Glacier travel involves traversing (often as a rope team), skiing, or even ice climbing on a glacier using various pieces of special equipment, such as crampons, climbing ropes, climbing harness, helmets and ice axes. Falling into a crevasse is a hazard on many glaciers and may require a specialised crevasse rescue.
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Glaciers are found on every continent except for Australia. They need a specific climate: generally a lot of snowfall during the winter and relatively cool temperatures during the summer. [1] The activity of "glacier hiking" is a tourist attraction in some countries, but it requires special knowledge of the constantly-changing environments on glaciers to avoid life-threathening hazards such as crevasses and seracs.
Crossing glaciers—often in pitch-black darkness with headtorches before sunrise—to get to the start of a climbing route is a typical feature of alpine climbing.
