Tag: Skiing Antarctica

I was digging a quick hand pit, marveling at the size of the near-surface facets (5 mm!) capped by a crust in the upper snowpack, when Pachi Ibarra stepped off the skintrack with a mischievous smile and gave a quick jump. With a sound like a shotgun blast, the entire slope collapsed. She laughed as I just about fell over backwards trying to get my skis pointed downhill. Nothing moved. Instead, we listened as the collapse extended away, seemingly traveling several kilometers up the glacier.