Our final big adventure was hiking a glacier. Sounds cold right? It was actually sunny and beautiful and after three hours of hiking up a steep mountain with recently built stairs we were exhausted and sweaty. Conveniently there were fresh springs running down the side of the mountain under which we filled our water bottles. Finally we made it to the middle point of the glacier (you need to take a helicopter to reach the summit) and we were given ice picks and crampons to strap to our shoes. Our guide walked ahead of us digging out fresh places to step and cautioning us to hold onto the rope as we crossed steep ledges. When we reached an open area we were able to take pictures and had a snowball fight. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. We were expecting to have to take the same route home back down the mountain but instead we were lead off the other side of the glacier which took around 40 minutes! "Why didn't we just come up this way!!!" we all protested. Our guide said that in order to reduce injuries and keep the glacier safe they try to reduce the amount of times particular spots are walked on. As we reached the bottom we saw what looked from the top of the glacier to be a chunk of ice the size of a small car actually turned out to be larger than a house! I wouldn't want to be a hiker the day THAT fell.