Notice I only landed in this spot because I had my old tires on, which were already ATU (All Tore Up). All those nasty frozen little rocks slice and dice my $3500 tires and that make me grouchy. I posted a blog about this on Dec 15th.
You see that little black mound on the right side of the image ? At first glance it looks like a small pile of rock fragments that could easily be leveled with a single swipe of the foot. I made that mistake the first time I was preparing an ice air-strip, and dang near broke my toe. They are solid ice mounds protected from melting by the protective covering of the smaller rocks. I accidentally hit one on landing one time, and it just about rattled the fillings out of my head. You can see the larger mounds standing in-front of the Super Cub, they come in all sizes.
The texture of the ice is different almost everywhere I go. It really depends on the rock faces bordering the edges of the glacier up valley, because that is the main factor determining the amount of debris that ends up on the ice. I have seen boulder fields 50 feet high and 2 miles long out on the ice, and I’ve also seen portions of ice so smooth you could land a DC-3 on it. Glaciers are awesome, totally unlike any other geological formation. If you want to experience a glacier in it’s true wilderness environment, rather than from the deck of a cruise ship, or a wooden viewing platform, then let me take you on a glacier tour. Seriously, it’s, it’s, ummm….. just do it, you won’t regret it.