Heli-hike on the glacier!

Trip Start Jan 11, 2009
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Trip End Apr 12, 2009


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Flag of New Zealand  , South Island,
Tuesday, January 20, 2009

OK, this is just about the most awesome thing you can do, and we did it.  Sorry, Doug and Olivia - we know you tried to do this, but got rained out.  :(  We took a helicopter ride to the Franz Joseph Glacier and did a two hour guided hike on the glacier, including a walk through an ice-cave.  This was phenomenal, and totally worth the splurge of $400 US.  You get a 15 minute helicopter ride around the glacier, then they set you down on the ice and you walk around with a guide, with boots/ice-crampons, over crevasses, streams, in ice-caves, over giant ice-sculptures, etc.  It was a bit scary - some of the way included jumping over crevasses - not an easy thing to do, and you're not roped or anything.

The ice is 10 times as hard as ice you have in your freezer.  The blue color is gorgeous, especially in the ice-cave.  There is running water everywhere, with streams and blue pools all around.  Getting used to the ice-boots takes some time, but it's really amazing how much easier it is to walk on the ice with them 1
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 .  Ironically, the only injury was our guide, who fell twice. The guide was bleeding quite extensively. If there was such a thing as ice sharks we would have been surrounded.

The helicopter ride was a trip in itself.  Neither A2 nor B2 had ever been before.  It was almost like a rollercoaster ride, but a lot more scenic.  The pilots have some fun taking you up and down - it's pretty terrifying, but exhilarating at the same time. A2 did not have to use the barf bag, which was a plus.

We spent the evening doing short hikes around the Fox Glacier, which is only 23 KM from the Franz Joseph Glacier.  Both are massive and impressive.  We were pretty lucky to see both, since there are only 60 days where it's not raining on them.
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