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awesomeali

About awesomeali

Ali is an artist who enjoys exploring the outdoors and creating art that reflect the beauty of the natural world.

The Helicopter Commute

When you think of commuting to work, thoughts of saddle bags on bikes and honking horns might come to mind. In Alaska though, the trip from home to work can be, well, a bit different. Especially for second year guide at MICA, Nell. Glacier Camp Nell's day starts with rolling out of a tent, getting ready, and joining the morning crew meeting. Then she hops into a helicopter to work on one of the most secluded areas of the Matanuska Glacier. In the first season, she had no idea that coming to Alaska would mean her work would entail riding in a helicopter. Not too long afterward, she was asked to join the glacier camp crew. The Genesis That summer was filled with lots of hands-on learning, planning, and communication with the small team. Nell reflects back on [...]

By |2026-02-17T11:05:48-10:00September 12, 2021|

A MICA Guides Intern’s Experience

A MICA Guides Intern's Experience  On June 7, we approached the end of our orientation week as MICA Guides interns. Simultaneously, we were informed that the next three days would be spent backpacking in the Alaskan backcountry. I had been on a few backpacking trips with my family previously. Also, I have spent my whole life hiking in the Northern Cascades near Seattle. I didn't really expect this trip to be any different from the trips I had grown up taking. It turns out this was the trip where I got my first real introduction to Alaska. The Alaska Welcoming Committee We headed out the morning of June 8. We left base camp two hours earlier than we had planned, so we thought all would be well. As we pulled into the Pinochle trailhead, where we were beginning our hike, it started [...]

By |2026-02-16T11:41:25-10:00July 15, 2021|

An Off-Day Matanuska Glacier Adventure

Descending into a Matanuska Glacier Adventure One day this summer, on a Matanuska Glacier adventure, I was more scared than I’ve ever been outdoors. That day also showed me what you can accomplish with the right training and equipment. Quinn, a fellow intern, Adam, a second-year ice climbing guide, and I set out to explore a huge moulin that had recently formed on the glacier. A Deep Look Into the Matanuska Moulins are drainage holes formed by meltwater boring through the ice. As water cuts through the glacier, it creates vertical shafts and horizontal tunnels, many of which plunge deep beneath the ice. Few reach the immense size of the moulin before us. We stood at the edge, peering into an irregular, narrow opening carved into the glacier’s surface. Its full depth was hidden from sight. Meltwater had sculpted the glacier’s upper layers [...]

By |2026-02-16T10:47:34-10:00June 15, 2021|

Glacial Moraine

Features of a Glacier Looking out on the Matanuska Glacier, you’ll see flowing fields of white ice, surrounded by what looks like mud and rock on both sides of that ice. In fact, those rock sections are part of the glacier itself, called the moraine. Underneath the stones and mud are many layers of ice, just like what you can see in the other sections of the glacier. The moraine contains many of the same glacial features, including moulins, crevasses, and pools. So what makes the moraine so different from the bright white ice on a glacier? What is Moraine? A moraine is a formation of debris deposited by glacial movement over time. Like a river carving out valleys and canyons, glaciers pick up bits and pieces of mountains and earth as they travel. Unlike a river, though, a glacier doesn’t sort [...]

By |2026-01-18T01:37:31-10:00May 16, 2021|

Base Camp: The Matanuska Glacier

Camping on A Glacier Each day on the Matanuska Glacier feels like entering a new world. With every sunrise, meltwater carves fresh canyons, crevasses change, and blue ice caves form in a matter of days. When crampons go on, and ropes go up, time slips away. A full day on the ice never feels long enough. Taking Flight It wasn't long until we realized maybe our adventures didn't have to end at sunset. With the help of Matanuska Glacier Helicopters and the MICA Guides crew, we were ready to extend our stay on the Matanuska Glacier. After gearing up at the base in Glacier View, it was off to the helicopter launch pad just down the road. Climbing into the helicopter passenger seats, we were off to enjoy the most epic views of the Matanuska Glacier. Not to mention, cutting out a huge amount [...]

By |2026-02-13T21:23:02-10:00March 2, 2021|

Sheep Mountain Trail Project

Sheep Mountain Trail Project This season, the town of Glacier View allocated funds to develop a new route up Gunsight Mountain at Sheep Mountain Lodge, connecting it to their cross-country ski trails. Sheep Mountain Lodge The historic Sheep Mountain Lodge sits at mile 113 on the Glenn Highway, about 10 minutes east of MICA Guides. Sheep Mountain and MICA have long enjoyed a good working relationship, and interns living at MICA gladly put in community service hours developing new trails while gaining valuable experience and skills. Tools and Crew Starting in mid-June, two of us interns joined Don, MICA's owner, and his two dogs to set out for the new trail site. We brought pulaskis—tools with both an axe and an adze on the head—used frequently in trail building and wildland firefighting. Pulaskis can serve as both shovels [...]

By |2026-02-13T21:11:00-10:00September 20, 2020|

The Science Behind Ziplines

The Science Behind Ziplines Ziplines are an exciting experience for thrill-seeking adventurers and are also a speedy, efficient means of travel between two points on a downward slope. But how exactly do ziplines do their job? Let’s take a look at the science behind ziplines. Gravity Gravity is the essential force that moves you down the zipline. Without gravity, when you step off a platform, you wouldn’t be going anywhere. The effect of gravity changes when you’re on an incline: gravity pulls straight down, but only part of this pull moves you along the sloped zipline. The steeper the incline, the greater the portion of gravity that accelerates you along the line, making you travel faster. Friction Friction is one of the forces that slows you down on the zipline. When ziplining, you travel down the line on a trolley with wheels that [...]

By |2026-02-12T21:04:47-10:00August 17, 2020|

Glacier Moulins

What is a Moulin? Moulin, a French word for "mill", is a vertical rivers that serve as a glacier's internal plumbing system. They carry water out of the glacier through meltwater streams and lakes formed on the surface of the ice. These shafts provide a pathway for water to flow from the glacier's surface to its base. Similar to how rainwater erodes the bedrock on the Earth’s crust to form sinkholes, summer meltwater on a glacier’s surface erodes ice and creates moulins. The warmer summer temperatures create lakes and streams on the glacier's surface. This water then drains, following the path of least resistance. Eventually, these streams will find a crevasse or other weak spot in the ice and begin to pour into it. As water moves downward, turbulence and heat create a vertical shaft that can extend all the way to the bottom of the glacier [...]

By |2026-01-21T17:23:14-10:00August 2, 2020|

Mysterious Matanuska Moss Balls

Glacial Feature of the Month: Glacier Moss Matanuska Mice Nobody really knows what they're in for when first coming to the Matanuska Glacier. Some expect an arctic wasteland of snow and wind. Others imagine arching ice caves rising right up to the parking lot. Yet nobody anticipates finding balls of moss rolling on the ice like boreal tumbleweed. When scientists with a sense of humor discovered these on the Matanuska, they named them “glacier mice,” and the name is as fitting as it is comic. These moss balls are completely round, fuzzy, free-floating, and often travel in ‘herds’ around the glacier. They have been known to exist since the 1950s, yet science still knows very little about them. Moss Movements My fascination with moss began during a life-changing Ecology class in my freshman year of college. During lab sessions, we would head into [...]

By |2026-03-16T05:52:08-10:00July 22, 2020|

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