Alaska Day 20: Trimble Glacier

 

THB working on his snow landings

Day 20: Winterlake Lodge

Weather Report:  Pleasant, 60s to low 70s

Quote of the Day:  What’ll be punk: white water or a float down the river?

It’s a Covid world: THB is in the front row on the three helicopter rides today. Does he ask the pilot (we had two different ones) if he has been vax’d? Probably didn’t matter since THB never inhaled once we left the ground

Big first on the trip: DB asked for decaf coffee and there was a thermos full when we got to the lodge before 6:30am. Hot, too!

Mediocre breakfast, the pancakes were at cruise level. Meet with J, our guide for the day. Layer up! THB wears long underwear, his old (and still useful) mountaineering pants, jacket, hat with ear flaps. Somehow THB forgot to wear his diaper. He had no idea he was a co-pilot on every flight.

Boots and crampons (in the bags) lined up for family of 5

No longer used weather collection site

There's a height requirement for the gas pump jockey

The safety instructions included ways to release the doors…from the outside. Why did THB need this lesson? Hmmmmm…..

 

DB and J sit in the back row, THB is up front…so upfront that he could tell his feet no longer were on terra firma. No problema, somehow THB was totally relaxed, at ease, a real pro, baby he was born to fly, and THB even opened his eyes every so often. Somebody had to find thoose mooses on the looses.

Pics on the way to the Trimble Glacier:

Just to give a perspective of the damage from the Spruce Bark Beetles: thousands of dead trees in just this one meadow

Those dead bugs on your windshields that have disappeared: they are now on the helicopter windows

The helicopter touches down near the face of the Trimble glacier, J helps us out, we adjust our jock straps; no, they are some s&m device that allows J to clip on to us if we fall into a crevasse. We put on our crampons and head up the glacier for what is an hour and a half exhausting and exhilarating hike.

These are rocks; during the day the sink further and further into the ice field

 

How is this for service: J calls Uber and instead of that big fancy black car with dark window here comes another helicopter. We fly about 4 minutes to a meadow for lunch. After lunch we tour the meadow and come up a very nice waterfall.

Pics on the way to the meadow:

Pics on the meadow:

No more crevasses, no more S&M devices required

This is not a pic of rocks, it is tundra covering: mushy and soft, good to walk on (for THB at least, probably not too good for the tundra)

May be false hellbore; we saw a lot of this bushwhacking

THB and DB use the hot tub, nap, read, relax, and make final decision for the thrilla in Alaska: white water rafting of 5-6 hours (later corrected to 2.5 to 3 hours without stops) on the Happy (yes, this is the river’s real name). Means at least two more helicopter rides, maybe this time THB will get to be the pilot. Soooo easy. Especially if you don’t open your eyes.

Dinner is excellent, though we get another creamy style desert. This time it is yuzu curd.

Oysters Rockefeller appetizer

Scallops with pickled veggies