a mother-flippin' glacier!

So at about 5 this morning I was awakened (awoken?) by the sound of downpouring rain. It continued all day... torrential, non-stop rain. The first I’ve encountered on my trip. And what better activity to do in the pouring rain than to CLIMB A GLACIER!!!????

Completely decked out in boots, 2 rainjackets, underarmor, and 2 shirts, snow pants, lightweight cargo pants, and stretchpants, I hiked the Franz Josef Glacier today! It was incredibly awesome and fun.

And I have an exciting detail, although anyone who ever went on an elementary school field trip with me won’t believe me. At the bottom of the glacier they had us split up into 3 groups – 1: fast/fit group, 2: intermediate group, 3: slow/take it easy group. I initially tried to join the second group, but that group was too full and they needed someone to go to either 1 or 3. So I said “what the hell” and joined group 1. That’s right! Little miss straggler was in the fastest group! And I kept up fine. I’m so glad I made an effort to get in shape before this trip... it’s really paid off.

It was truly an adventure, and it wasn’t easy, but it was really a lot of fun! The guide went ahead and used an axe to carve out footholds for us. We went through a lot of narrow crevasses and a few caves. We got really high up on the glacier (up to the top of the first ice fall) before we had to turn around. The pouring rain really made it dramatic, and by the end every inch of me and my stuff was completely soaked! All in all, I think this was my favorite activity so far!