Girdwood From Alyeska Glacier

July 15, 2014  •  Leave a Comment
On one of the rare clear days we had in Alaska, Eileen and I went on a hiking tour of the Alyeska Glacier at the Alyeska Resort through Ascending Path, a company specializing in guided hikes in that area.  Our guide was Peter and he was awesome!  It was just us three on the hike which lasted about 3.5 hours and he took us high above Girdwood to this amazing view you see here.  Yes, the snow below is the actual glacier, but it looks more like spring snow, really.  Also, the bay you see below is called the Turnagain Arm portion of the Cook Inlet.

According to Wikipedia, "The inlet was named after Cook in 1794 by George Vancouver, who had served under Cook in 1778. Turnagain Arm was named by William Bligh of HMS Bounty fame. Bligh served as Cook's Sailing Master on his 3rd and final voyage, the aim of which was discovery of the Northwest Passage

Upon reaching the head of Cook Inlet, Bligh was of the opinion that both Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm were the mouths of rivers and not the opening to the Northwest Passage. Under Cook's orders Bligh organized a party to travel up Knik Arm, which quickly returned to report Knik Arm indeed led only to a river.

Afterwards a second party was dispatched up Turnagain Arm and it too returned to report only a river lay ahead. As a result of this frustration the second body of water was given the disingenuous name "Turn Again". Early maps label Turnagain Arm as the "Turnagain River".

One other cool thing about the Turnagain Arm is when the tide rolls in...  When it does, it comes in all at once.  It is literally a tidal wave, so much so that one could surf it in.  As a matter of fact a lot of locals do that since the wave can reach heights of 5 feet or more.  The guy operating the tram at the Alyeska stated that a world surfing record was set here for the longest ride of approximately 11 miles!  Incredible!  As you can see, the tide is out at this point, but when it comes in, it's all water down there.

As far as the photo goes, I used the trusty X-T1 and I post-processed it all in Lightroom!  Hooray for me!  I'm getting used to that program!

If you would like to purchase a print or digital copy of this image, please contact me or visit my on-line gallery.
 
Exif data:

Camera - Fujifilm X-T1
Lens - XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS
Focal Length - 22mm
Aperture - f9
Exposure - 1/420
Exposure program - Program AE
ISO speed - 200
Exposure bias - 0Ev
Tripod - No
HDR - No
# of brackets - NA


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