This image follows on from my previous post – Click here to view. Glaciers look totally different in summer from what they do in winter. This is the Gorner glacier (2,000ft below me) clad in its winter cloak of snow that softens the lines of the underlying ice.
This abstract ‘sculpture’ is a repetitive feature of this glacier, the lines much harsher in summer when the snow melts. And when the surface snow melts it penetrates deep into the glacier via the crevasses and ruptures in the ice which are created by the nature of the terrain over which this river of ice is moving, far slower than a snail. That constant flow of melt water weaves its way, progressively eroding the ice forming these extraordinary shapes. Isn’t nature beautiful?
LensScaper 
Wow! Nature is a wonder
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It is indeed, Sue, and thank you.
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Yes, it is indeed.
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Thanks Paula. I guessed you would enjoy this one. Such a special place; from the way you commented on the previous image, I think you may have been there. Am I right?
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This is one of the most fascinating abstracts I’ve seen. I never would have guessed what it shows. I don’t think I could have come close. The patterns on the surface of the snow are quite intricate, and the glacier itself has forms that remind me of Matisse cutouts, or perhaps Henry Moore (especially there on the right).
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Hi Linda. Thanks, as always, for your comments. I’ve never seen this ‘formation’, for want of a better word, on any other glacier. I can see why you mention Henry Moore, although it hadn’t occurred to me until you mentioned it.
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It is! This looks like something I could mold and play with in my hands – there’s an almost rubbery quality. 🙂
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This was taken within five minutes of the shot containing the figures. The graceful lines seem to create a 3D landscape, I think.
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“Isn’t nature beautiful?”
Yes it is. And you have captured a wonderful composition and rendered well controlled dynamics.
Nature gets credit, but so do you.
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Many thanks John.
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Love the abstract qualities of this photo –
amazing to think it is 2,000 ft below you! This and the photos from the other winter posts are stunning.
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Thanks Simon – one of the high spots physically and visually above Zermatt. And a visit reveals a scene that is always subtly different.
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