Franz Josef Glacier & Taking Chances

Greymouth, NZ - 3 March 2011 at 8:24pm
Kansas City, USA - March 3, 2011 at 1:24am

The heli-hike to the top of the Franz Josef Glacier was definitely worth the extra effort and taking a chance. It is one of the most incredible things I've ever done.

Yesterday I made the (again) beautiful drive through New Zealand from Queenstown to Franz Josef. While passing by waterfalls and the ocean front it was easy to remind myself how thankful I am for this trip and that saving for three years was definitely worth it.

New Zealand has an interesting little driving pattern...not as bizarre as Melbourne but it is definitely a flow of traffic unique to New Zealand...one lane bridges....everywhere. If you have a red arrow, make sure to "Give Way" to the oncoming traffic...otherwise, boom.

I stopped at Fox Glacier, the town I previously stayed in on the Top Deck tour to make a reservation for a heli-hike the next morning. Franz and Fox are within 30 minutes of each other so I figured I would make a reservation at both glaciers so if one flight was cancelled I could catch the other one or if the weather changed the flights would be at different times and I might have a better chance of going up in the helicopter. The woman behind the counter was very, very nice and signed me up and helped me book at Franz also (their competitor - now, that is service!). I found out the cancellation policies before leaving and then made my way to the town/village of Franz Josef to check into the local YHA.

I checked in and made my way to the 'dorm' style room I would be staying in and then headed to the kitchen to make some dinner. The place was packed! Lots of Europeans but apparently there was a large group of American High School students who were on a six week travel abroad program. The vibe in the room was very strange...the students were very loud and obnoxious and the other travelers were definitely annoyed and let me know that these types of actions are typical of Americans - I was on a mission to prove them wrong...we aren't all idiots who are loud, rude, obnoxious and unaware of those around us...so in the process I made some new friends... Michelle from Sydney and Charlotte from Germany. We ate, talked and played games until about midnight.

The next morning (today), I got up early to check the weather and inquire about my reservations. It was overcast and they weren't sure if it was going to happen...they said I'd need to come back later to check on my 11:15am flight...so I had breakfast at a cafe and walked around the itty bitty town of Franz Josef which took all of 4.5 minutes...but I got some pretty funny photos while I was there.

One of the popular things to do in New Zealand is to rent a camper van and drive around and, as you guessed it...camp...so a few companies have a marketing scheme to obviously make their vans the most hideous thing ever so they will stand out among the competition...I captured just a few on film...they're just screaming RENT ME, RENT ME!

 

I checked back with the tour company around 10:30am...SUCCESS!!!! The skies had cleared and we would be going up at 11:15am as scheduled. I cancelled my 12pm flight at Fox and filled out the paperwork to sign my life away in case we crash or an avalanche falls on us and kills us.

After we filled out the paperwork, we walked to the "shed" to get dressed in some fun and fancy looking gear....coat, books and a very festive hat...ack! I look like the unabomber.

Once they finished going over the ground rules we were ready to board our flight. Since I was the lucky single, I got to ride in the front.... Hellooooo Mr. Pilot! You are as good looking as Tom Cruise in Top Gun.

He was even kind enough to offer to take my photo as well...

The flight was as good as the pilot was good-looking. He flew us up over the glacier to get a full view...pointing out different sections of the glacier before we landed.

As soon as we got to the helipad, the tour guides for the day came over to help us our of the helicopter and down onto the glacier to gear up (aka put the crampons on our boots) and listen to a few more instructions and  before making the hike.

The day was turning out to be absolutely perfect...blue skies and sunshine!
We were splitting up into two groups of 7-10 people...a few of us wanted to do a little more hiking than the others.

Julia was our tour guide for the day. She was amazing. She is someone that...every girl wants to be her and every guy wants to date her. Hands down, one of the coolest girls I've ever met. She was born in Switzerland, raised in Italy and went to college in France and is now a permanent resident in New Zealand. Her father was a ski instructor so she has skied basically every mountain range in the world. She is fluent in 4 languages and loves her job on the glacier. She has been a guide for the past four years. She went on vacation in New Zealand about five years ago and went to the glacier and decided that is where she wants to live and work (for now). She had just gotten her permanent residence a few weeks earlier. Needless to say her passion for life and her job was contagious. ........ Again, this is why I love traveling!

So, we started to hike. Julia was tough...she lead the way with us following in a single file line...its a must, otherwise you could fall through the ice. The guides have huge responsibility to make sure we all follow directions...for our group, it was like herding cats in the beginning...one of the guys was bound and determined to be a pest about it...but she handled him...what a pro.

As we hiked, she explained all about the glacier and the history of it as well as the "predicted" future of it. At one time it was completely covered in ice but as it shifts and with global warming it has a big hole in the middle of it where you can see rock, which is somewhat very sad (it was solid ice when she started working on the glacier 4 years ago).

She said she had been up on the glacier since 7am this morning with the other guide carving out (with pick axes) a new helipad because the old helipad had shifted overnight and was about 20 meters down the glacier. WOW!
She pointed out the crevasses where there was running water...we actually got to fill up our water bottles and drink the fresh cold water right off the glacier. She showed us small ice caves and the powerful waterfall running through the main part of the glacier. As we hiked we heard the crackling of the ice and saw a few small avalanches....

She explained about all the different types of jobs associated with the glacier. She is a guide during the summer months and is a rescuer for the ski patrol in the winter. She was telling us that the guides are on the glacier all day...no breaks - including to use the bathroom. The pilots drop them off first thing in the morning and they prepare for the day. Since the weather is so bad most of the time they also have a different way to see the glacier but it is basically hiking through the woods for an hour and a half to the bottom of the glacier and then you get to touch it and turn back around to walk down the mountain so she leads those trips as well. Do you see now why I was so pumped to get to go to the top?

She was telling us that one time on Fox Glacier, the weather changed very quickly and the helicopter couldn't fly up to get them so the guests and tour guides had to spend the night on the glacier....not a place you want to be at night.

The hike was gorgeous and last about two hours. As we were making down toward the helipad we heard a really, really loud crack and looked over to see a huge chunk of ice falling...AVALANCHE!... I got a little video of it but the whole thing was amazing.

I asked Julia if that happened a lot and she said "That big? NO!" They only see something like that every 4-6 months...it was very cool to see but sad...now the hole is bigger than when we first arrived. She also said they had seen a little more activity since the earthquake. One rule of thumb: Mother Nature always wins.

The whole experience was amazing...from the helicopter ride to the hike to the avalanche. I'm so glad I came back to experience such an amazing natural formation.

After the heli-hike I had lunch with two guys from London who were in my group and then I made the drive to Greymouth, where I am now, to spend the night and get up around 4:30am to make the drive to Christchurch to drop off the car and catch a flight to Hobart in Tasmania.



Additional Photos: Roadtrip from Queenstown to Franz Josef
Additional Photos: Franz Josef Glacier