I HIKED ON A REAL GLACIER YESTERDAY!!! AND I EVEN GOT TO "SWIM" (i.e. JUMP IN AND GET THE ROCK OUT AS QUICKLY AS MY NEARLY FROZEN BODY WOULD LET ME) IN A "POOL" (i.e. A GIANT CUP OF GLACIAL ICE WATER).
i have had this dream the last several months of walking on a glacier and i did it. i feel somewhat fulfilled. as for the swimming, when my guide asked us if we wanted a swim, and no one responded, he then started singling us out. so as i approached this pool -- essentially water filling a crevasse in this glacier -- he asked me, how 'bout a swim? i assessed the situation and said, only if you go. because no one else was game, he said bloody hell i'm going. and i had to live up to my word (americans are not well respected in international circles and i feel it's important to act as a sort of good-will ambassador in my travels :) ) and i went in too. BLOODY HELL IT WAS COLD! let me describe this to you.
See, franz josef glacier is a "mild" glacier as it reaches down to pretty temperate zones. i doubt the elevation was much above 1000 feet, so we're not talking about leaving the troposphere. well, with the sun baking this thing, the top of it melts and runs off, creating these braided rivers downstream. but on the glacier, the water can accumulate in crevasses, as water will go where it wants to go and gather where it wants to gather. so here we have melted glacier accumulating in a giant cup made of ice, and into this we jumped.
brr.
back to the north island tomorrow. i do and i don't want to come home. can i put myself into debt just to avoid living with my parents?! sigh.
