Glacier Walk/Hike

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Friends and family:

I hope that spring weather has finally arrived. I have kept my eye on U.S./Midwest weather and it sounds as if it has not been the best. Hopefully the spring will bring warmth and sunshine to you all!

I am alive and kicking and am in love with my life. I greatly appreciate all of you who have contacted me and offered support and condolences over the past few weeks. Please know that I am doing great—you know what I always say, “when life hands you lemons, squeeze those motherf-ers into your Boulevard Wheat beer!”

Since I have a ton of catching up to do with the TravelBlog, I will let my pictures do most of the explaining.

On March 4, the day after the Mt. Cook/Mueller Hut climb, my group drove further south down through and around the Southern Alps to arrive at Fox Glacier—the largest glacier in New Zealand. Fox Glacier is one of a few glaciers in the world that is NOT receding and in fact is growing! As snow is dropped onto the mountain and subsequently the glacial formations, the snow melts and continues to pack itself tighter and tighter until it turns to ice. As the ice melts in summer weather, it slowly rolls down the mountainside to form glaciers. Glaciers are very dynamic and move down the mountain at over 1 meter per day. However, it takes 75-80 years for snow that is dropped at the top of the mountain to spill out the bottom of the glacier as glacial water. A not so funny story: an explorer fell into a crevasse at the top of the mountain 75 years ago; the staff at Fox Glacier is expecting for his remains to spill out into the river below at any point in time…

To get on the glacier (which is pronounced in NZ as: glass-e-aye), we had to hike up a mountain (yeah, more hiking, just what I wanted to do after Mt. Cook…), through a rainforest and then on to the glacier. Upon arriving at the glacier we each put on crampons (metal ice spikes) and grabbed an ice pick before heading out on the ice. The view from the glacier was amazing! The glacier is smaller today (receded almost a full kilometer) than it was 80 years ago, but is larger now than it was 20 years ago. As the glacier expanded it cut into the mountainside and left shear-faced cliffs. Water from a top the cliff faced mountains trickled (and/or rushed) down the sides as picture-esque waterfalls. As we progressed to higher elevations, I could look down the glacier and watch melted glacier water create a river which flowed down the valley through a rainforest and fell into the ocean. So, mountain, glacier, river, rainforest, ocean—amazing!

After completing the all-day glacier hike, we headed into town for some post-hike drinks. As I was sitting on the patio of a saloon I met some very interesting people. First, I was introduced to Andy and Maria—two British travelers who sold their house in London three months ago, took the profits from the sale and decided to travel the world. They are hitchhiking all throughout New Zealand during the remainder of my time here before they head off to Australia, Hong Kong, Nepal, South Africa and Europe. Crazy!

Next, I met a man who was the 1983 World Series Champion Baltimore Orioles team psychiatrist. He and his wife are from D.C. (names have absolutely escaped me….doh!) and during the 1983 season a couple of players went to visit him to talk about marital problems, hitting problems, etc. When the players’ lives improved, the team asked him if he would quit his private practice and join the team full time. He agreed. In addition, when the Orioles would bring up young Dominican players that could not speak English, he and his bilingual wife would take the players into their house and care for them until they became adjusted to the U.S. Pretty cool. The man was wearing his ring and it was massive—not as big as the NBA championship rings of today, but still very impressive.

Enjoy the pictures and I will continue to post as I find the time…

Love,
Andy

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Photos

Slainte!
This is a bar in the town of Wanaka. Wanaka is one of the most beautiful towns I have ever seen. The day was perfect for some beers/pit stop before we drove around the Southern Alps to get to Fox Glacier.

Night View of the Bass Strait
Not very clear, but I thought this was a cool picture.

Fox Glacier Holiday Park Campgrounds
Best grass I have ever slept upon!

Glacier cut cliffs
As the glacier pushed down the mountain into the valley it eroded the mountainside away.

Onto the Glacier!
Jeremy, our guide, pick-axed those stairs into the ice for easy access to the Glacier.

Comments

[Kellen Frank]

Ring
How do you know how big an NBA Champ ring is?? Are you still claiming to have met Michael J?

[Aunt Laura]

Have a blast. It'll be over too soon. Looks gorgeous. Love you so much.