January 30, 2015
Beagle Channel, Chile
It’s called Glacier Alley with glaciers to the north of the Beagle Channel pouring down from the Tierra del Fuego ice field. Beech trees line the South shore of the channel. It’s pretty spectacular, especially given the unseasonably warm and sunny weather. The ice sparkles blue. If you have been on the 26 Glacier Cruise outside of Anchorage or to Glacier Bay this will not seem as impressive but it is a warning for Prince William Sound. Only one glacier in Glacier alley on the Beagle Channel now reaches tidewater. Others end as hanging glaciers sometimes feeding one huge waterfall or, at times, several smaller cascades. These glaciers used to lead to tidewater. You can see the scarred mountainsides that channeled the glaciers to the Beagle Channel, but now it’s rock, waiting for colonization from the beech trees across the channel. It’s beautiful to see but you better come quickly, before it melts.
Take Care,
Rich McClear
