For months, I'd been looking forward to spending an entire day (six hours of ice time) hiking on the Franz Josef Glacier on the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. I intended to do the full-day hike.
However, about three days after I had completed the Tongariro Crossing (remember that 12-mile volcanic tramp?), a walking tour of Wellington, and various little bus-stop scenic walks, I started to feel pain in my left leg.
I couldn't quite place it—possibly a calf strain or something with my knee—but the pain differed from what I had earlier in the year. I was limping around quite a bit, though it was bearable. On my deceptively long walk to the beach in Barrytown for the sunset, I felt a shooting pain that seriously concerned me. The ibuprofen pills and topical gel I'd been using didn't help much.
Given the 4-hour half-day glacier hikes seemed unimpressive, I opted to upgrade to a heli-hike. You get a scenic helicopter ride up the glacier (higher than where the regular hikes go), hike around for 1.5 hours, and then get a ride back down. I had been eying a helicopter ride for Queenstown, so I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone? I knew my left leg would thank me.
Helicopter Ride
The helicopter ride up was awe-inspiring. Fantastical. It was much smoother than I expected and not scary (I secured the front seat both ways!). My photos will not do the glacier justice.
Hiking the Glacier
Once we landed, we put on crampons and followed our glacier guide. Regardless of how you get on the glacier, the hikes are slow as the guides cut out steps and paths and scout the terrain.
Franz Josef is one of only three glaciers in the world that reside in a tropical environment. It was surreal to see it from afar, surrounded by rainforests. It was also amazing to be on it and see the vegetation growing along the cliff walls as water flowed over waterfalls hundreds of feet high.
The whole glacier felt alive, organically changing. Drips of meltwater formed little streams that turned into waterfalls as they descended deep holes in the ice. I'm pretty sure those streams turned to full-flowing rivers deep down. We saw ice collapse higher up the glacier and tumble down (the hikes occur on the lower half, which moves slower and is thus presumably safer).
The Ride Down
The "whoa" at the end is when the pilot did a steep bank turn to the left as we crossed the ridge. I must get in a helicopter again!
Laura says
Awesome, Dave! Mind sharing what the cost was for the heli-ride? How much are guided hikes in general? This is DEFINITELY on my list of things to do!
Dave says
The heli-ride was $260 US dollars, which is 2-3 times the cost of the full day, 8-hr glacier hike (~$100 USD, 6 hours of which is actually on the ice). Regardless of which approach you take, it's a relatively low impact hike once you're on the glacier, though it can be slippery and I saw an older English guy slip and fall backwards in one of the ice caves. I'm sure he bruised himself good. The guides go slowly, and have to chip out steps and test the ice so you move about 10 steps, then stop and wait (over and over). The scenery is stunning!
crambox says
Wow is all i can say thanks for making my saturday a great start!!! watch that knee dont push it too hard.. :wink:
crambox says
Wow is all i can say thanks for making my saturday a great start!!! watch that knee dont push it too hard.. :wink:
Ames says
oh my gosh!!! that is soooooo totally awesome! (said like a valley girl, I know), but man..... how absolutely beautiful!!
Dave says
It was amazing - hard to sum up the sheer size of the blocks of ice on the glacier. The blue of the ice came out really well though!
Ames says
oh my gosh!!! that is soooooo totally awesome! (said like a valley girl, I know), but man..... how absolutely beautiful!!
Dave says
It was amazing - hard to sum up the sheer size of the blocks of ice on the glacier. The blue of the ice came out really well though!
Laura says
Awesome, Dave! Mind sharing what the cost was for the heli-ride? How much are guided hikes in general? This is DEFINITELY on my list of things to do!
Dave says
The heli-ride was $260 US dollars, which is 2-3 times the cost of the full day, 8-hr glacier hike (~$100 USD, 6 hours of which is actually on the ice). Regardless of which approach you take, it's a relatively low impact hike once you're on the glacier, though it can be slippery and I saw an older English guy slip and fall backwards in one of the ice caves. I'm sure he bruised himself good. The guides go slowly, and have to chip out steps and test the ice so you move about 10 steps, then stop and wait (over and over). The scenery is stunning!
Stu says
helicopter glacier rides!! awesome. So your not saving that for the himalaya ;)
Stu says
helicopter glacier rides!! awesome. So your not saving that for the himalaya ;)
Malika Heckaman says
I think this site holds very excellent indited subject material content.