When we were in Cordova this summer, we were out at Child's Glacier. Upriver from there is Miles Glacier, which also terminates on the river.

Met a guy who used to take geologists up in his airboat to do survey soundings in front of the face of the glacier, so they were RIGHT next to it, unlike a photographer with a telephoto lens.

When he heard a sounding of '359 feet', he realized if that thing slabbed off, they were dead. Never got that close again. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

We were timing the boil lines/waves that would occur when Childs was calving; it would be easily about 14 seconds or so before you could see the water being displaced. You could also make out a big gravel bar of material some several yards out from the face of the glacier and on the edge of the main current, where some ice boulders would beach.

Impressive stuff.