Skip to content

Wednesday, October 7, 2026Juneau, AlaskaA sample paper for HD Membership

The Gastineau Gazette

Features Subscribers

Long read: the icefield above the city

Behind the mountains that frame downtown lies one of the largest icefields in North America. We spent a week learning how it works.

By Gazette staff 5-minute read

From downtown Juneau you cannot see it, but it is always there: a plateau of ice and snow stretching back from the mountains behind the city, feeding the glaciers that reach down toward the valleys and the sea. On a clear day from a plane, it looks like a frozen ocean with mountaintops for islands, and it goes on much farther than most people who live beneath it ever realize.

More from the Gazette

Sample siteReading as a visitor