02.12.09 - 04.12.09 Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers - Westland

From Queenstown we journey up the wild west coast to Fox and Franz Josef glacier townships, which, as you'd probably guessed, sit at the snouts of two of the biggest glaciers in the Southern Alps. The drive takes us through Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park, although the poor weather conditions prevent us from stopping to view any of the majestic lakes or mountain ranges. We'd been recommended by numerous parties to book in for a heli-hike on one of the glaciers, where you're taken up on to the main ice flow and given the chance to explore the blue ice formations. So we signed up for a 7.30am trip on the Fox in two days time and prayed the weather would change. The following day it did and, in the blistering sunshine, we attempted the perilous trek up to Roberts Point to view the Franz Josef glacier up close. The trek through hillside woodlands gradually became more tricky as we ended up clambering and scrambling over wet rocks which were obviously touched by the glacier on it's retreat up the valley, by the massive striation ridges covering them. We reached Roberts Point out of breath but exhilerated by the view of the massive ice wall in front of us. The sharp, protruding ice blocks indicate the fastest moving part of the glacier as the compacted snow in the top valley is pressurised to the point where it causes mass movement down the steep valley floor. The glaciers are in retreat but can sometimes grow and over 5m of movement in the ice flow can be measured in one day alone. We make the long trek back down the side of the glacial valley and drive to Fox in preparation fro our heli-hike tomorrow morning.
The day is the best of the season so far, according to our hike guide, Matty. The skies are completely clear of clouds and the sun is beaming. We've chosen the right time of day also to make the trip because any later and convection clouds start forming over the mountain tops obscuring the views and the surface of the ice starts to become slushy as it melts in the sun causing the scene to be less pristine. So we feel pretty lucky, all in all.

The flight up to the landing point in the middle of the main flow takes about 5 minutes, but it's 5 minutes of sheer beauty with tremendous views up the glacier to Mount Cook and Mount Tasman. (Yes, we are directly on the other side of the Southern Alps from where we viewed Mount Cook a week or so ago.) We strap some metal crampons on to the soles of our boots and are given a quick lesson on how to walk on the ice, basically like a penguin, flatfooted and searching for adequate ridges in which to dig the crampons into for grip. Matty explains the ice changes shape daily and sometimes there can be ice caverns where sheets have buckled up forming tunnels and expanses under the ice. These can melt and break off during the day, so quite often during our trek, he has to check out the formation first, before we go to explore it, in case there's any significant fragility. We step over deep crevasses and can't resist poking our wooden walking poles down some of the meltwater holes where we would lose them to the depths if we didn't hold on. We're standing on an ice sheet 250m deep with meltwater streams all round us which burrow continuously into the mass underneath.

the Fox glacier

We come upon an ice cavern that's quite shallow in height and has a slippery, sloping base and those of us adventurous or stupid enough to sttempt sliding through, give it a go. Both Greg and I get stuck halfway where the gap gets too small for our hips but with a bit of wriggling against the freezing surfaces we plop out the other end drenched. We continue on up the face of the ice flow looking out for interesting formations as we go.

us in the Ice Cave

Another bigger cave shows itself and after a quick safety check by Matty, which involves chipping away at parts of the overhanging ice to see if it falls, we pile in one by one, admiring the intense blue light refraction on the deep ice. The suns starts to melt the surface of the glacier and we view a Moulin, a meltwater stream gushing down through the depths. Another hour or so of ice investigation and a quick taste of pure glacier water and we're back on the helicopter to fly to the green valley floor at Fox town.
And sure enough, as we land at around 12noon and look back up the valley to the glacier, clouds are already perching over the tops starting to obscure the fabulous views we've just been enjoying.