Great Glaciers

         On the boat I was amazed watching the colossal sized chunks of the glacier splash as they hit the water.  When I first put on the crampons, I was surprised how light they were.  I was expecting them to weigh ten pounds each.  When I got on the glacier I was wowed by how many different streams were going through and around the glacier.  When we finally got going I thought that the ice was going to break under me because of all the holes in the ice.  When I saw the first crevasse and how deep it was, I was scared until I saw it was filled with water. Then I wanted to swim in it.  But when I filled up my water bottle, I felt how cold it was.

          Did you know that about 98% of Antarctica is made of glaciers?  Do you know what the two different parts of glaciers are?  The first part of glacier is the accumulation area. It is at the top where the glaciers collect snow.  Next, there is the ablation area. Which is at the bottom of the glacier where it breaks or looses ice.  Something I found interesting is that glaciers carve out the gigantic valleys that they travel in.  We took a boat through the valley that the glacier carved out by it massive body.  As we took the boat to the front of the glacier, I found  it amazing how big the valley is and how much water fills the valley.  I found it amazing that thousands of years ago the whole valley was completely filled with ice.  There are two completely different perspectives when you’re looking at the glacier than when you’re on it.  When you’re looking at the glacier it looks so big. When you’re on it, you feel like you have walked across the whole thing in ten minutes, but in reality you have only walked on .001% of it.  Did you know that glaciers are the largest reservoir of freshwater on earth?

         Some more interesting facts I learned is that 99% of glaciers on earth are contained within vast ice sheets in the polar regions?  And did you know the Baltoro Glacier in Baltistan, Southern Pakistan is 63 kilometers (39 mi) long making it one of the longest glaciers in the world? The Perito Moreno Glacier in Southern Argentina is one of the only glaciers in the world that separates the body of water.  Therefore the rupture is special at this glacier.  A rupture is when the ice barrier separating the lake breaks causing an enormous wave of water.  Once the ice bridge is made, the rest of the rupture goes really quickly.  When I saw a picture in my hostel of the most recent rupture in 2014 it was mind blowing how big the splash was.

Overall, I think that glaciers are one of the most amazing land forms on Earth.  I’m so glad that I was lucky enough to hike on a glacier, and better yet one of the most unique glaciers in the world.  I will especially always remember the hike because my mom got kicked in the face with a crampon.

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