Garrett Fisher

Author, Pilot, & Adventurer

Email subscription form header
Subscribe
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide
Powered by FeedBlitz
  • Writings
  • Documentary & Interview
  • Press
  • Economics
  • Maps
  • Flying Videos
  • TEDx Talk: Forget Economics
  • About Me

Powered by Genesis

Magna Opera: Book #25: Glaciers of the Bernese Alps

November 6, 2020 by Garrett

“Magna opera” is the plural form of the latin phrase “magnum opus,” which is defined as “a work of art, music, or literature that is regarded as the most important or best work that an artist, composer, or writer has produced.” That a plural form exists at all is indicative of a case of vanity or confusion, as there should only be one “best” work, but here we are, me on the soap box declaring that I have two.

The first magnum opus was “Glaciers of the Rockies.” I had bitten off nearly more than I could chew with that one, flying all of the glaciers in the American Rockies before packing it up and fleeing to the Fatherland (and shortly thereafter packing it up and fleeing from the Fatherland, but I digress). It took two and a half years after I took the flights to get the book out. Since then, I felt that the pinnacle was achieved and that new glaciers were something of a regular “presence” in my life. I had already flirted with a few small remaining glaciers in the Pyrenees, albeit not enough to bother writing a book. Then after the magnum opus, I was off frolicking in the Alps, a comparative orgy of glacial features. Somehow, I got the idea that my then current exploits had integrated with the magnum opus and blunted its impact, meaning that glaciers were a fixture without a noteworthy zenith within.

While that was the sentient background to my pursuit, the glaciers of the Alps were on my mind right after completing the flights for the 4000ers in 2018. Since I had already seen many incredible glaciers while getting the peaks, I had some familiarity. I then had some time before leaving to play in the Bernese Alps, finding that there was a lot to look at. Returning in the summer of 2019, I went bonkers, having decided that my next project would be virtually every glacier in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland.

I chose that subject as all of the glaciers in the Alps as a whole would require 1000 pages. The range is 654 miles long and jammed with small and large glacial features. The Bernese Alps contain the largest glacier in Continental Europe, along with plenty of others of significant size. The valleys that they inhabit are unlike anything I had to date seen; it is second only to Alaska, Patagonia, and the Himalayas when considering overall height and ice mass. While Iceland, Norway, and Greenland have much in the way of glaciers, their maximum height is well below the Jungfrau; thus, I find the Bernese Alps as a suitable compromise. Yes, I am acting like a pompous sommelier of glaciers….

Anyhow, the project is finally done. “Glaciers of the Bernese Alps” contains almost every glacier (there are some technical debates about whether certain features belong) in the range, with detailed maps identifying their location. If I thought “Glaciers of the Rockies” was my best work, well, I didn’t see this coming, so here it is. Oh, and, there are more glacier books coming, so I’ll have to figure out the opus/opera vanity complex.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

  • Español
  • Français
  • Català

Blog Posts

  • Flights: Spain, Switzerland: A Crazed Aeronautical Bender…Seven Years Later January 25, 2023
  • Flight: France: Surfing the Wave December 19, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland: A Mystery on the Eiger, 700,000th Photo November 16, 2022
  • Flight: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands: Losing My Flying-Over-Water Virginity October 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Sognefjord, Longest Fjord in Norway September 24, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Hardangervidda, Largest Mountain Plateau in Europe September 17, 2022
  • Flight: Norway: Galdhøpiggen, Highest Peak in Northern Europe August 20, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Jostedalsbreen, Largest Glacier in Continental Europe August 7, 2022
  • Flights: Norway: Flyraseri ikke Flyskam July 17, 2022
  • Flight: Switzerland, France, Italy: 2,000 Hours & FL160 July 9, 2022
  • Flight: Day 4: Sweden, Norway: 56N to 59N July 6, 2022
  • Flight: Day 3: Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden: 53N to 56N June 27, 2022
  • Flight: Day 2: France, Belgium, Netherlands: 44N to 53N June 19, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1: Spain, France: 36N to 44N June 4, 2022
  • Flight: Spain: Rock the Casbah, Sierra Nevada, Africa on the Horizon May 8, 2022
  • Flight: Portugal, Spain: Promontorium Sacrum, Last Sausage Before America April 26, 2022
  • Flight: Spain, Morocco: Spanish Africa, Pillars of Hercules, Southernmost Point in Europe April 18, 2022
  • Flights: Spain: The Antipope, Package Holidays & A Clandestine Metropolis April 11, 2022
  • Flights: Days 2 & 3: France, Spain, Portugal: España Verde, Galicia, Aggressive Eucalyptus & Andalucía April 3, 2022
  • Flight: Day 1 of 3: Switzerland, France, Spain, Andorra: Alps, Mediterranean, Pyrenees & Atlantic March 30, 2022

Archives

  • January 2023 (1)
  • December 2022 (1)
  • November 2022 (1)
  • October 2022 (1)
  • September 2022 (2)
  • August 2022 (2)
  • July 2022 (3)
  • June 2022 (3)
  • May 2022 (1)
  • April 2022 (4)
  • March 2022 (1)
  • February 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (1)
  • December 2021 (2)
  • November 2021 (3)
  • October 2021 (1)
  • September 2021 (1)
  • July 2021 (2)
  • June 2021 (1)
  • May 2021 (3)
  • April 2021 (1)
  • March 2021 (1)
  • February 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (5)
  • November 2020 (5)
  • October 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (1)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • April 2020 (1)
  • March 2020 (2)
  • February 2020 (2)
  • January 2020 (1)
  • December 2019 (3)
  • November 2019 (3)
  • October 2019 (1)
  • September 2019 (4)
  • August 2019 (3)
  • July 2019 (2)
  • June 2019 (2)
  • May 2019 (2)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (3)
  • February 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • December 2018 (2)
  • October 2018 (2)
  • September 2018 (2)
  • August 2018 (2)
  • July 2018 (3)
  • June 2018 (2)
  • May 2018 (2)
  • April 2018 (1)
  • March 2018 (4)
  • February 2018 (2)
  • January 2018 (2)
  • December 2017 (4)
  • November 2017 (4)
  • October 2017 (4)
  • September 2017 (4)
  • August 2017 (5)
  • July 2017 (3)
  • June 2017 (4)
  • May 2017 (5)
  • April 2017 (4)
  • March 2017 (5)
  • February 2017 (4)
  • January 2017 (1)
  • December 2016 (4)
  • November 2016 (5)
  • October 2016 (4)
  • September 2016 (6)
  • August 2016 (2)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (3)
  • May 2016 (1)
  • April 2016 (5)
  • March 2016 (5)
  • February 2016 (4)
  • January 2016 (6)
  • December 2015 (4)
  • November 2015 (5)
  • October 2015 (5)
  • September 2015 (8)
  • August 2015 (8)
  • July 2015 (8)
  • June 2015 (8)
  • May 2015 (4)
  • April 2015 (4)
  • March 2015 (5)
  • February 2015 (3)
  • January 2015 (2)
  • December 2014 (10)
  • November 2014 (4)
  • October 2014 (1)
  • September 2014 (3)
  • August 2014 (1)
  • July 2014 (6)
  • May 2014 (1)
  • March 2014 (1)
  • February 2014 (3)