Hiking up Franz Josef Glacier
Trip Start
Sep 13, 2006
1
63
85
Trip End
May 25, 2007
Franz Joseph,
New Zealand
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Ice climbing is not an activity that any of us have done. In fact, this is one of the more adventurous activities that Dad has done in a while. You can see this on our faces.We strapped on metal ice gripping shoes and started up some steep steps carved into the ice. Our guide was young and patient which was great.
Danger!
What also was great is that a few of the others in our group had metal grips that kept having to be readjusted. This slowed down the group a bit so it was a comfortable place for all of us.Walking along the ice was really incredible. The clean sections of the glacier were a brilliant shade of blue. We had good views for the walk up and the rain didn't start drizzling until near the end of the walk. The walk down was definitely harder than the walk up, especially the steep ice stairs. You had to take your time as not to tumble down them.
We met some nice couples on the trip, more Americans than we have in a long time. We will have to look at the statistics of the places where Americans travel and when. There must be a reason why we go so many months without seeing more people from the States.
This day marks our second wedding anniversary! This will probably be one of the more interesting places we will spend an anniversary. We will have a lot to live up to for the next years.
