I've ever seen. I'll be sharing that with quite a few people. Thanks for posting. What an adventure! Looks pretty dangerous, too.


Yeah, there is always some added risk when riding around glaciers,... and you have to be extra careful and alert,... because the one thing that never changes about glaciers, is that they are always changing. Over the last 120 years or so, there have been many men, horses, dog teams, and snow mobiles that have fallen into crevasses of glaciers,.. never to be seen again. But this is clearly the safest time of year to do this,... late winter/early spring. But even so, I have a lot of friends that would never do what we did,... yet many times fear is based in the unknown. This sort of thing is almost intoxicating to me,... nothing is more exciting than to do something/go somewhere where no one else has gone, even tho places like that probably don't hardly exist in this day & age anymore,... even in Alaska. I can fully understand (I think) the "bug" that bites someone (early explorers) to just take off & explore unknown frontiers,... and it feeds on itself,... the farther you go, the farther you want to keep going,... :bluebounc



Cedar Grounds;1035858 said:



> Awesome! Where about is this glacier? I have been in Alaska 3 years ago....just wondering.


I wasn't so sure I wanted to post the name of this glacier,... but in all reality, it's not like something like this can be hidden,.... and there's 100's & 100's of glaciers in Alaska,... this is the Tazlina Glacier in the Chugach Mountains. The thing that makes this one somewhat more unique than most of the other ones around this area, is that most of the others have receded far back up the valleys from the lakes they make, but this one is still literally right at the edge of it's lake. And most of them are just buried in snow for the most part, where as the conditions of this one keep much more of the ice itself exposed, which is what helps make it so dramatic,...



MIDTOWNPC;1035929 said:


> Those pictures are amazing. Its best that I probably dont go there. I tend to have this problem where I see Ice and I start laying the salt. lol :laughing:
> 
> Totally awesome. You have a nice camara btw.


Haha,... you'd have job security for sure if you tried to melt this glacier with your salt spreader. But the very sad thing, is that my camera fried the day after we got back from this trip,... I have no idea how many thousands of pictures I have taken with it,... but I'm just glad it didn't croak right as we got there,... I don't even know now what to get/look for in the current selections,.. guess I'm gonna have to do some research now,...

Thanks all for the comments,... but pictures don't do justice to seeing the real thing. I know I'm very fortunate to live in a place where opportunities like this still exist. I remember last fall driving my new truck back to Alaska from Missouri,... and while going from there thru Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and even Alberta,... and all the people that have never seen or lived around mountains, the ocean, etc,... and just how different things are in different parts of this world,.... so it's good for all of us to see things that are different than where we live,... and later on this summer when it's 94° in the shade,... maybe some of these pictures can help you cool off,... :waving:


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## CGM Inc.

Good stuff! Thanks!


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## Mopard

WOW! I've seen my fair share of ice here in "Northern" Ontario, lol ... we ride from lake to lake to lake to lake ... and always come across some neat ice formations but this is another world ... absolutely incredible! I've never been far enough north to ride on an actual glacier (yet) but I would definitely choose an experience like this over a "beach vacation" anyday. 
Hard to imagine the Great Lakes were formed by similar glaciers and the entire planet was covered like this at one time. 
Thanks for sharing!


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## albhb3

so thats where the yetti lives


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## ken643

Thanks for the pics, really amazing!!


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## Western1

Thanks for sharing really awesome!


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## rich414

I have been at the front of a glacier by boat just out of Valdez. It was aweosme... We busted off some ice from the glacer and made martinis!! those were million year old martinis
Your photos are awesome! you are lucky to live in a place where you can do this!


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## Elite Property Services

Simply amazing!!!!


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## The Cow Man

Really nice pictures, maybe someday i'll go there and visit.


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