ViralHogTwo kayakers have described themselves as ‘lucky to be alive’ after a loud noise they were investigating on the water turned out to be a glacier collapse.
Footage of the incident, taken via a GoPro on one of the men’s helmets, shows the moment the kayakers hear a loud crash they described as sounding like a ‘gunshot’ before paddling across the lake.
As they approach a particularly large glacier, one kayaker stops relatively close to it before witnessing a large chunk of ice falling into the lake below, resulting in a loud noise.
Take a look at the footage below:
Upon realising this was the source of the noise, the kayaker can be heard saying to his friend: ‘Oh yes, do not go under the bridge,’ before another large chunk falls into the water.
He then says:
Man when that whole thing goes, oh here we go.
After witnessing larger parts of the glacier collapse and fall into the lake, the man goes silent as the entire thing crashes down, causing water to fly toward the kayakers.
Huge waves then rush towards them, covering them and the camera in water as the man exclaims, ‘holy sh*t’ before proceeding to paddle away from potential danger.
ViralHogAlthough the video cuts out after the man exclaims, ‘oh my God!’, in other footage of the incident, the man can be heard saying: ‘We’re lucky to be alive right now. That’s the most epic thing I’ve ever done in my life’.
Speaking after the incident, which occurred during an overnight camping trip to Spencer Glacier in Alaska, one of the kayakers described how they had hit the lake after setting up camp for some ‘beautiful kayaking’.
They continued:
After determining where the action was happening, we set up right in front of the glacier to watch the show. Not long after getting there a glacial bridge collapsed with a massive splash of water and ice chunks.
Followed by a huge wave that forced us to retreat. I managed to turn my camera backward to catch the glacier rising up out of the water. We luckily were not hurt and made it back to camp safely.
ViralHogThis comes less than one week after it was revealed all of Alaska’s sea ice has melted after the hottest month on record. According to the National Weather Service, there is currently no sea ice within 150 miles of Alaska’s shores, with scientists calling the rapid pace of ice loss ‘unprecedented’.
A clear sign of the climate crisis we are currently facing, this single incident is just one example of the extreme warming trends which are now being seen all over the Arctic, with sea ice in the region currently at its lowest level on record for hundreds of years.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).