South Island: Day 2 - Franz Josef Glacier

The town of Franz Josef exists pretty much solely because of the fact that it provides access to the Franz Josef Glacier. We had plans to do a full day hike on the glacier. We woke up at 8 to give us time to get ready, have breakfast and pack our lunches. Then we headed over to the glacier guide place. We got all of our gear together: rainjacket, overtrousers, woolen socks, boots, woolen hat and gloves, and a pack containing crampons for our boots. Then, a bus took us as close to the glacier as it could. We walked through the forest for then on a rocky path along a stream (we walked for 3 km even before reaching the glacier!). Once we got there, we all put the crampons on our boots so that it would be easier to walk on the ice. Our group had 10 people in it, plus Bruce, our guide.

Every morning, the guides come out to the glacier and chop steps into parts that are too steep to climb. I can’t imagine how much work that is! There aren’t steps everywhere – just at some parts. Mostly though, you just have to try to stomp while you walk so that your feet stick into ice and you don’t fall. It was raining for a good part of the day, but it didn’t really matter that much. We had so many layers on that my body stayed dry, even in pouring rain. I was actually a pretty comfortable temperature for most of the day. My feet got wet though and did get pretty cold as a result.
We were mostly climbing ice steps for the first hour and a half or so. Then, we began walking on an ice “plateau” where we pretty much just made our own paths, following after the guide. We had lunch on the ice and then continued on our way. By the end of the day, we had gone a good way up the glacier. While the earlier part of the day involved a good amount of steps, we then were walking mostly on ice. We were even given ice picks to use to help steady ourselves for the later part of the climb.
We were not only climbing up, but also had to go though crevasses between the different parts of the glacier. The higher we climbed, the clearer and bluer the ice got. (It is less dirty the farther up you go.) This was a very interesting experience, and I’m very glad that I did it. When else will I get to climb 8 hours on a glacier?!? I do have to admit that it was pretty tiring though! It was interesting that this glacier exists where it does. Franz Josef is one of only 4 glaciers in the world that exists in a temperate climate. It really wasn’t THAT cold on the glacier. The glacier is surrounded by a rainforest, and I even saw a parrot on the ice! Climbing this glacier was definitely a very unique trip.

(That's a parrot...I promise! I know you can't see it very well in this picture though:)
At the end of the day, we were all exhausted and couldn’t wait to shower! Once we were all cleaned up, we decided to treat ourselves to going out for dinner instead of cooking. We decided to try the Indian restaurant in town and shared a couple of entrees. It was a pretty good meal. Back at the hostel, we played a game of Phase 10 before heading to bed.