the alarm clock went off at 5 am and e-j went for a hot shower next door. i scurried around the cold bedroom, mumbling and mentally repeating a constantly re-prioritising list of things i had to do in the next few minutes. “get dressed, go car, get porridge, milk and honey. boil water for tea”, “get dressed, first put water to boil, go car, get porridge, milk, honey and tea bags”.
5.40 am and we were heading off to the glacier in the pouring rain, only 10 minutes behind schedule, and a good 3 hours ahead of the crowds. we hoped to arrive at the national park gates before the guard turned up for work, and therefore avoid the $10 / head entrance fee, but he was there alright, expectant of a big day’s turnout for the big day’s glacier break.
it was finally turning day, the glacier’s ghostly and luminous silhouette becoming slightly more visible as we approached. pulling up in the car park, only a dozen cars had beat us to it by camping up the night before. our first proper glimpse beyond the trees was breathtaking. a 75 meter high jagged wall of ice stretching as far as we could see both from left to right, and away into the valley’s darkness. we excitedly made our way along the wooden walkways down to the viewing platforms, and as day broke, light fell on the most beautiful geological spectacle either of us ever saw. having made the 500 year journey down the 35km length of the glacier, shavings of ice wall now fell into the water with spectacular effect, sending a thundering rumble and huge rippling waves across the lake.
the tip of the glacier’s tongue had reached the land and a natural dam had formed, separating the lake into two, the upper lake currently 9 meters higher than the lower. the base of the dam had now begun to melt and a tunnel perpendicular to the glacier had formed, connecting the two lakes. water flowed down through the tunnel, melting its walls and widening it as it went. at a certain point the nearisde tunnel wall would be too thin to withstand the weight of the ice above and would collapse with an almighty crash – this was what all the fuss was about and why we had sped down like demons. but the question was when and the answer from park guides was don’t know. based on the experience of previous breaks, they reckoned probably not that day. we waited for three hours until the buses arrived and offloaded hundreds of tourists, and turned to leave. the glacier’s immense beauty was hard to walk away from but we would be back in the morning.
the rest of the day was spent charging cameras and recovering from the early rise. we bought some fancy chocolate for lunch which saw us through the afternoon and for dinner we could barely finish a shared pizza.
