adventurethroughtravel: April 16th, Franz Joseph Glacier

The Franz Joseph glacier and the neighbouring Fox glacier are formed due to winds from the west picking up moisture across the Tasman sea and then when this air rises over the mountains it falls as rain and snow on a very continuous basis. The snow compresses in the glaciers broad accumulation zones and then grinds down the valleys towards the sea. These are two of the five glaciers that pass through temperate forest. The glacier advances on average 1 meter per day. One of the guides told us that in one 24 hour period they had 1 meter of rain!

We were at the guide office by 8:00 to be fitted out with boots, crampons, socks, toque, water proof pants and jacket. We were then bused for ten minutes where we had a 4 kilometer walk to the face of the glacier. Then we put on crampons and started up the rock of the moraine and finally onto ice. The guides cut steps in the ice and on some near vertical slopes ropes and pinions were used. There is a continuous flow of water out the glacier. One of the hazards to be avoided are the numerous crevasse. The roughness of the ice terrain is unbelievable with steep slopes, drops, tunnels, ravines and crevasses in all directions. We climbed upward for about three hours and then had lunch.

We were incredibly fortunate, there was no rain. In addition, instead of 60 people on tour, there were only two groups of 10 people.We scaled near vertical faces, crawled through tight ice tunnels, saw the “blue ice” up close, experienced incredible views and had a marvelous day of adventure. By the time we finished our decent at 4:00 knee joints needed ib profin and all muscles throbbed. It was a fantastic experience!