Fountain Glacier AufeisAufeis (from the German) or icings is a term used to describe sheets of ice that are the result of refreezing of meltwater over the proglacial area in winter. Runoff from the glacier continues for a time after the winter freeze-up has taken place. Sheets of ice in the form of exquisite candle-like crystals in summer degrade or collapse, especially where eroded by the outlet stream. | |||
 A general view of the spectacular development of Aufeis (icing), with the glacier in the background, and the main stream channel in the proglacial area. |  Close-up view of the stream channel with its collapsing walls of Aufeis, looking downstream. |  Calving of Aufeis into a proglacial lake, showing successive layers of ice-accretion and the fibrous-looking appearance of the vertical ice crystals. |  In this view towards the glacier, the main outlet stream flows adjacent to the left-hand valley side, where it abuts against the tundra-draped slops. |
 Close-up view of the fibrous-looking Aufeis. These long crystals are typical a centimetre or two in cross-section, and are commonly referred to as ‘candle ice’. |  The scale of development of Aufeis is illustrated in this image with Richard Waller for scale. The ice is multi-layered from successive freezing events and approaches 3 m in thickness. |  Aufeis undercut by the stream and fracturing on the planes between individual layers and along the near-vertical crystal boundaries. |  The glacier’s outlet stream later in the season abandoned its channel cutting through the Aufeis, and began to flow under the rotting ice. |
 Collapsing undercut Aufeis in an abandoned stream channel, showing candle ice crystals, with the glacier in the background. |  Sudden collapse of a patch of Aufeis in an ice-marginal lake. The Aufeis formed a mush of rotated candle ice crystals, that moved rapidly away (to the left) of the still-intact ice. |  Close up of a collapsed heap of beautiful candle ice crystals, having been undercut by a stream. |  Another view of collapsing Aufeis showing the ‘dagger-like” nature of some of the crystals. |
| Photos Michael Hambrey, July 2014 | |||