Photos and Video of the Day — An Australian Goes Glacial

When we took off out of Palmer this morning it was 10 degrees. Fortunately Todd was prepared for this because when he left Australia a few weeks ago they were in the middle of a cold snap … it was only 90. January is not the optimal time for a glacial tour, but if you don’t mind bundling up it’s well worth it.

Todd and I went on a little flight from Palmer out into the Chugach Mts. and landed at 7000′ on a small glacier. The wind was blowing hard up at elevation, but the area I chose was protected by the surrounding mountains. You can see in the video that the light was pretty flat, but there was just enough of it to find the ground. Sometimes the lighting changes depending on the given angle you are looking at the snow, so it is important to evaluate the ground closely to determine which angle the lighting is the best. After stomping around on the glacier for a few minutes we flew over to the Knik Glacier and took some pictures of the ice. The blues in the glacier were absolutely brilliant today. We tried to land down in the gorge, but I didn’t trust the thickness of the ice on the lake. It was a good flight this morning, but from the looks of those clouds and the feel of the afternoon winds … something nasty is out there.

This is the video from today’s flight into the Chugach.