Last Sunday I got a really cool opportunity to go glacier hiking on the Fox Glacier. There are two major glaciers down the West Coast of the South Island, Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph Glacier. The two towns are just about 40 minutes apart, and pretty similar. The main difference between the two is that one is accessible by foot, and one you have to shell out to take a plane or helicopter to the entrance...making it a lot more expensive. I chose Fox Glacier, which you can walk to the entrance of, and they also run their tours in any weather which was convenient because I woke up the morning of my walk to storms and lightning and hail. I was concerned that the tour might not run, but I showed up at Fox Glacier Guiding and everyone was already set up to go, not concerned at all about the quickly darkening sky and rain.
Once we signed in, we went into the back room to get all of our gear. They provide you with pretty much everything that you would need: Socks, boots, rain pants, rain jacket, hat, gloves, crampons and a waterproof backpack for your lunch and other things. We got a quick safety talk and then it was time to pack into the bus and take off for the short 10 minute drive to the glacier. As soon as we got there it started hailing really badly, but it didn't seem to phase our guides, so I bucked up and tightened my rain jacket. Throughout the day it went back and forth between really stormy and relatively clear, but even when it rained I hardly felt cold or wet because of all the layers. I've definitely mastered the art of layering while on this trip, since the weather can change from below zero to rain to sun in a matter of minutes.
After about 40 minutes of hiking on the side of the valley to get to the entrance point, we stopped to put on our ice crampons before getting on the ice. I've never worn crampons before, so they took some getting used to, but after a few minutes on the ice it was just like walking on solid ground. Well, kind of :). We walked on the ice for about three hours, first following our guides on set trails cut out by the company that morning, but then our guides took us off the path to walk over other parts of the glacier. The ice of a glacier moves really fast, and cool features that were there yesterday might not be there today, so every day on the ice is a new adventure to find interesting new crevasses, holes and ice tunnels to climb through. We found quite a few, but my favorite was a giant ice pond that had just been formed that day. The water was the clearest crystal blue you've ever seen, just like the ice itself.
We got about halfway up the glacier before we turned around...to go any further we would all need a lot more advanced ice climbing skills because the gradient gets almost vertical. I was ok with that though, because after three hours of walking on ice, I was pretty wiped out. We made it back down before the really heavy rain and hail started, which was great timing. We passed a few groups about to start during that and they didn't look too excited.
Below are some of my favorite pictures from the climb. You can tell it's overcast and chilly, but it was a really awesome experience!
And a quick plug, I actually got hosted (aka for free) on this guide because I'm now writing for an online travel magazine, We Blog The World, through a friend of my mom's. It's been a great opportunity because a lot of tours, hotels and restaurants will let you come for free if you write a review. Check out the site and my posts, there will be more to come! http://www.weblogtheworld.com/author/emily-pechar/
No comments:
Post a Comment