Franz Josef Glacier

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February 16

We stayed in the room until checkout time, wanting to enjoy it's comfort until the last possible moment, and then headed into town to update our blogs and do some grocery shopping.

With all that done, we headed back to Makarora to see what the chances were of crossing the river and starting the Rabbit Pass tramp. As expected, the lady at DoC said "uncrossable" as she has for the past week, so we went to a nearby campsite to spend the night before deciding whether to blow off her recommendation in the morning.

At the campsite there was no shade and a steady supply of sandflies. So I passed the afternoon by reading and alternating between sweating in the tent and sweating in the car. At least I had options.


February 17

We took several things into consideration this morning before deciding to scrap the Rabbit Pass tramp. First, despite DoC's warnings the river looked crossable to start the track, but rain 3 days from now may mean it could become uncrossable to come back from, delaying us from meeting our friends for the next tramp starting next week. Second, this tramp was more of a time filler, and we've already spent quite a bit of time in this area. And third, the tramp we're starting next week with our friends Rowan, Matt, and Helen is strenuous and one that is very high on my list to do this time, so we all want to be well-rested and feeling good for it. We all are feeling kind of beat up right now so doing Rabbit Pass and rushing off to the next one may be a bad idea. I'm tired of mention physical ailments, but my back began feeling very sore again after the last two tramps, and I think i'll need to see a chiropractor or massage therapist soon to put things back in order. The aches and pains associated with extended tramping seem to linger longer than during previous expeditions.

So we headed north along the west coast, driving most of the afternoon until we came to Greymouth. Tomorrow I'll look for some way to relieve the back pain and we'll find another way to fill the time until the big tramp to Ivory Lake next week.


February 18

I got up early to get to the chiropractor office right as they opened in the hopes of getting in to see him today. Fortunately I got right in and got one of the best adjustments of my life. Then, because they didn't take debit cards, I had to go to the store to find an ATM. Somehow, on my way back (only 100 yards between the ATM and the chiropractor) I was able to get pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt. She was a nice officer though and only gave me a warning.

So with 3 days to spend before meeting our friends and my back already feeling much better, we decided to head back to Franz Josef Glacier to do an overnight climb up the glacier to a hut that has been very high on my list as well.

As we were driving, something caught my eye from a side road and I shouted for Andrew to stop the car and turn around. I had been who I though was Marianna, the german we'd met and hiked with on Stewart Island, sitting in front of a roadside pub. Sure enough it was her, so we stayed and chatted for a bit before continuing on our way. This was the second time we've bumped into her after Stewart Island. Small world.

From there we drove the remaining 2 hours to Franz Josef where we set up camp at a DoC campsite.


February 19

We parked at the lot near the terminal end of Franz Josef glacier, a glacier that begins high up in the mountains and weaves its way through the valleys, nearly reaching sea-level. The first hour of the walk is along the flat river valley that the glacier carved out long ago when it extended to the ocean, and this part of the hike is filled with tourists in sandals and groups of walkers with their guides who pay nearly $150 per person to go walk around for a bit on the glacier. Needless to say, it's a crowded place and we looked odd carrying our big tramping backpacks.

Soon we reached the glacier itself and the crowds thinned. We put on our microspikes and I put my hiking pole away and instead got our my ice axe. Going up the first kilometer of the glacier was easy, we just followed the route used by the guided groups. But it was a gentle enough slope that you could pick most any line and just go. As we got higher though, we began to encounter some broken up areas that required more care. Occasionally we'd use the steps cut by the guides for their clients, but often I'd just cut new steps for us.

After climbing about 1200ft vertically and almost a mile horizontally on the glacier, we came to a flat area. We had skirted our way around the defiance icefall and could now get off the glacier and climb a ridge to the hut. Getting off the glacier from here proved difficult at first as we kept encountering huge crevasses 100ft deep or more that blocked our way. But after a few route alterations we were able to find a relatively easy way to the side and to the safety of the rock.

Then we had a quick lunch before ascending the ridge for another 1500ft to where the hut was. The rock underfoot was pretty loose and required a lot of climbing using hands as well, but we made it to the 4-person Castle Rocks hut to find that we had it all to ourselves. We have an amazing view of the glacier from here. This has to be one of the best settings for a tramping hut in all of New Zealand!


February 20

Castle Rocks hut was a great place to spend a rest day today. I slept in, read, and enjoyed the fantastic views of the glacier out the hut windows. I even took the time to read through the 2 hut logbooks that hold a record of every visitor that has signed in since the hut was built in 1974. Amazing, the amount of visitors over 37 years is so small that they are contained in just two books, compared with most hut books that fill up at least every year. It seems that only about 75 people per year make it up here, which makes this the most remote hut I've visited yet.

February 21

The rain eased as we set out, leaving behind one of the coolest huts i'll probably ever visit. Descending the rocks to the glacier was much easier as the slipping scree allowed you to almost float downward in some places.

Once we got back down to the glacier we had slightly more trouble picking our path back down since the glacier appeared to have shifted a bit in the two days since coming up. It had been raining too, which made the ice on the surface more crisp underfoot. But we picked our way over the undulating waves of ice and through and around the towering slabs until we reached the plateau that marks the highest point for the guided trekking parties. There we saw guides and people, which were a welcome sight knowing that from here down the trail over the ice would be cut and easy to find.

The path down was vastly different from 2 days earlier. We went through many more deep crevasses and I'd say it was even more beautiful and interesting this time around. And just like that, we were off the ice and back to the valley floor. We were happy to find the car still there and none of our stuff stolen. So we immediately set off northwards towards Hokitika where we will meet Helen, Rowan, and Matt to do our next tramp. Life is good!

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Comments

[Dale Fort]

Earthquake
Chad - did the earthquake in Christ Church impact you guys at all? Hope you are all okay.

[tramperchad]

earthquake
Hey Dale, no the earthquake didn't affect us at all. We were 3 hours away when it hit and didn't feel it. There was a momentary rush on bread, milk, and gas, but then it calmed down. our friends in christchurch were ok also. But the city as a whole has sustained a LOT of damage, measured in the 15-20 billion dollar range. We can't get into the downtown area yet because a week later they are still pulling bodies out from the rubble.