Safely Camping on a Glacier: Glacier Mountaineering Fundamentals
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Mountain landscapes are big. And in “big” mountain ranges (think the Alaska Range, the Andes, and the Himalaya). the landscapes are huge.
The immediate thing I feel when entering these landscapes is awe. But that is actually a double-edged sword. I feel awe because I feel small… that’s a good thing. I think it’s important to feel our insignificance from time to time. (Note, I do mean only from “time to time.” We have to remember we are important to those around us.) But the fact that I feel small is a symptom of the reality that I actually am small compare to the landscape. The sense of awe comes from the fact that I cannot comprehend all of that landscape. There are nooks and crannies and ridgelines and buttresses and boulders and snow slopes that I cannot clearly perceive.
That lack of perception can create danger. And one of the mundane ways that danger can manifest is by setting our camp in the wrong location. That can be complicated enough on mountains without glacial ice. We may still have rock fall and avalanches to worry about. But add in a glacier and we add in seracs and crevasses.
We need to worry about the usual wind direction and pockets of terrain that trap warm or cold air. We need to worry about sun hit and how soon (or late) our tent will be warmed by that sunlight. That’s all standard. But now we need to worry about the ground under us being a snow-covered hole. We need to worry about the normally still glacier deciding to move at the wrong time either under us or above us. And we have massive ice formations on the cliffs above that are melting and can come down.
There is a lot more to consider when it is time to putting up our tent on a glacier. So, take a look at the video and see if it helps you think through these risks in some manageable way. Danger doesn’t sleep at night, even when we do.