A glacier is not a sedentary thing; it is in fact alive in a constant battle of gravity being waged behind its icy blue walls. It creaks and groans like the wooden floor boards of a century old farm house. You hear 'snap, crackle, pop' and the eyes race frantically across the walls looking for the big chunk breaking free. It seems a little wrong to be waiting and wishing for such immense destruction but the first hunk you see fall brings about an excitement similar to that of the Jango tower falling, but multiplied by 1,000! The ice hisses and rumbles under the push and shove of it's own weight. The sound of gunshots firing from deep crevasses, cannons exploding in the distance and you know you've just missed a good one.
Watching a glacier requires the patience of a fisherman. Little crumbles followed by a small avalanche of fireworks hitting the lake. Hours pass with your eyes darting back and forth, following the finger points of tourists, "over there, over there!", almost always just a second too late as the echo is delayed in reaching your ears. But then there's a rumble, deeper than the rest, and BOOOOM, down comes Big Momma!!! An entire ledge calves off, exploding into the water below causing the most gigantic wave pool effect you've ever seen. A simultaneous "HOLY SHIT!" escapes from my mouth, possibly offending some of the old tourists around me but whatever, they were thinking the same thing. Eureka! I got what I came for, but of course capturing any of this on camera is almost as hard as getting a photo of the whales jumping in the morning bay...
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| the classic tourist shot because well, everybody else was doing it.... |
as well you should !
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