Does This Glacier Make My Butt Look Big?

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost the middle of June and the summer solstice! While Nick and the Durango crowd are packing up shorts and tank tops for the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, I woke up to fresh snow and sub-freezing temperatures on the glacier. Oh, the excitement of glacier life. While this might sound cold and miserable, I have to admit, I’m not completely roughing it. I have a small propane heater for my tent and most days the temperature soars to anywhere from 60-80 degrees. I’m told that later in the summer, a 90-degree day is not uncommon. This past month, I’ve been very fortunate and only experienced a couple of weather days. Most of the time I have to worry about covering up to prevent skin cancer rather than bundling up against the cold. On sunny days I worry that hourly sunscreen application might not be enough! Even the dogs are covered with zinc oxide and sunscreen. Of course, I’ll take a bluebird day over rain anytime.
As long as we are not socked in, the helicopters and tourists come, rain or shine. Most of the time, the tourists love it. And while the tours do get slightly monotonous, and I’m guilty of sounding like a recording near the end of the day, I’ve never met so many people from so many different places. We’ve had guests from all over the world including England, Australia, Malaysia, India, China, Spain, and New Zealand just to name a few. Recently, I gave a tour to a family from Puerto Rico who had never seen snow. I guessing it was an experience they’ll never forget. (Nor will they forget my attempt to give the tour in Spanish, which probably added to the entertainment value). Luckily, the family knew English as well, so they could correct me whenever I made a mistake. Other tourists don’t even speak English. During those tours, my main job is that of photographer. I must say it can be a nice break to not talk for a whole hour. One of my favorite tours involved a very friendly and very large woman. We stopped in the middle of the loop for the usual photo op when she hands me the camera and runs out into the middle of the snowfield. She bends over with her butt to the camera and yells, “Take the picture, it’s for my Christmas card.” When she returned to the sled, she informed me that beneath her picture instead of Merry Christmas or Season’s Greetings, she would put Does this glacier make my butt look big? Ha, priceless. Hopefully she’ll send me a copy of her Christmas card.