An Alaskan Adventure

For our vacation this year we decided to board the Celebrity Cruise ship Mercury and take a cruise along the Alaskan coast.  We would be starting in Seward Alaska, sail on to view the Hubbard Glacier, then on to Skagway, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, with our final destination the port of Vancouver, B.C.

The weather on the trip was excellent, so when we pulled into Yukatat Bay, the Hubbard Glacier presented itself to us in all its glory.  They estimate that Alaska has more than 100,000 glaciers.  Glaciers form because snowfall in high mountain ranges exceeds snow-melt.  As the weight of the accumulated snow increases, ice is formed in the lower layers and the glacier begins to form.  The Hubbard Glacier is six miles long at the mouth and 76 miles in length.

As we approached the glacier we hear the ice creaking and groaning.  Occasionally large chunks of ice “calve”, or crack and crash into the bay below with a spray of ice and foam. The huge icebergs that result from this calving can last for weeks before they slowly melt in the icy water.  Our ship had to slowly navigate through these large chunks of floating ice that littered the bay.  So awesome was the view of the glacier that we wanted to get a closer look as one of our side trips.          

     During our stay in Juneau we decide to take a helicopter ride out to see the glacier.  After a brief safety demonstration we boarded the helicopter.  As we would be flying over water, safety regulations required that we wear life vests.  As we left the heliport and flew out over Juneau the pilot pointed out some of the historical sights of the area, some old abandoned mines, and some nearby lakes surrounded by emerald green alpine tundra providing a home for a family of three mountain sheep lazily enjoying the warm fall day.  Once we were in the mountains the ride was like a roller coaster.  Climbing up the steep mountain side, hovering over the summit then swooping down the other side leaving our stomachs behind. 

The view of a glacier from the air is awesome.  Sometimes the surface is smooth, other times  rough and rugged.  As the ribbon of ice flows down the valleys there are lateral or longitudinal flow lines which form in the ice, accented by jagged spires and deep crevasses.  Glacial ice appears blue because it absorbs all colors of the visible light spectrum except blue, which it reflects.

         
 After our spectacular ride over the Herbert glacier, the pilot set the helicopter down on a fairly flat portion of the ice so that we could get out and walk around for a closer look.  The ice on top of the glacier had lots of dirt mixed in with it.  As a glacier flows downhill, its extreme weight grinds over the soil and rock from the valley walls beneath, pulverizing it as it goes.  This pulverized rock, called “rock flour”, escapes with glacial melt-water and is deposited in the out-wash plain at the edge of retreating glaciers.   The fierce arctic winds blow this rock flour back up over the top of the glacier giving it the appearance of dirty snow.

As we walked around on the top of the glacier field, it was hard to imagine that the ice here can be hundreds of feet thick.  The pilot took us over to one of the many crevasses n the glacier field.  Looking down into the blackness we see the reflection of blue light from the sides of the crevasse.  Wanting to get a picture, I asked Sharon to take off her life vest and move over near the edge of the crevasse.  As she took off the vest, her sunglasses were knocked off from her face and went sliding across the ice.  Before anyone knew what was happening, Sharon had lost her footing on the slick ice and was sliding down the smooth side into the opening of the crevasse.  Running over as close as we dared we were too late and could see nothing of her. We could only hear her screams as she fell down into the depths of the glacier.  Soon all was quiet except the noise of bits of broken ice chips falling down the slope after her.  At last we thought we could hear a faint cry.  Yes, she was still alive.  She yelled up that she was OK, but it was dark and very cold.  She had fallen, bounced and slid right down to the bedrock of the canyon and was standing in total darkness with silt and cold water from the glacier melt swirling around her knees.

The pilot ran to the helicopter and brought back a coil of rope from the emergency kit.  We tied one end to the helicopter landing strut and threw the other end down into the crevasse.  The rope was 250 feet long, but that apparently was not long enough.  Sharon yelled back that she may be able to climb out using the walls of the crevasse.  The walls were fairly close together and if she could get her back against one wall with her feet against the other she thought she may be able to climb up part of the way.  Whatever she did, it would have to be soon.  The temperature down there was near freezing and the water was sapping all the heat and strength from her body.  Inch by inch she crawled her way up the black chimney of ice.  Occasionally small ledges of ice jutting out from the wall provided her with a much needed resting place.

The day was growing short, and the daylight was beginning to fade.  Whatever we did, we were going to have to do it fast if were to save her.  Not only was the daylight fading, but it looked as if a storm was starting to blow in.  If the wind picked up much more the helicopter would have to leave or there was a chance that we could all become stranded on the glacier and perish.

We pulled the rope back up and tied a flashlight on to it to hopefully provide some small glimmer of light down near the bottom.  It worked.  Sharon yelled up that she could see the rope now, just about 50 feet above her.  There was a pale blue light reflecting off the walls now with long daggers of black shadows at every ledge and crack.  Her feet and hands were numb with cold, but the blue light was now turning into a yellow glow from the flashlight, giving her that extra bit of strength and hope she needed.  Reaching out for the rope, she found that her hands could barely feel.  She managed to wrap the rope around her, then using her numb hands as guides,  managed to tie the rope in a knot with her teeth.  Carefully we began to pull her up, fearing that at any minute she would loose her grip, or that the rope would come loose and she would again plunge down into the depths, this time perhaps to her death. 

Never was the light so bright, faces so welcome or the air so warm as it was when Sharon emerged from the clutches of the icy crevasse.  It was as if she had been given a second chance at her life. 

We pulled her out onto flat ground, and immediately wrapped her in warm blankets and flew her back to the hospital in Juneau.  Slowly the doctors brought her body temperature back too normal, examined her, and told her that she was one lucky person.  It is very rare that anyone falls that far into a crevasse and lives to tell about it.

We were all lucky that day.  Sharon recovered with only a few bruises and some very cold toes.  We had managed to get off the glacier just before one of the worst storms of the season came in.

When we got home, we thanked the Lord for this great blessing we had been given.  We got cleaned up and started to put out gear away.

As Sharon was cleaning the mud off her boots, something shinny fell out.  She called me over and to our amazement; there were small nuggets of gold laying in the bottom of the sink.  We cleaned out the other boots and the cuffs of her pants, and found that we had a handful of gold nuggets.  Apparently when she was standing in the mud and water at the bottom of the crevasse she was standing in a pocket where the glacier had scraped through a deposit of gold and collected it at the bottom of the crevasse.

The next day, we again rented the helicopter to return to the glacier to see if we could find the crevasse, but the previous night’s storm had completely altered the face of the glacier.  We searched for hours, but there were no landmarks, no crevasse, no gold.  The severe Alaskan weather had once again won the fight in the search for gold.

I know that the crevasse can be found again.  Sometimes another storm can open up a crevasse again, or the hot summer sun can melt the blanket of snow and ice that covers it.  No matter what, I am going to search until I find it. 

by Gary Hyde

September, 2002

P.S. 

If you would like to be a part in this search for the Hubbard Glacier gold, please send ten dollars cash or money order to “The Hyde Foundation for the Hubbard Glacier Gold”.