Tag Archives: Juneau

Glare From the Noon Light

by John Thurston

Yes, this is the noon light, not the moon light. Early in January, the sun doesn’t get very high in our sky. It rakes in very low, and there are often shadows mid-day caused by the sun being obscured by some mountains. In earlier folios, you have seen where the ice meets the land. This is where the ice meets the lake.

Catching the dawn light on the glacier is a tricky business. By definition, it involves starting the mile and quarter trek across the lake (either by skate or by ski) before dawn. It requires a bit of nerve to lace up my skates and set out across the lake in the dark with a pack loaded with camera gear. Once there, in the pre-dawn light, the challenge is to find the image that will be there when the sun arrives.

In this case, I caught the light on the extreme face of the glacier.  There is nothing for scale, but the hummock to the right is probably only four feet high. That makes the face about 30 feet high. The lake ice in front of it (as well as where I’m standing) is a mass of re-frozen crumble. At any time, the glacier may slide forward and wrinkled the ice for many yards. The lake is also littered with bergs which have fallen off the face. If that should happen, the resulting waves will leave broken ice for half a mile. I have never been there when it happens, but the evidence that it does happen is recorded in the ice at my feet.

This was shot with my TL120-55 on a tripod in January, 2010.

Re-seeding Images

by John Thurston

My contributions for re-seeding our folio are all from the Mendenhall Glacier area of Juneau. These are near-duplicates of some work I offered in FolioA-Loop 23 (Raining Under Ice, Path To The Underworld, and others). As the folio-box fills and we need the space, I’ll have these images pulled and returned to me to make room for others’ work.

  • Pulled Out TL120-55, tripod, ProviaPulledOut
    Two kayaks are pulled out of the Mendenhall Lake on a scrap of gravel which, two years ago, didn’t exist. As the glacier melts, the rock face on which I’m standing was been exposed to the light of day and the creek (in the foreground) which used to tunnel under the ice falls freely into the lake. I walked in over the peninsula behind me. These two folks were able to take the easier route and paddle around.
  • Freshly Exposed Rock TL120-1, tripod, Kodak EGFreshlyExposed
    As that ice melts, new rock appears. This is rock which has never before been exposed to the light of day. The bit of ice on the right is actually the edge of the glacier. Two weeks ago, the rock in front of my camera would have been under the edge of the ice. It has been ground and polished by the weight of the ice being pressed up it. When I walk the peninsula, I have the opportunity to be the first to tread on a patch of ground.
  • On The Edge TL120-1, tripod, ProviaOnTheEdge
    This is a bit farther down the rock face. In another week (or maybe two), this face will be free from the press of ice and out in the light. If you were to crawl and down, you would probably reach the lake. I, however, feel too mortal to attempt the journey.
  • Under The Blue Dome TL120-55, tripod, ProviaBlueDome
    This is rock which has not yet been exposed to the light of day. It has spent centuries under the ice and will likely be exposed next year. Until then, it is lit only by the filtered blue light that makes it through the ice. Photographing here is a bit of a challenge. The light is dim, it is always raining melt water, and the roof is going to collapse; it’s just a question of when.

Raining Under The Ice

by John Thurston

Scan001098

This image is made much farther under the ice than Path To The Underworld. It felt, however, much less dangerous and I spent almost half an hour enjoying the space and composing images. A cavern like this this has required months to open and is fairly stable and mature, while the sliver revealed in Path is probably only weeks old and still changing rapidly.

If you have a wide-angle viewer, this would be an excellent time to bring it out. In any case, you will need a bright viewer to reveal the details in the wet floor, but this is my favorite from the set of images I made that day.

This was shot with my TL120-55 on a tripod.

Path To the Underworld

by John Thurston

Scan001099Another image shows what’s going on above the ice, but here we’re down under the edge of the ice. We’ve gone back in time far enough that this section of rock has never seen the light of day. The wear-grooves are visible in the rock as are the gravel and sand which the ice used to make the the grooves. Next August, I may be walking on this section of stone, though I doubt I’ll be able to locate it exactly.

Walking around the cliffs above the glacier can make you feel small. But screwing up the nerve to climb down and place a tripod under the glacier makes me feel mortal (and upsets my wife).

Tripod mounted TL120-1

Barbara Over The Glacier

by John Thurston

This is the “peninsula” which has figured in many of my recent submissions to the folio. Scan001101As you look at this, the Mendenhall Glacier is receding up the valley to your left and the newly exposed rock surfaces are below you on the right. We’ve crossed the peninsula at the highest point you see and walked down to the edge of the ice. We’ve traveled along the edge of the ice and climbed this cliff to have lunch and try to get some perspective.

The blue-ice caves we’ve visited are down at the edge of the ice. The hikers in the center of the frame are heading back to the trail after visiting the glacier. The forest service visitor’s center is visible on the far side of the lake in the center of the frame. In the winter, I’ll skate or ski from there to the glacier to try to capture images of its presence.

Twenty years ago, every inch of this peninsula was under ice. The spot my wife is sitting would have been about 200′ below the surface. Twenty years from now, these smooth cliffs will be covered in scrub alder and willow and the contours will be hidden forever.

Tripod mounted TL120-1

Under The Ryndam

by John Thurston

Scan001097In Tight Lines I referenced one of the changes I’ve seen in in the last ten years, namely the prohibition on getting too close to the ships tied to our public docks. While there is now a plastic fence bolted down the middle of the dock and signs assuring us that maritime safety depends on keeping everyone on the correct side of the fence, there is a remaining bit of sanity. Twenty feet from the fence (and where I stood to create Tight Lines), there is a ramp to the tender-float. When there are too many ships in the harbor to dock them all, they anchor out and bring their passengers in by small boat. The float to which they tie is directly under the bow of first ship moored at the dock. From there, I attempted to capture the immensity of the ships which visit us.

The ship pictured here is the Ryndam. At 101 feet wide, it is almost Panamax-width and could well be the same ship pictured in Tight Lines. Some of the ships which frequent Juneau are a bit wider and taller than Ryndam, but few of them moor at this dock. A skiff with two men in it is provided for scale. The building the background is four stories tall.

Tripod mounted TL120