There is a sublime sense of beauty pushing ones way through an icefield in a small aluminum boat. The feeling of wonder is juxtaposed with the disconcerting clunking noise of the ice continually hitting the hull. The LeConte Glacier flows at 25m (82ft) per day and produces dangerous "shooter" icebergs which calve off deep underwater and shoot out of the water without warning as far out as 300m (1000 feet) from the glacier's face. The depth of ice at the terminus is between 200-250m (650-810 ft) with an additional 40-60m (130-195ft) of ice protruding above the surface. The Northern Hemisphere's southernmost tidewater glacier, it was discovered and named in 1887 after the biologist Joseph LeConte. Since then the calving face has retreated 4km (2.5 miles). The glacier resides in a 12 mile-long fjord at the head of LeConte Bay about 20 miles North West of the mouth of the Stikine River. South East Alaska. USA
“What does a person need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense. And we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.” Sterling Hayden in 1963. I wonder what Sterling would think now given how idiotic the charade has become, and how amazing the gadgets are! Isolated in a sea of eerie stillness under endless Alaskan twilight, its hard not to contemplate such thoughts. At anchor on S/V BOB in Chapin Bay. South East Alaska. USA.
"When you stand at the high passes of the Himalayas, is it the flag that moves and flutters? Or is it the wind ? Neither, it is your mind ". Hui Neng, 6th Buddhist patriarch of China (713 AD). Looking over the third Gokyo lake, trying to catch ones breath in the thin air. The Gokyo lakes sit between 4700 and 5000m (15,400 to 16,400 ft) above sea level are the world’s highest freshwater lake system consisting of six main lakes. Shot taken on Fuji Velvia slide film. Nepal
