Once back in Anchorage we hit the road in our all-terrain vehicles provided by partner Porsche and headed north to Valdez. It was a long drive between Anchorage and Valdez, with some beautiful scenery along the way – massive cliffs on one side and river valleys on the other. Luckily on this trip we could stop for a rest whenever we wanted as the vehicles were fitted with roof tents. It was often pouring with rain, but inside the tents it was super comfortable and warm, and it was a cool experience to chill on top of the cars. Matchu couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of bears or other wildlife however… In Valdez we chatted up a local fisherman who took us out into the windiest spot in the fjord and Toby nabbed some atmospheric shots despite the cloud and rain. Matchu was finding the freezing water quite hard: “I couldn’t feel my hands or feet, and couldn’t really hear or see much because of my hood.”
So then it was time to head further south and luckily the weather improved and the sun came out. We took a steel icebreaking boat – captained by a man called Captain Hook – towards LeConte Glacier, which was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever encountered, and as Reno describes, “was something from another world, like a movie.” There were icebergs floating around which got bigger and bigger as we got closer to the glacier. The wind also got stronger closer to the glacier, so we hurried to set up our kites, on an iceberg I might add! We kited right up against the glacier walls. Kiting directly in front of a 100-meter wall of ice was such a surreal feeling. The scale was hard to comprehend, even being there in person. It was also a crazy experience kiting between the icebergs, jumping over them, and playing around them, especially because the conditions were really good this day. I have never done that before, and the feeling was insane.
