Sorsdal Glacier

Last Sunday was a glorious day (-16, light winds and no cloud) so Cookie, Glenn R and I decided to head out for an afternoon quad ride down to the Sorsdal Glacier. The last time I was at the glacier I went by helicopter to gather ice for our drinks, but didn't have much time to have a good look. This time we spent the whole afternoon cruising down the side it.

Travel is prohibited in front of the glacier due to the dangers of calving bergs, and also because of increased likelihood of tide cracks. To view the whole front of the glacier from the sea ice is impossible because of the sheer size of it. We discovered that our stopping point was quite clearly defined, as the photo below of a tide crack shows. You just wouldn't get a quad over a crack this size. Right in the middle of the crack the ice was only millimeters thick - I could push my axe straight through. That said, 24 hours later you wouldn't even know that there was a crack in the ice.

This next picture shows the crack running back towards the glacier. This is the front of the glacier, and as you can see it extends way off to the right of the picture.