#4: Foxdalen

We left our camp in situ and ploughed up Foxdalen under a clearing sky. Around 2cm of snow fell overnight leaving a fresh coating over the landscape. After a couple of hours we began climbing into the upper valley where things get interesting. A series of frozen lakes mark the ascent, one with a field of ice blocks sitting atop the surface, like mini icebergs among frozen pack ice. Evidence of the Fox glacier appears in the small ice faces along its lateral flank. Hemmed in by towering faces the glacier rises to its terminal at Fox pass well above us. We ditched our three day sleds and continued roped up onto the glacier proper, the sun dead ahead creating ominous silhouettes of the stark ridge lines. Everyone was in awe. Our descent on skinned skis was a long slow zigzag, being roped to 7 others required a controlled plod back down the glacier. Two and a half hours later we were back at camp, a tired but elated bunch.