Kayakers pelted by explosive glacial bridge collapse
Two kayakers at Spencer Glacier in Alaska are lucky they weren’t any closer to a glacial bridge that collapsed or it could have been catastrophic. As it was, Josh Bastyr and Andrew Hooper were pelted pretty good from the explosive fallout, as captured in Bastyr’s Steering South video (the real action begins at the 40-second mark):
The incident occurred Saturday during an overnight camping and kayak trip to Spencer Glacier. After setting up camp, the kayakers went for a paddle on the lake, and upon hearing calving noises they went to investigate. Both captured videos.
A big chunk of ice dropped into the water and sounded like a gunshot, and soon after the bridge collapsed, sending ice chunks and water flying toward the kayakers followed by a big wave.
“We’re lucky to be alive right now,” Hooper said in his YouTube video. “We survived but that was insane. We’re soaking wet and we were obviously way too close. We knew that going into this. Our wives told us not to get close, but that was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Hooper said he got hit with a couple of pieces of ice and got a knot on his hand. He also got hit in the ribs by ice.
“It was the most intense thing I have ever experienced,” Bastyr said in his video description. “We know we were way too close, and that we are lucky we didn’t get hurt.”
Also on FTW Outdoors: Watch: Collapsing cliff barely misses kayakers
Added Hooper on his Facebook page: “What started as a peaceful glacier exploration at Spencer Glacier quickly turned into the biggest adrenaline rush of our lives. We are so grateful to be alive and in total awe of the power of nature and that we got to witness this massive calving from Spencer Glacier.”
Photo courtesy of Steering South.