The Matanuska Glacier is alive with geology. This 26 mile long alpine glacier is currently advancing as it recedes in a process known as surging. Nestled between the jagged peaks and spires of the Talkeetna and Chugach mountain ranges sits this astounding piece of ice. This natural wonder is one of the most accessible in the world by vehicle with driving access just under a mile from the main ‘Ice Falls’ area. This ice falls area at the front terminus is where the glacier terminates, subsidies and collides with harder rock deposits underground forcing the glacier’s own gravitational energy back upward, sending up vertical walls and razor thin fins of sheer ice known as ceracs. At the base of this ‘Ice Fall’ is a small lake from the melt runoff of the ice. This lake is the creation station for the mighty river that flows and drains down to the coast out the mountain valley below. There are an estimated 100,000 glaciers in Alaska, with only 616 of them named, the Matanuska is one of the grandest on the list. Glacier ice is very dense compared to common winter ice, it often gets the blue hues because of this incredible pressure by compressing out the air and oxygen making a denser make-up of the water molecules and crystallization. Water ice is blue for the same reason that large quantities of liquid water are blue. It is a result of an overtone of an oxygen–hydrogen (O−H) bond stretch in water, which absorbs light at the red end of the visible spectrum. Ice cubes in your freezer are soft and full of air and oxygen, thus making clear hollow ice that breaks easily. Blue ice, Moulins, cervasses, ridgelines, blue pools, canyons and ceracs cover the area, disappearing and reappearing as the weeks go by. This landscape transforms constantly and is filled with abundant active geology. Demonstrations of the erosion, pressure and power of this immense mass of ice are all around, from the rocky moraines to the ‘Ice Falls’. Moraines are glacial till or rock covered fields that surround the perimeter of a glacier with lateral, medial, and terminal moraines. The rock and till is scraped from the mountain walls miles back in the mountain valley and carried and deposited to the opening of the glacier valley at its terminus. The Matanuska has a terminal moraine that is easy to cross accessing the ‘Ice Falls’. Millions of tons of fill debris made of rocks, silt and till are constantly carried by the Matanuska and neighboring Kink Glacier at one point where one in the same, expanding over the Chugach mountains in a dome connected. Rivers and winds carry this debris miles down valley depositing it over the lands of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Like all glaciers they once reached the coastline. Receding back from the Pacific ocean near Anchorage and Cook inlet. The glacial till and sediments that remained or is still being transported today, provides amazing nutrient and mineral rich top soils. These towns of the Mat-su valley are well known farming areas with bountiful crops. With great soil and nonstop photosynthesis of the midnight sun providing long hours of light the Mat-su valley became the agricultural capital of the state all because of perpetual glacial erosion. This glacier is slowly receding as it advances by losing ice, thinning during the hot summer months. Melting gradually decreases it’s thickness top to bottom as it is exposed to the sun’s energy, compared to up valley recession or waterfront glaciers that cleave away at high rates off the terminus. Glaciers help reflect solar heat and radiation back towards the atmosphere helping cool the planet in many fashions as regulators. With the glacier being exposed to dramatic temperature changes through the warmer seasons, glacial features are always in transition, forming one day and collapsing the next. Making each tour a little different from the last. Finding and exploring these evolving features is half the fun while navigating these giants of the last ice age. This spectacular glacier is a perfect venue for guided tours with its extraordinary access.

Existen riesgos inherentes a los viajes por glaciares y a las actividades al aire libre que todo el mundo debe aceptar y comprender. El terreno variable, las rocas afiladas, el hielo resbaladizo y el tiempo cambiante son habituales. Siempre existirán algunos peligros que escapan al control humano. Por ejemplo, los grandes desprendimientos y desplazamientos, la caída de ceracs, las grietas abiertas y los moulins drenantes pueden ser peligrosos y mortales. El rescate en estos entornos y características no sólo es técnico y difícil, sino que en algunos casos no es posible en absoluto. Por estas razones existen normas de seguridad que deben respetarse. Los guías gestionan el riesgo interpretando el terreno y reconociendo los peligros que los excursionistas y visitantes corrientes desconocen. Muchas personas que viajan por el hielo tienen una falsa sensación de seguridad debido al carácter acogedor del glaciar y sus morrenas. Las personas que viajan por el glaciar sin guías deben poseer los conocimientos, la experiencia y el equipo adecuados.

**Todos los participantes en nuestras excursiones deben seguir nuestras directrices y procedimientos y firmar una exención de responsabilidad. Sólo los padres o tutores legales pueden firmar por los menores. No se admiten bebés en nuestras visitas. No se admiten animales de compañía.