Franz Josef Glacier (New Zealand)

Ola!

As our time in New Zealand was running out we made one last big outdoors trek... over the Franz Joseph Glacier! That meant again driving 400 Km around Mount Cook but at least we got some nice views of it.


Tom's story of him climbing this glacier on his last visit to NZ seven years ago had for some reason made a strong impression on my mind. I was determined to do it and Tom decided to come along since the last time it rained so hard he couldn't see much of the glacier at all.



This time we had a beautiful sunny day and the glacier photos promised to be great.Our first glimpse of the glacier reminded me of how lucky we were to have seen Perito Moreno, in Argentina. Franz Josef is much smaller and dirtier and in comparison not as impressive. Still, I was looking forward to walking on a glacier.





















We had opted for a half day walk with the only company offering treks on the glacier. We were a bit surprised by the amount of people doing it, our group alone had about forty people (on a busy day 400 people go through Franz Josef). At least we thought we should still get good photos.













Our group eventually divided into three smaller groups before we reached the ice. Our guide was, as all guides, tall, fit and tanned, as you would be if your work consisted of spending several hours walking on ice and shovelling snow daily. No need to go to the gym if you work there! As they open new ways through the glacier, the sun melts the exposed ice and destroys any steps or passages, so the guides have to carve new paths each day. Boring or exciting, you decide...






It was good fun to walk through big natural crevices! Our group was really slow moving so we had some time to admire our surroundings on our way up the glacier. For us it was odd to be moving at such a slow pace since we had got used to trekking faster than that. Still our heterogeneous group and some safety concerns made us progress slowly and cautiously.















After maybe almost one hour of slow climbing we reached a cave that had been found by the guides clearing the path earlier that morning. It was beautiful, of a deep clean blue, and you couldn't help to wish you could have a wander inside it instead of only looking from the entrance. This was when I started to get upset: after walking at a snails pace for so long we barely had time to take photos of the cave. One minute in the cave and the guide was hurrying us to join the group. We were really surprised when he said we had to start making our descent as I really didn't feel like we had seen much until then. We decided to try and take some more photos on our way down but the guide was in a hurry now, something to do with the groups behind us. It was annoying, making us come up slowly because half the group was unfit and then hushing us down at such a speed we couldn't get decent photos! As you probably guessed I was very disappointed with this particular tour! Tom was happy enough to have actually got to see the glacier this time but was a frustrated photographer. And no Charlie to fall through a hole in the ice this time to add some entertainment! If I had know I would have still done the tour but maybe a whole day one, where the groups are more uniform and you actually spend enough time on the glacier to enjoy it.



Enough ranting...

Vania