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Published: March 11th 2007
Mount Cook and the Southern Alps
The views from the plane journey up. WOW!!!After Franz Joseph me and Rich wanted to check out the other "warm" glacier in nz named Fox Glacier. When we got there the weather was great!
Fox Glacier was also a venue for Sky diving and was rated on of the best scenery skydives you could do in nz. I couldnt miss the opportunity! After a brief low down of what I needed to do I got geared up and soon enough I was in a plane overlooking the whole of the southern Alps. The views were amazing, the sun was just going down and I could see the two glaciers as well as Mount Cook! The tallest mountain in NZ. It was worth it just for the views from the plane. After 20mins in the plane it was time to jump. I didnt feel frightened at all which suprised me. (probably the fact you do it so fast you dont have time to think about it.) Nothing like the fear when bungy jumping. The freefall is amazing! Together with the views, it was something special.
My Sky Dive instructor spun us round abit which was fun at the time but made me feel ill when I hit the ground.
A great experience but I cant say it's been my greatest thing Ive done.
After a long sleep we did or second Ice trip on a glacier at Fox. However this time instead of a day's walk we went one step further and did "Ice Climbing". It was cool gearing up in the morning. We were given a pair of ice picks each (looking like something off cliffhanger lol!) We were then our Crampons but much more sophisticated and more technical than the ones we were given for the day hike on Franz. When we got on the ice, It was completely different from Franz, Fox was alot more flat but looked so much more natural and less used. There was only me and Richard and another guy in the group so it was much better (being in a smaller group) Fox seemed alot more cleaner too which made you feel like it was abit more of a wilderness if you know what I mean. It was cool.
Then we started the actual Ice Climbing. it was weird walking up vertical ice cliffs and having to trust your crampons to hold you there. The ice Axes came in handy.
Soon I was getting the jist of things walking up the small wall we started on. After our guide had introduced to us all the tips and techniques he left us too it. He found us this almost vertical cliff to begin properly. Sadly I didnt get any pics of it but it was freaky! He lowered into this cravas about 15metres down at least, until we were wedged between two cliffs of ice then I had to climb out with only a safety rope to stop me from falling! right at the top you have to almost spider walk upside down to get over. It was here that I actually slipped! I instinctively through my axe at the top and held on with just my ice axe it was like vertical limit except I would of been fine since I had a rope connected to me lol! but it looked good lol!
From then on though I had decided I wasnt a fan of ice climbing it was too freaky! But it did give me a big buzz when I finished a climb. We saw some amazing things though that made the day one of the best experiences Ive
had. When we were on the ice we saw a real Ice tunnel made just by the glacier melting. The ice is so blue its ace to see in full. Then the major highlight of the day one of the guys repairing a path saw this huge blue Ice hole as such it was stunning. The photo really doesnt capture how massive it is either. It was about 10metres down and had ace views of the front of the glacier. We must be some of the most luckest people ever on Fox as these ice holes dont normally form so low down, they are rare as it is but can only normally be seen from a heli hike.
It was a great day!
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