Day 4, Thursday, June 1, 2023
Helicopters and walking on ice.
Early in our planning for this vacation, we decided we would ride the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad on a roundtrip which would take us to the White Pass summit and back. Before his retirement in 2018, Jas spent over 30 years as a conductor on freight trains, most recently on Norfolk Southern in and around Youngstown and Lordstown, Ohio. The man loves and knows trains, and I knew he would enjoy this excursion. After we had reserved and paid for thie 2¾-hour round-trip ride, we were out to dinner with our friends Tom and Kerry. They had cruised to Alaska several years earlier, and told Jas he had to do the helicopter flightseeing excursion out to Meade Glacier. I had rejected this excursion out of hand, as Jas is not a flier. For him to get on a plane, he has to premedicate with a valium, washed down by a large Bloody Mary. A helicopter? No way!! But Tom described it to him in glowing terms. When we got home from dinner that Sunday night, Jas said he wanted me to cancel the train and book the helicopter. I was astonished! Fortunately, Holland America refunded what we had paid for the train trip, and we started looking forward to the helicopter tour.
This photo shows Jas’s reaction to the flight. He was … maybe uncomfortable is the most gracious term.
We had ordered our breakfast to be delivered via room service, and were dressed for another cold day. After having to step into and out of my stuck-zipper coat the night before, I decided to switch to wearing my black puffer coat. This coat is what I wear to school all winter long in all temperatures from below-zero to upper 40s. It would certainly keep me warm on a glacier. But it doesn’t have a hood, so I accessorized it with a warm ski cap I’ve had since the 1980s, along with the water resistant gloves I bought on Amazon for this trip, and water-resistant socks with my waterproof hiking shoes. The scarf I brought along—oh, so thankful!—was purchased from an Etsy weaver/seller, ScarfGuy, who lives a couple of blocks from me. We were ready for whatever that helicopter and glacier had in store for us.
Our excursion didn’t leave until around 1:00, so we had the morning to ourselves. We went up to the Crow’s Nest to watch the docking and hear what the cruise director had to say about Skagway.
I remembered that several weeks earlier there had been a rockslide near the dock in Skagway and that, for a few days afterward, no ships were able to dock in Skagway. In this picture you can see one of the rockslides. There were several heavy duty mesh “fences” strung across the slide are. But, really, could that fabric stop those rocks? I seriously doubt it. They (whatever Skagway city department that takes care of such things) had begun building concrete walls just on the other side of the train tracks in an attempt to stop the rocks. The concrete wall was taller than the train cars! Maybe the fabric fence slows down the rocks and the concrete wall completely stops them. In any event, I was glad we were able to stop at Skagway. There were lots of trains, as there are quite a few excursions that head out, some as long as eight or nine hours, all headed out to White Pass or the Yukon.
But our helicopters were waiting for us. A shuttle van picked us up and took us on the other side of the port to the heliport. Each excursion carried about twelve people, in three helicopters. The safety briefing and suiting up with life jackets and glacier shoes (sorta like gaiters) took about twenty minutes. Then the flight out to Meade Glacier took about twenty minutes, and the views were truly awesome. When we exited the helicopter, the previous excursion group was waiting to board for their return trip. Then the waiting group at the heliport would board the helicopters and fly out. So the excursion took a total of about two hours, forty-five minutes of which involved exploring the glacier and learning lots of interesting facts from the rangers who were out there.
I think the most sobering part of this entire cruise and land tour was to learn how quickly these glaciers are melting. Honestly, every single person in the world should be made aware of this and find it scary. (I felt the same way at Mendenhall yesterday. People, Wake. Up. !) I don’t know the answers. I don’t know what we need to do to slow things down with climate change. But something needs to be done and it needs to be done fast. I just turned 73. I’ll be gone soon enough. But my children and grandchildren will not be gone that quickly, and have to deal with the consequences of what’s happening with the environment.
Here are a couple of bits of reading material for you:
- Polar Bears and the Changing Arctic
- How does glacier shrinkage affect river runoff further downhill?
We were all give the opportunity to drink the glacier water. My knees wouldn’t let me get down there, but Jas knelt down, then laid on the ice to reach the stream of melted ice. The rangers grabbed handfuls of ice and I got to suck on that. The water was delicious!
Jas’s faceful of fresh water
Depending on the number of ships in port, the number of people who purchased helicopter excursions out to Meade Glacier, and other variables, there would be times when the guides out on the glacier had nothing to do. The company has a tent out there to provide some shelter for the guides while they’re waiting. It just stays in place throughout the season. But every two or three days, it has to be moved, because the ice around it has receded. The guide showed us how the tent was sitting on a platform of ice after a few days. When there is a risk of falling when a guide steps out of the tent, you know the glacier is melting!! What more vivid representation of global warming can there be?!
And then the helicopters arrived to take us back to port. Jas wasn’t any less anxious on the trip back, but I thought it was great fun to be able to see the three ships in port from the air. We got out of our gear and the shuttle took us through town, back to the ship.
An hour or so of relaxation, writing and napping (Jas naps, I write). Then dinner in the Main Dining Room. We’ve had a table for two the past two nights on a little island at the back of Deck 2. (The MDR is two stories tall. Assigned seating is on Deck 3, eat-when-you-want is Deck 2.) Tonight we were on the same little Club Orange island, but had a lovely large table with a banquette. Still with Yudi and Qorie as our able and kind servers. We walked around after dinner, exploring live entertainment venues and bars. Then back to the room, a little time with our devices, and sleeps. The sun was still up.
Alaska 2023, Day 4
