A day on the Ice

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Ok, so it does rain on the west coast! But is that going to deter us from having a fantastic day on the ice, nah!!! So here it goes Hiking on Franz Josef Glacier! A group of nine hiking enthusiasts and our most handsome guide Troy! Can he ever hit away at that ice to carve the steps for us tourists!!

So after a bush-hike through the rainforest, we reached the bottom of the glacier , put on the Talons (crampons) and started hiking on the ice, first up a few stairs, pulling ourselves up on the rope which was so nicely put there by a couple of other guides who have been working since 7 am to get the glacier ready for the tourists.

And then of into unchartered waters, or should I say ice? Since the Glacier moves every day, not to many of the previous day's tracks are still useable, and so the guides have to find a new way up the ice everyday. Our day consists of hiking and climbing up, stopping to watch Troy hack away with his iceaxe, and in general just being in total awe at the beauty of the Ice. The higher we get, the bluer and cleared the ice becomes, and it is just spectacular. Since it does rain about 260 days a year here, today was no exception, and what started as a light drizzle turned into a good rain, went back to drizzle, and so on. so you wonder was it cold? Well. yeah it was cold when we were standing. Ice at your feet, altitude, rain and wind, so it did get in fact quite cool up top although we are in the middle of summer, but since we were told ahead of time to dress accordingly, and since we received raincoats, overtrousers, gloves and a hat before we got going, it really was not to bad at all! Actually I quite liked it, since it made the experience even more rugged and adventurous, and if you have followed my blog so far, you know that is right up my alley 😊

so, since i am in desperate need of a hot shower and a beverage ( no toilets on the glacier 😊 so needless to say you don't drink much for breakfast, and you don't drink much during the day for fear of having to go.... so i am a bit dehydrated and really need to go now and meet my fellow hikers for a cool beverage

so enjoy the pics, more in a few days again, got to go now

cheers SL

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Photos

Hiking on the Ice
Ice, Ice and more Ice

In the Ice Cave
"weathering the storm"

Franz Josef Glacier
Pretty amazing!!!