Walking on a Glacier

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After arriving in Franz Josef, I headed straight to the Franz Josef Glacier Guides office. They have different options which vary in the length of time you spend walking. I wasn't really sure if I would be able to last on the full day tour which meant 5-6 hours on the ice, plus an hour each way to get to the start of the glaicer. I found out that the hardest part for most people end up being the ice stairs which every tour does. So, I coughed up the money for the full day walk.

I woke up bright and early the next morning to check in. Before we headed out, I was given my gear for the day: rain jacket and pants, hat, gloves, boots and crampons. The intial walk out to the terminal face of the glacier had me walking through a forest, climbing down ladders and along a river. Once everyone got to the official start point we were separated into different groups according to speed. I joined group 5, the slowest one : ) We had to wait around for some time to let the other groups start. While we were waiting, it was time to put on the crampons over our boots. With the spikes attached to our boots, we started our ascent. The icestairs didn't end up being as much of a problem as I expected. No one could walk fast if they wanted to and we had to stop a few times. I passed by some of the poor guys who got stuck with ice stair duty all day long. They would be cutting out new stairs or maintaining stairs for the next groups.

The ice on the glacier at the beginning of the walk wasn't very nice. I wanted to see the clean blue ice but would have to wait until we got further up the glacier. Everyone was starving by the time we took our lunch break. I tried not to drink too much though. Otherwise I would have to take a piss on the glacier!

We were almost near the highest point we would reach, when we had to stop unexpectedly. A woman from group 4 had decided that she didn't want to continue upwards and wanted to turn around! We were only another 30-40 mins from the point where we would head back down and I couldn't believe she wanted to stop now. The worst part was that if she turned around, her entire group would have to go with her!!! Her guide tried to talk her into finishing the walk and was eventually able to get her to agree to walk up to the top part. Supposedly, she hurt her knee while hiking recently and didn't realize that this would aggrevate it....Hello,McFly?!?!? How would it not hurt after walking almost eight hours???? So, she made it to the high point but instead of walking back down the glacier she decided to get a helicopter ride out. The tour company wasn't going to pay for it, so it would set her back at least $500! She must have been in a lot of pain to pay for the helicopter. The helicopter couldn't even land properly, so it had to hover over them while she hopped inside. All I know is, I'm glad that wasn't me!

On our way back down the glacier, the rain started and it didn't stop. I hated having to climb back up slippery ladders and going back on a slightly different path because the river had risen. All I wanted was a hot shower and some food or better yet, someone to carry me back : )

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