Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
Map: 58°46’16.1″N 136°53’50.2″W
Will Smith, Stuart Dunning, Richard Smith, Newcastle University
This scientific research expedition concluded on the 2nd July 2018, after a short but successful sampling campaign. The expedition was only possible during a small window of opportunity, requiring enough snow to enable ski-plane landing, but also a lack of snow to allow sampling of rock avalanche deposits. This snow condition ‘balance’ gave us a two week window, which would potentially be threatened by the regions famously bad weather. Fortunately, we had an excellent 5 day weather window, allowing us to sample the Lamplugh rock avalanche deposit, but snowpack conditions prevented us traversing the Brady Icefield and reaching the La Perouse rock avalanche deposit.
Overall, the trip was a success, providing a wealth of samples and some exceptional moments in a very remote and unexplored region of Alaska.
