Wind

Katabatic winds as well as the summer upvalley winds also weather rocks through the abrasive action of windblown particles of sand or ice. It's a process that contributes to the formation of soils and to the sculpting of rocks into fantastical shapes reminiscent of Gaudi's architecture, Dalí's paintings, and the drawings of Dr. Seuss. The wind-carved rocks, or ventifacts, are mysterious and oddly beautiful. We've seen them scattered throughout the valleys as we walk to our stream locations and also on a special hike we made to the ventifact ridge north of Lake Fryxell.

	VENTIFACTS

A few weeks later I am on another hike, this time by myself, and, like the ventifacts, that seems strange. In one of the most remote places on the planet, it is difficult to be alone. We are with our teammates constantly - working, doing chores at the basecamps, eating, socializing. But on this day we have arranged it so that we finally have some free time. I take off on my own and walk for hours - past the LaCroix Glacier, past boulders strewn haphazardly, past mummified seals, and a pond with no name. Then I hike up some 700 feet to the top of a hill and stay a little while. For a moment, the winds are calm. And in this place with no roads or honking horns, no barking dogs or buzzing insects, no chirping birds or rustling trees, no radio stations, no television, and no one around me for miles, I hear something I've never heard anywhere else - silence.

The winds pick up again. I start to hike and head back to camp.

- Karen

LaCroix Glacier