Conquering New Boundaries: Backpacking the Glaciers in Alaska:
Go Back to Index
In 2008 I was invited to give a keynote address at the Social Workers Annual Convention in Anchorage, Alaska. Being there, I heard 'the call of the wild' and took the opportunity to go embark on another adventure, this time backpacking on the vast glaciers of Alaska. For a person who thrives at 114° F, the subfreezing temperatures of the glaciers, with their bear footprints, provided an exciting challenge. I decided to hire a guide to take me backpacking on the Matanuska Glacier. As the temperature dropped into the low teens at night, we heard the deep, resounding reverberations of glaciers cracking, like tectonic movements rumbling far inside the earth. The sounds and vibrations evoked in me a deep sense of awe and wonder, as if I were tapping into something larger than life itself. By day, learning glacier survival techniques for climbing the ice was another exhilarating experience. All told, this endeavor opened a new world for me. I am used to and feel very much at home at the desert, in the mountains, or on and under the ocean. But being on a slippery ice surface was an utterly new sensation and way of being, affording me a new relationship to 'the earth'... calling for great precision, and technical awareness. I was delighted to learn these new skills practice this level of physical attentiveness.
Carrying a pack on my back
My eyes scan the horizon
As my feet step onto glaciers
Slowly, methodically I walk
And inhale the frozen air
The mystery of a world covered in ice
A place of quiet exploration and mystical intrigue