Franz Josef Glacier

After we left Barrytown, we headed on down to Franz Josef. Franz Josef is the gateway to the Franz Josef glacier. It is a small town, that exists pretty much entirely to give tourists a place to stay, and provide a base to leave from and return to on the various glacial activities available.

Myself and a few others on my bus chose to do a full day hike on the glacier today. It was an 8 hour hike total, with about 6 hours actually spent on the ice. The experience was beyond anything that I can describe. I sit here so exhausted from the experience, but so glad that I did it.

Just a bit of info: The glacier, if I remember correctly, is around 12 kilometers long, an average of 400-500 meters wide, and an average of 300 meters thick. It is quite a chunk of ice. It is a bit of an oddity as it is only 300 meters above sea level at its lowest point and is surrounded by rain forest (not the tropical variety). The entire glacier and area is labeled as a "world heritage site." It was named Franz Josef in 1865 by a German explorer, who give the glacier the same name as the then emperor of Austria. The Maori have a wonderful story for how the glacier came to be. Which bring us to...

MAORI STORY TIME WITH HUGH: The Maori name for the glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere ('The tears of Hinehukatere'), arising from a local legend: Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her. Tawe was a less experienced climber than Hinehukatere but loved to accompany her until an avalanche swept Tawe from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many tears flowed down the mountain and froze to form the glacier. (source Wikipedia).

We started the day getting out to the glacier (which was no walk in the park in itself), and then splitting up into groups. Each group had a trained guide that leads hikes on the glacier every day. Our guide's name was Bazzel, and he did a fantastic job. There were 5 groups, that varied in degree of difficulty (1 being the most difficult). I was in group 2, which essentially did the exact same thing as group one, so it was really cool. As the groups go out in their various directions, the guide leads the way, as a path finder. He carried a pic with him, and when we came to areas that may need some work on the path to get the group over he would chip away at the ice, clearing the trail, or carving stairs, whatever the situation required.

Just getting onto the ice is a monumental task in itself. On the way in, we walked through the rain forest, and through a riverbed. All along the trail we walked past sign after sign, even crossing a fence; all warning of the impending danger that awaited us. The most immediate danger comes from the terminal face (front edge) of the glacier itself, as the glacier is in constant movement, and huge chunks of ice break off with no warning. Just last week there were a couple of Australian guys who died at the terminal face of the Fox glacier, not too far from here. They simply ignored the warning signs, walked up to the glacier, and were crushed by falling ice. Luckily though, our approach didn't take us to the terminal face, but to the side. Just before we reached the glacier we stopped and put on our capons (metal spikes that strap to your boots so you can walk on the ice), and away we went. Once we were on the glacier, the fun began.

The experience was amazing. We passed through a few caves through the ice, and traversed several deep crevasses. Many of the narrower ones , our guide would simply carve out steps on either side and we would traverse these huge cracks in the ice by straddling them and making our way along the crevasse. It was in those places that the ice was the bluest. It was a deep blue, almost the color of the sky. We travel up, down, around, and all over the lower portion of the glacier. The upper portions are not safe, because there is a point far up where the glacier plunges from high on the mountain, to the glacial valley below. In these ares, the ice towers high above, and can collapse at any time. So, we stayed on the lower portion of the glacier. The experience was one that I will never forget.

The glacial valley has been carved between two mountains, leaving a shear face of several hundred meters on the sides of the mountains to either side, with a nearly vertical plunge from the top. This made for magnificent views from the glacier where waterfalls would plunge from the top of the mountains, perhaps hitting a couple of outcroppings on the way down, and finally plunging into the glacier, or the valley floor. Some were large and quite breathtaking, others were small, and looked like strands of thread hanging down the side of the mountains. There was one in particular that was gorgeous, and we could see it from practically everywhere on the glacier. I bet I took 50 pictures of it throughout the day.

It's worth mentioning now that glaciers are not just huge blocks of smooth ice. In fact, from the time that I left the parking lot in the morning, until the time I got back in the evening, I literally don't think my foot was on a level surface the entire day. Not only is the surface underfoot tough, but the greater topography of the glacier is very turbulent, with peaks and valleys, ups and downs; the glacier is really like a river of solid ice. Imagine watching water going through a whitewater rapid, and then slowing that water way down, but having all the same movement and turbulence. Now freeze that water, increase it to a massive scale, and that is sort of what it was like... once again on a massive scale.

The whole day was beyond words. I am still trying to take in the massiveness (is that even a word?), and wonder of it all. The beauty is simply un-believable, and the experience is one that I will never forget.