Edith Cavell Mountain, Glacier and Lake

Edith Cavell Mountain, Glacier and Lake

From a long way off you can see this mountain.  The road has been closed for construction, and only recently opened, so we were lucky to be able to have this glorious afternoon.

Edith Cavell was a British nurse during World War I and chose to stay at the hospital after the invasion of Belgium.  She ended up helping smuggle allies out, and when she was discovered, she was executed.   But you can read the story for yourself.

There is a huge hanging glacier on this mountain, and a cascading waterfall.  The water always comes from underneath the glacier.  We could hear huge cracking noises and then thunder-like sounds as the glacier continues to break apart.  And, they tell you not to hike underneath the glacier.

The hike to the glacier area is very steep and narrow, but once you get to the view, it is well worth it.

There is this beautiful lake at the base, filled with glacier “calves”.  And, there was one large chuck on glacier on the shore that had obviously fallen from the glacier recently, so they weren’t kidding about the danger of being in this area.

I read about a famous mountaineer, Willi Pfisterer, who recently died, and he had taken former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau on a climb up this mountain. Trudeau had asked him about a rope they were using to suspend themselves off the side, and the mountaineer replied, ”Well this is government rope, so I got it from the lowest bidder.  But don’t worry, I have a better one at home.”

This car is traveling in the same direction we are.  only on a hairpin turn!

The road was a great road, but it was steep, narrow, and full of hairpin turns like this one.  We saw a car being pulled out of the sharp ravine by the side of the road – not something you’d like to experience.  

The glacier lake goes down a mountain stream to a beautiful lake.

  You can see from the color that it is glacier fed.