SUMMER DAYS ON ICE

Icefield Discovery, Kluane National Park, Yukon

Lodge host and guide Sian Williams goes through the orientation after each trio of guests unloads. They'll have lots of time to revel in their surroundings, but first she has some important information they need to know. "It's safe to walk on your own for five or ten minutes in any direction. Anything beyond that and we need to travel as a group," she advises. Looking out from the lodge, the untrained eye sees only a vast expanse of snow. But beneath the surface lies a glacier, and glaciers can be riddled with crevasses. Icefields Discovery is located on a very stable bench of ice, but where the glacier slopes away the surface becomes strewn with cracks and depressions. Williams also expects guests to be diligent with waste. Everything is flown out from the lodge, including human waste, so the group is instructed how to use special silver mylar pouches for trips to the outhouse. They're like gadgets you might find stowed on a space shuttle, but in this otherworldly landscape one feels somewhat akin to an astronaut.