Ice climbing

My friend Sue spent 2 months of her sabbatical in Fairbanks. Ice climbing was on her list of things to do so we went down to Seward to do just that on Exit Glacier. We went with Exit Glacier Guides and highly recommend the ice hiking and ice climbing trips.

We hiked the Harding Ice Field trail up to the overlook and headed out on the ice to get some instruction. Here's Sue practicing:

Our guides belayed us down into a crevasse and then we climbed back up.

Sue going down

It was a lot harder than I expected. I'm not sure what I had expected, actually. Belaying down was a little scary, especially since I'm deathly afraid of heights. It was one of the more challenging activities that I've done in a really really long time. The next day, my muscles were so sore that it hurt to laugh! But I'd do it again!