Glaciers have always fascinated me. These amazing seas of ice that are thousands of years old, and it troubles me deeply to know that they are disappearing.
Three years ago, Menno and I hiked up to the tongue of the Gepatschferner Glacier in the Austrian valley of Kaunertal and it took our breath away (the hike and the views). Since our first visit I’ve discovered my passion for photography so this year we decided to return to capture some images of the glacier and to see if we noticed any chances. Even from the first glances, the glacier seemed to be shorter and narrower at the tip than it had been the last time, which was really sad to see.
Although we visited in June, a cold front had brought in a small dusting of snow overnight which covered the path as we zig-zagged up the trail. We hiked for almost 2 hours before we caught our first sight of the sea of ice, and it took us another hour to scramble down to the edge of it. Not being experienced mountaineers, we knew not to step on to the ice itself, but even just walking along the edge of it gave us a glimpse in to the enormous body of ice that towered in front of us.
During the 5-6 hour out-and-back hike we didn’t see another person, just sheep, mountain goats and marmots.
Written & photograpahed by Cat Ekkelboom-White of Wild Connections Photography
