Mendenhall Glacier - Juneau, AK

Saturday July 1, 2006

Mountaineers: Bria, Kent, Floyd, Laura, Corey, Jodie, and Pat
Weather: 50-60s, Overcast, colder on the glacier
Miles: ~5
Elevation Gain: 1000 ft
Duration: 7 hrs

Our day in Juneau was great! We met Corey, our friend from UNH, at the cruise ship docks and he took us around Juneau and up onto Mendenhall Glacier. Corey works as a Glacier guide for two different companies that bring tourists onto the glacier, one brings clients to the glacier via the helicopter and the other lets them hike up, so he was able to borrow all the necessary boots, crampons, and ice axes from his work.

Corey had a meeting at work for a little while, so he dropped Jodie and I off at a coastal park near the airport so we could walk around and at least see some things. We saw some bald eagles and a bunch of people walking dogs, but nothing too interesting. We went back to the beginning where we were supposed to meet Corey and waited a while for him to show up. We joked that he had just dropped us off and stole all our stuff because he had told us we could leave everything in his car. He eventually showed up and we were off to his house.

At Corey’s house we met up with his friends Kent and Bria and their friends Floyd and Laura. Floyd and Laura were visiting from Tacoma, WA and wanted to get out on the glacier too so the timing, Corey had the day off, worked out for everyone. The trailhead is about 5 minutes from Corey’s house; he lives in “the valley”. We hiked up the trail at a brisk pace since it was mostly flat. The last portion of the trail climbed over some bare rock and had one steep section.

At the foot of the glacier, we took a break to gear up; put on our boots, crampons, harnesses, pants, and jackets. The lower part of the glacier we were on was a dry glacier, meaning there was no recent snow. We walked around the glacier for a while and then Corey set up a top rope on a large protrusion from the glacier for us to ice climb. We all took a turn climbing, though it was hard, the upper portion was overhanging. It was fun and I’m glad we got the chance to go climbing. Jodie did really well with everything. She even liked it a lot. She climbed as high as I did.

After the ice climbing, we explored more of the glacier. There were tons of huge crevasses and streams draining through the glacier. At the very end, Corey took us down a small tunnel that went to the bedrock below the glacier. We walked around under the glacier and then came out another tunnel. The tunnel under the glacier was made by water, though the first part we took down didn’t have any water in it currently. It was very fun exploring the glacier with Corey. We were out for about seven hours. The hike in and out was about an hour each way.

After the hike, Corey took Jodie and I to a place where we could hike out to a point on the ocean. It was neat. It was after 9pm, it was still light out, salmon were jumping everywhere, and we even saw a few porpoises.

Quotes of the Day
“Why do I feel like I’m a tourist attraction?” – Pat walking around Lido Deck getting some breakfast in hiking gear.

“What are you some kind of a tourist?” - Corey answering Pat’s question on why the glaciers are so blue.

“Whewww! What elevation are we at?” – One of Corey’s favorite client questions after taking clients up to 1500ft on the Mendenhall Glacier in a helicopter.