Athabasca Glacier Gifts

Spending time amidst the mountains has a positive influence on our own health and spirit, those we are with, pass by and those we have yet to meet. While working for Icewalks over the past two years I have had the pleasure of finding several diamonds amidst the Athabasca glacier, but not of the type one would expect. We've found 300 000 + year old trilobites (fossils), learned where the oldest tree lives (a white bark pine aged 1100 years old) and revived lady bugs, dragonflies, butterflies and moths that were found frozen in glacier ice. These lovely insects go into a state of torpor on the glacier and come to life when warmed. I'm still waiting to see what happens when we revive a wasp, hornet or bee...

This year I discovered a multi-day backpack and skis on the glacier. Was the torn shirt remains of a person? Fortunately not! The shirt attached to the backpack was in rags; the skis were twisted and torn, core fibres exposed; the pack weathered; it all appeared to be 15-20 years old. The pack smelled really fowl, so the pack and all its contents were left on the glacier. For weeks, the backpack was used as an interpretive piece where we would inspect a new item each time we visited. After about eight visits over four weeks we found a shovel, cleverly scribed on it was a name written in permanent felt marker. Further query, or a post on Facebook led to the rightful owner, not frozen in the ice!

See below for an interesting account of misadventure, exploration and cathartic rediscovery by Robert Maiman. Or listen to the CBC Eye Opener from September 10th, 2013: Lost and Found on the Athabasca, where Rob is interviewed after being reacquainted with his pack 12 years later.