I had briefly been to Alaska on two occasions before, once while filming an episode of the Angry Planet TV series and once again on an Arctic road trip for The Weather Network, but I never felt satisfied that I’d had a true “Alaska experience,” and for years now, I’ve been craving more. That opportunity came about when I was asked to give a series of talks for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society aboard the Cunard Lines cruise ship Queen Elizabeth.

Normally I don’t find myself partaking in cruise ship travel, but being aboard a ship in this part of the world offers a unique opportunity to witness stunning glaciers, majestic fjords, and diverse wildlife, such as whales, eagles, and adorable sea otters, in their natural habitat. That sense of adventure and exploration is still there, but it’s combined with the comfort and luxury of the ship, creating a memorable and immersive experience.

I think my favourite sight to behold on the entire voyage was Hubbard Glacier. Not only is it beautiful, with its deep blue, ancient ice cascading down from distant mountains to the water’s edge in the fjord below, but this glacier behaves unlike most of the other glaciers in North America. Ninety-five per cent of Alaska’s glaciers are receding (some of them terrifyingly quickly, and recent record-smashing heat waves across the globe don’t fill me with a lot of confidence for their long-term survival). However, Hubbard is one of the precious few still advancing. A primary reason for this behaviour is the accumulation of snowfall at the higher altitudes of the mountains surrounding the glacier’s source. The tremendous snowfall in those areas can lead to a higher mass of ice being compressed down into the glacier, causing it to expand and advance. Hubbard is so vast that parts of it begin in the Yukon Territory, on the slopes of Mount Logan, Canada’s highest peak.