Hiking Franz Joseph Glacier

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Glacier Video 1

Glacier Video 2

Glacier Video 2 So classes are over and exam period has begun- so what do we do... travel!!!! This time it was just a quick trip over to glacier country. We left Saturday afternoon and drove 6 hours to the west coast. We spent the night at a backpackers in the small town of Franz Joseph. It was nice cause we got our own room with a kitchen and we watched a movie and got free popcorn! (thats pretty plush for NZ hostels!) The next morning when we woke up it was perfect weather, which really made the day even that much better. We took a bus to a car park that was about a 45 minute hike to the base of the glacier. At the base of the glacier was a huge cave, but we couldn't go near it because there is the danger of a piece of ice breaking off. So we put our crampons on our boots and began our hike up the ice stairs on the glacier. Some of the glacier had rocks but other parts were blue ice. We went through crevassas which are cracks in the ice and along huge ice walls. The entire trip was about 6 hours and we were on the ice for about 4 hours. It was sunny and beautiful at first but then the sun went behind a cloud and my gloves got wet so i was a little chilly- but not as cold as I thought I would be, being on a glacier. Our guide was kinda a dud unfortunately but he kept us all safe since at times I was a little nervous since it was kinda slippery and everyone's crampons kept falling off. But this was one of the coolest things I've done in New Zealand- hard to explain how sweet it was and as always the pictures definitely don't capture it but check them out and the movies too!

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