Glacier Project update from film crew - Trip Report #1 – Part 1

Trip Report #1 – Part 1 Posted: 05 Aug 2010 08:42 PM PDT The team gathered early Monday morning – one camera short. They were expecting a second Canon 7D Camera to arrive by mail the week before, but the package still hadn’t arrived by the day they were scheduled to leave. Luckily, Max tracked it all the way to the UPS truck it was traveling on and disaster was averted. The team packed into Christina’s Subaru with four people plus their film, climbing, and camping gear. Truly testing the limits of “what’s inside.” After a two-hour drive, they arrived at the Blanca Lake trailhead and started the first leg of their journey with glaciologist Mauri Pelto on the Columbia Glacier. Here’s how it went in Cory‘s words: The hike in to Blanca is steep but lovely. Shaded with large old mossy pines. We were certainly feeling the weight of our packs on this first climb, but we were carried by high excitement and good spirits. After 3.5 miles (they felt more like 6), we got our first views of gorgeous, milky blue Blanca Lake and the Columbia glacier that feeds it. The next morning, we woke early to hike around to the top of the lake and meet up with Mauri. We chose to keep our campsite at the bottom of the lake because the hike around would’ve been too challenging given the size of our packs. The decision was probably a good one, but after a couple days of extra effort in the morning and evening… we had to wonder. Mauri likes to call the hike from camp to glacier the “commute.” Ours was a bushwack and scramble with great views of water and rugged peaks. His was a rocky climb that took almost an hour. On the way up, we passed through our first ice cave and I was impressed at how much snow and ice survive through the hot summer days. I was struck by the fact that all of the water melting from these high snow fields and glaciers are what keep the streams and rivers full in the late summer. Without them, the Pacific Northwest would be a very different place…