Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
49
Figure S.4. Crevasse
interior, upper Scott
Glacier.
wall, producing a narrow crevasse that was littered with blocks broken from the
underside of its overhanging bridge.
Once I was down in the crevasse, I wormed my way laterally over a series
of blocks, drawn toward a dark blue spot deep in the crevasse. After maybe
fifty feet of this crawl, I came to the threshold of a gigantic room that opened
abruptly. As I stood up on a big, wobbly block of ice, I gasped. At first glance I
couldn't see any walls, only a deep, empty space of diffuse blue. What was this
place?
As my eyes adjusted to the low light, I realized I was at the edge of a room
at the termination of this broad crevasse (Fig. S.5). The walls were smooth and
perfectly vertical and must have been more than one hundred feet high where
they pinched together on the far side of the room. At that point the bridge was
at its thinnest, glowing white high above. From there down to where I was
standing, the bridge sagged in a graceful curve, its underside pocked by the loss
