Glaciers! Hmmm... sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly, almost always dodgy! The first one I ever saw and subsequently set foot on was in South Georgia in winter 1958. Innocence is bliss. Descending from a minor summit, it swallowed me into its bergschrund, the abyss below looking bottomless. Which was disconcerting as nobody knew I was there. So needs must. After a grim struggle I emerged, trouser backside and much of mine in shreds - but I lived to tell the tale unlike Ötzi, who lived sometime between 3350 and 3105 BC. His remains were discovered frozen in ice in 1991, in the Ötztal Alps on the Austria–Italy border..
Brings back fond memories of white snow, blue ice, those potholes, running water and sweltering heat..a heavy Goldline rope, Aschenbrenner ice ax, crampons, and wishing I was anywhere but there. Oh, to be 22 again.
All very true. And when you spend not ten hours but three weeks on glaciers, with occasional relief on moraine terraces, you really get to know how non-uniform they are (Biafo—Snow Lake—Hispar).
I figured the Karakorum when you said three weeks Jon. Are the Trango Towers as awe inspiring as the photographs? Uli Biaho, Mustagh, the 'brums? Did you have a Pakistani army officer along? I heard you have to be booked years in advance.
Not really - it flows south towards the Rhone Valley so you'd come in from there. Bettmeralp above Brig looks a likely start point for the view seen in the Wikipedia photo.
The glaciers were shrinking noticeably even in Grandpa's time, even though the reason wasn't then obvious. And yes, the Alpine climbers were distressed about it.
Glaciers! Hmmm... sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly, almost always dodgy! The first one I ever saw and subsequently set foot on was in South Georgia in winter 1958. Innocence is bliss. Descending from a minor summit, it swallowed me into its bergschrund, the abyss below looking bottomless. Which was disconcerting as nobody knew I was there. So needs must. After a grim struggle I emerged, trouser backside and much of mine in shreds - but I lived to tell the tale unlike Ötzi, who lived sometime between 3350 and 3105 BC. His remains were discovered frozen in ice in 1991, in the Ötztal Alps on the Austria–Italy border..
Brings back fond memories of white snow, blue ice, those potholes, running water and sweltering heat..a heavy Goldline rope, Aschenbrenner ice ax, crampons, and wishing I was anywhere but there. Oh, to be 22 again.
All very true. And when you spend not ten hours but three weeks on glaciers, with occasional relief on moraine terraces, you really get to know how non-uniform they are (Biafo—Snow Lake—Hispar).
I figured the Karakorum when you said three weeks Jon. Are the Trango Towers as awe inspiring as the photographs? Uli Biaho, Mustagh, the 'brums? Did you have a Pakistani army officer along? I heard you have to be booked years in advance.
Neat photos! Is the Aletsch glacier visible from any of the touristy cable car hikes around Grindelwald or Lauterbrunnen?
Not really - it flows south towards the Rhone Valley so you'd come in from there. Bettmeralp above Brig looks a likely start point for the view seen in the Wikipedia photo.
Lovely travelogue!
Nice to know that your grandpa was recognised in print. I wonder what he would think about the shrinking glaciers of today.
The glaciers were shrinking noticeably even in Grandpa's time, even though the reason wasn't then obvious. And yes, the Alpine climbers were distressed about it.