So a Glacier is a big lump of ice, right?

---

As like most of New Zealand Franz Josef Glacier is yet another great place to visit, and so different from other parts of the country that l have been falling in love with as each day goes by. The group are staying in Chateau Franz and really cool hostel with even a Hot tub.

In the morning most of the group had book to climb the main attraction, the Franz Josef Glacier. A few had arrange to do the Heli hike which involved being taken about 3/4 of the way up the glacier and spend a bit of time looking around, however l felt a lot more adventurous and opted for the full day hike up the glacier. So at 8.15am we booked into the office and were given our climbing gear (Yep another silly outfit to wear) this involved Socks, Hiking boots, Rain Jacket, Thermal Hat & Gloves and a pair of Crampons. We were then driven about 10 minutes to the Westland's National Park and started a long walk towards the Glacier, after the group of 50 hikers had been split into smaller groups. Louise opted to go in the more experienced group, Tess, Alex, Jess in the next group and myself and Sara opted of the Sunday afternoon walkers group.

Looked a lot closer than it really was!

When an object is so big from a distance it can look a lot closer and boy was it a long walk, about 45 minutes later after climbing over rocks, rivers and up the side of a hill side we finally reached the front of the Glacier. After a briefing from our guide Baz (Basil) we were shown how to put on our Crampons (Spikes that attach to your boots) and then started the climb up the frozen ice steps that had been cut into the ice glacier. At the end of the glacier which we started to climb was covered in black dust that had been washed down throughout its time whilst travelling down from the top of the mountain, this takes about 50 years from what scientists have worked out.

From its origins high in the Southern Alps, the Franz Josef Glacier descends deep into the lush rainforest of Westland’s National Park, from a height of 2700m above sea level to only 240m in as little as 11 km, making it the world’s steepest and fastest flowing commercially guided glacier

Julius von Haast, geologist and explorer, named Franz Josef Glacier in 1863, after the Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Approximately 7000 years old, and a remnant of a much older and larger glacier which originally swept right to the sea, Franz Josef Glacier extends 12 kilometres from its three feeder glaciers in the high snow fields of the Alps. Today the terminal face is a mere 19 kilometres from the sea and just 5 kilometres from the township.

The Franz Josef Glaciers cut through dramatic glacial valleys to flow into temperate rainforest. While many glaciers world-wide have been retreating, these glaciers still flow almost to sea level, making them unique relics of the last Ice Age.

South-Westland lies in the path of a band of wind known as the 'roaring forties'. The weather that flows on to the West Coast is forced to rise over the Southern Alps, thereby cooling and dropping most of its moisture as rain and snow. This process causes approximately 30 metres of snow to fall on the neve, or catchment area of the glacier every year. Snow that is compacted on the neve forms blue glacier ice that is funnelled down the valleys of the Franz Josef Glacier. This flows under its own momentum, forming these 'rivers of ice' which are easily accessible from the Waiho (Franz Josef) river beds.

Although much melt occurs from the surface of the glaciers at lower elevations (the ablation zone), this high snowfall continues to push ice down the valleys at very high rates. This is aided by basal sliding, caused by a layer of water beneath the glaciers, formed by the weight of the ice pushing against the valley floor. Both of these factors cause the Franz Josef Glacier to have flow rates that are up to 10 times faster than most valley glaciers.

The glacier flow over large bedrock steps on the valley floors. This causes the ice to extend and break up, forming steep icefalls that are mazes of crevasses and pinnacles of ice. Spectacular views of this dramatic landscape are gained from short valley walks to the Franz Josef Glacier terminal faces.

Climbing large lumps of ice and in between ice caverns

The ice glacier is formed of many pieces of ice sections that have broken off from each other and then over time been pressed together forming high ridges and even caverns that you have to squeeze yourself in-between. During the 5 hours of climbing the temperature got colder and sometime even rose that we had to take out rain jackets off, weird when you think that you are waling over ice and the height at which you are walking too. At about 1pm we stopped for lunch near the halfway mark to the top of the summit. The full day hike is about halfway sp once we were refuelled it was about another hour further up then we started to make our trip down to the start again, not before we had a group picture and another look at the cool views that is the Franz Josef Glacier.

Once we reached the base of the glacier it was still another 45 minutes before we reached the coach to take us back to the hiking office and change back into our normal clothes once again.

Time to catch up with what everyone else had been doing

In the evening we took a walk down to a local bar & Bistro and the team talked about their day in Franz Josef, some had been horse riding, sky diving (I am not allowed to do this as l am 7kg over the limit) ( No comments please!!!) and some even took the heli hike near to the summit. We then celebrated with some Shooters and a meal before heading back as yet another early start in the morning.






















Maori Legend

Early Maori called this place Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere - The Tears of the Avalanche Girl (Hinehukatere).
Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her. Tawe fell from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many, many tears froze to form the glacier.

---