There are many trails in the backcountry around here that are popular but don't get regular maintenance, unless local volunteers take on the task. The rigorous trail to the Macbeth Glacier is one such trail and every couple of years, a few of us hike in, chainsaw up the fallen logs blocking the path, fix up the bridges, cut back the alder....Tuesday had four of us cleaning the trail for the first few kilometers and fixing places where the trail was a bit tenuous. The next day we packed up with camping gear and mountaineering equipment and hiked in to the glacier where we set up camp. A few others joined us later in the day.
Thursday's objective was to get up on the glacier and do some exploring, possibly to see if we could find a way on the main icefield. Because of recent melting, getting onto the glacier at all was a bit more problematic than a few years ago, but once on the ice, we headed across and up, zigging back and forth to avoid the crevasses. After some searching, there did appear to be a route up through the icefall, threading the needed between large crevasses and sketchy ice/snow bridges. Finally, we arrived at a spot where there were great, gaping crevasses on all sides and no clear way across that appeared safe. So we turned back.
Always nice to get out on a glacier. One needs to experience them now because they are melting fast.
Pictures of the trip are here: https://plus.google.com/photos/106717482826961530532/albums/5913288046552750433
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