Black Rapids Glacier

Once a year we try to get to Black Rapids Glacier to measure mass balance. This series is now several decades old; it was started in the early 70s by the U.S. Geological Survey, but now it is just a weekend plane trip with Chris and myself (and whoever is lucky enough to join us!). Last year we never made it, because of long stretches of difficult weather with lots of wind. So this year we didn't want to take chances and went at our first opportunity, which turned out to be a glorious day.

Mt. Hess, on the way to Black Rapids (Photo: Joanna Young)

Landing on Black Rapids, Trinity Basin (Photo: Joanna Young)

Short final (Photo: Joanna Young)

A view back up the Black Rapids Glacier. In the foreground are the (snow covered) landslides that resulted from the 2002 Denali Fault earthquake (Photo: Joanna Young)

Chris and I are getting ready for putting in a mass balance stake (Photo: Pascal Buri)