ICE

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howdy hey,

So we have shuffled down the coast abit to a city called franz josef. This is a very tiny town sitting at the edge of a glacier...with the primary function of getting people up there and hiking around...so thats just what we did today. We all geared up and did a walk to what they call the Terminal Face of the glacier. This is where the ground meets the ice. Our guide explained a few interesting things along the way...2 of the most interesting being: the glacier moves 3-4 meters a day....and Franz Josef is the steepest commercially climbed glacier in the world. EXcellent! So this is where we put on our special ice climbing gear....ice talons on our boots and a nice tasty ice pick.this made us all feel very official and great. We also had to decide to join the slow, medium of fast group. Being the adventure seekers we are...we chose fast. As we began our ascent we discovered some nicely cut ice steps. Turns out some poor guys had been chopping away steps for us all morning. This may sound wimpy...but it would have been impossible otherwise...at least for a group of people with no experience. Our guide also had to do some chopping along the way as the step melt away as the day goes on.

The scenery was just stunning. Waterfalls on all sides, giant cascading lush green mountains with snowcaps that have avalanced down in certain places, icey blue glacial structures poking up in strange beautiful formations, crystal clear ice cold water cascading beside our feet through naturally carved curves(which is how we fill our water bottles...mmmmm), even the sounds of creaking ice beneath us added to the experience. Truely amazing.

Some of the highlights included squeezing through naturally formed ice caves and tunnels. This was a wet and slidey slopy mess...but heaps of fun. Our guide would purposely take us into tiny chasms to add challenge. At one of these chasms a girl got her foot stuck. At first it seemed fine..but then she couldnt move...and she started crying. it didnt seem like a real big deal...but she still couldnt move, so the guide had to come back to help her. He was having some troubles so he asked if i could hold onto him as he tugged on her. In the process of trying to shimmy her loose, he grabbed the hips of her pants and ripped them. Quite funny after the fact. But in anycase, you all can consider me as an Offical Ice Rescue Ranger. Excellent.
hope all is still well, and i look foward to coming home. tata.
-brad

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