Magicpaddler wrote on Jul 19^th, 2012 at 12:04pm:

Wearing a PFD and drowned??  Glacial silt loading him down??  I would have thought that silt is heavier than water and like salt water silt water would make him more likely to float.  Well it is too bad it happened any way.

While Mendenhall wasn't calving while I was there, I did see calving in College Fjord (further north).  We were treated to a spectacular event (not even witnessed by the park staff/pilot, who boarded ship to help us navigate, in the five years they had been doing the job).  The glacier was pumping out chunks of ice as large as multi-story office buildings.  Needless to say, the waves produced (some in the 6-10 foot scale) were loaded with chunks of ice the size or refrigerators and cars (and larger).  The silt close to the glazier was more the consistency of thick mud that water.  I'm guessing there are places where it comes closer to the consistency of wet concrete.  These are NOT the place for small craft, as the wave action was able to gently move our cruise ship.  I did notice mud being kicked up off the bottom as the ship props put us back "on station," which was some distance from the glacier's face.  Amazing and awesome sight!

BTW:  Mendenhall is a bit inland so you can walk up to "near" the glacial face, so there are no large craft in the water there.  I took a local bus out to the glacier.  The chatty bus driver related that since Juneau has no roads to the outside world, there are only three ways to get there ... "air, ship canal or birth canal."  Looks like Old Salt's clan is using option #3 to expand the family.

dd