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Worthington Glacier
Deep, deep snowfall makes for perfect setting
By Leon Unruh / Alaska.com
Worthington Glacier is an easy-off, easy-on stop at Mile 28 of the Richardson Highway northeast of Valdez.
Thompson Pass, the snowiest place in Alaska, is just around the corner to the south. In the exceptional winter of 1952-53, the pass got 974 inches -- 81 feet -- of snow from storms blowing off Prince William Sound.
But by summer, the snow along the highway is gone or melting.
As it comes down off Girls Mountain about 270 miles from Anchorage, the glacier passes within a few yards of the parking lot.
Surefooted visitors scramble up a rocky trail along the glacier's left arm for a nice view of the ice and the grand valley. Although the ice is too dangerous to climb on, many people explore the cracks and pools at the terminus.
The land is set aside as Worthington Glacier State Recreation Site. The upper reaches of the glacier were used in the 1990s as a movie setting for a Steven Seagal potboiler, "On Dangerous Ground."
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See the glaciers up close
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Why is glacier ice blue?
Harvesting glacier ice
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