The Ritter Family: A Phone Call from the Swiss Alps

Scott called and talked for about 5 minutes on Saturday. He said that the helicopter dropped them off on the glacier, but after a few minutes of scoping out a camp site, they realized that camping on the glacier would not do. There was not a level area on which to set up camp. There were many pits caused by the heat of the sun warming the rocks in the glacier, which made the rocks bore down into the glacier. There were also cracks and areas of melt and re-freeze. They decided to move their camp to the moraine (accumulated glacial debris), but that took hours and many trips to haul all of their equipment and gear to their new sight. They even had to recall the helicopter to come and move the items that were too heavy to carry. They did eventually get camp set up and to bed that night.

The next morning they woke around 4:00 am (they need to work while the glacier is completely frozen). It was snowing heavily. They ate breakfast, hiked to their work area, and put in a full 10-11 hours of cutting and drilling the ice, setting up a weather station and other equipment. Scott is on the drilling crew since he is the tallest there. Being tall makes it easier to pull the 5 ft. cores out of the ground, but it is exhausting. He said the hardest part, though, was that every step is a potential slip and fall since both the glacier and moraine are very slippery. It takes a lot of energy to keep up-right. After a long day of work and cold, they made dinner and were about ready to climb into a sleeping bag for the night. During the night they hear the moraine moving and adjusting. It is quite unstable this time of year. Scott said it sounds like a jet engine flying over the glacier. Kind of erie and cool at the same time. I asked if they were in danger, but he said they are camping in a stable area. The group is in good spirits and the work is coming along. He says "hi" to all and he will be back in Utah in about two weeks.