Another cold clear night with a hard frost and plenty of ice on the windscreen, but the day dawned bright and sunny and the warmth of the sun was soon dispelling the chill.

After a leisurely start, we drove the short way into Franz Josef village and parked outside one of the many buildings offering activities. This particular company was the same as I'd flown with yesterday, but in addition to a variety of helicopter flights, they also did guided 'walking' tours. I put walking in quotes because there were some reasonably steep slopes involved:

We were too late to join the full day tour, and probably not fit enough either, so opted for the more gentle 'half-day' tour, which we thought would probably be a nice gentle 3 – 4 hour ramble with good views of the Franz Josef Glacier.

As it turned out, it was a bit longer than that, the glacier views were most certainly good, and it was definitely not a gentle amble; two more elderly Taiwanese ladies had to give up when the going changed from rugged to serious.

But going back to the beginning, once we'd booked our walk, we had an hour or so to kill so (more) coffee was definitely a priority, followed by a bit of retail therapy. In due course, we all started reassembling at the centre:

where we were given a numbered tag to hang around our necks:

All the procedures were explained to us and it started with being kitted out with serious walking boots, if you weren't already wearing something suitable. I was, but Barbara's new shoes were clearly unsuitable so she and most of the others queued up for boots and good thick socks:

Suitably shod, crampons were next on the list, complete with a sturdy carrying bag, then on round the building for overtrousers, raincoat, and even a woolly hat & gloves if conditions required them, which we were assured they wouldn't.

Eventually, we boarded the big red bus:

for the short drive up to the parking area below the glacier. Many kilometres before we got anywhere near, we passed a sign showing where the glacier ended in 1750, but this one is apparently growing at the moment. Once parked, off we went into the 'rain-forest':

Rain-forest? Yes, genuine rain-forest, seriously wet and dark with all manner of exotic plants, though less wildlife than might be expected, but it was a much used tourist trail. There are only three places in the world where glaciers come down low enough to penetrate into rain forest apparently: Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier (just down the road) and somewhere in Argentina. Anywhere else you'd have to climb very high to be able to walk onto a glacier.

Ned, our genial, knowledgeable and caring young guide for the mouldy-oldies party (you can tell which he is in the photo, as he's not quite so well dressed as the rest of us), stopped frequently to check that we were all okay, and to tell us yet more interesting stuff about our impressive surroundings. One such snippet was that, even when we'd emerged from the rain-forest and the glacier looked quite close, it was still 2.2 kilometres away:

Another nice touch was that while we'd been still cosy in bed at 8 o'clock that morning, some of the guides had already got out to the glacier to check the routes for us and cut steps in the ice walls - a very thorough operation!

Soon enough, we got to the end of the rocky morraine and the start of the rocky ice, where we donned our crampons:

It was getting serious now:

The first ice was a bit dirty, with much accumulated rock scoured from the valley floor & walls:

But as we climbed, it got cleaner and more photogenic, and Ned continued to carefully shepherd his flock up the rugged ice faces:

At one point, we arrived at an apparently impossible cliff of ice, at least for us seriously inexperienced ice climbers:

But it seemed that we had a particular 'treat' in store: an ice tunnel:

The half-day trips rarely get to do this apparently, so we were quite privileged. And this is what it was like inside, a bit cramped, wet and cold, but beautiful:

And on up, past deep blue (and dangerous) crevasses:

Near to precipitous waterfalls:

And eventually to our high point for the day:

With great views:

And time for a snack, with hot chocolate even offered by Ned, what a star, and he'd been cutting/clearing steps in the ice as well.

Then back down, following a different route so that we didn't get too bored. Going down is definitely the more tricky, and some of the slopes were quite serious:

More crevasses to avoid, and some we had to squeeze through:

And we were very grateful for the fixed ropes placed by the guides to assist our passage up and down:

The glacier didn't get any less beautiful and was ever changing:

And even near the end of the glacier, Ned was still swinging his ice ixe to ensure our safe passage;

Then back out onto the rocks and more warning signs for the unwary:

Crampons off to be checked by Ned:

And the long(ish) march back to the bus:

With the sun already setting on the mountain peaks high above us:

A last glimpse of the glacier in the fading light:

And some of the high snowfields still bathed in the fast-setting sun:

Then back to the bus through the, by now, almost dark forest, and our motorhome for a night drive to our next stop.

written by  Saros on May 11, 2009 from Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The Hairy Animal 2009 World Road Trip
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I reckon you chose the right option. Half a day treking looks hard enough. Don't know if I would have had enough courage to go through ice caves!!!

written by  sharon lyne on June 22, 2009

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