Wall of Ice

Fjortende Julibreen (14th July Glacier)
Krossfjorden, Spitsbergen – Svalbard (July 2011)

[click here for the words]

Krossfjorden: Fjortende Julibreen

Monday, 11 July
latitude at wake up: 79°04’19” N
temperature at wake up: 43F (6.1C)

Continuing south along the western shore of Spitsbergen overnight, Silver Explorer was already at the entrance to Krossfjorden (Cross Fjord) when we raised the blackout shades at 5:45a.  Discovered by the English explorer Jonas Poole in 1610, the fjord was originally named Close Cove.  Later, the name Cross Road, given by Poole to a nearby bay where he placed a cross to mark the date of his arrival, was used to refer to the entire fjord.

A short overnight sail brings us to Krossfjorden and Kongsfjorden.
[map on the right is from the norwegian polar institute website]

Despite the overcast and gloomy weather, we enjoyed the scenery as the ship slowly made its way into Fjortende Julibukta (14th of July Bay), named for Bastille Day (aka the French National Day, which celebrates the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789).  The reasonable temperature added to our pleasure in the morning as we continued into the bay, which was “oil-slick calm.”

Two to Travel has fun while waiting to go ashore.
(Fjortende julibreen in the background.)

The plans for the morning called for landing on a beach where we had a choice of two activities — hike on Fjortende Julibreen (14th of July Glacier) or walk in the opposite direction to the bird cliffs and the hanging moss garden below them.  We were told that if we hustled, we could do both.  We’re not good at rushing things, so we opted for the glacier hike.

Fjortende Julibreen from the bow of Silver Explorer.

Once ashore, we had a lengthy walk along the beach to get to the trail leading to the top of the glacier.  The goat-path-narrow trail took us up the lateral moraine (glacial debris — rock and soil — deposited along the sides of a glacier as it carves its way through the land).  With loose debris underfoot, the walking wasn’t easy; and the path was reasonably steep.  But the end result — walking atop the glacier — was well worth the effort.  Very rewarding!

The tiny red dots in the distance are passengers heading to the glacier;
we have a ways to go to catch up to them.

Fjortende Julibreen before we start climbing the moraine trail.

A short distance up the moraine trail, views like this stop us in our tracks.

Just a small portion of the glacier's 1.8-mile (3 km) long terminus.

The path on the moraine is narrower and steeper than it looks in this photo.

Frequent stops along the way add to the time it takes to climb to the top.

Red-jacketed passengers provide perspective for the size of the glacier.

From the top, we get a magnificent view of the undulating lines of the terminus.

Got to take advantage of this photo op.

Parts of Fjortende Julibreen carry the signs of a retreating glacier.

Melt water — tears of a glacier.

Just a couple more detail shots from the top of the glacier.

Fjortende Julibukta from atop the glacier.

Time to head down and join the rest of the red jackets.

The walk down was a bit more difficult than the walk up.  First we had to negotiate our way on the slippery surface of the ice, which had a slight downward tilt that made the going especially difficult.  Once we got off the ice without breaking our necks, we thought the dirt path would be a piece of cake.  Nope; the loose debris and the narrow width of the path offered up enough challenges to keep our minds off the scenery until we reached the safety of the beach.

Mui’s idea of a polar plunge.

Mui was satisfied with dipping his boots in the icy Arctic waters to clean the goo from the sometimes-wet trail off his boots.  Not so some of our intrepid fellow passengers.  We later heard that a couple of them stripped down to the bathing suits they had worn under their warm layers to take a “polar plunge” for real.  Brrrrrr!

I’m sorry we missed the bird cliffs and the hanging garden at Fjortende Julibukta, but I am glad we didn’t rush our glacier walk.  A little bit of sunshine and blue skies would have done wonders for our photographs and videos.  Nonetheless, we loved the experience of being atop a ginormous river of ice.