More glacier fun!

The bottom of Fox glacier
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After the previous day's glacier 'taster' session I decided that a full day of ice was called for so I hopped on the bus nice and early for the short drive to Fox, the quieter and slightly less steep neighbour of Franz.

As with the previous day, we were kitted out with boots and spiky metal bits so we could walk on the ice safely.  The first section of the hike was not on ice. The sun was out and we had some lovely views of the ice and valley sides.  We also saw a chamois which hadn't heard us coming and promptly galloped up the valley side away from us as we came near.

Action shot of chamoix running away
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After climbing a lot of steps and walking a fairly narrow path and a ladder, we were high enough to get up onto the ice for our hike. Time to put our talons and get onto the ice.

The walking on the lower part of the glacier was actually harder than on the previous day (which was higher up thanks to the helicopter ride!) as it was more slushy and there were areas of loose ice which made some of the walking a little difficult. Still, we managed to cover quite a lot of ground, although at times there was a bit of waiting around while our guides cut steps into the ice so we could traverse the mini ice peaks.

The valley below the glacier
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We spent the day exploring ice caves and tunnels, seeing the odd Kea fly overhead (alpine parrot) and watching another chamois surveying the glacier from the top of the medial moraine (which is the pile of rock deposits on the edge of the glacier on either side).

After lunch, we continued upwards before deciding to head back.  Our guides decided to give us a bit of an adventure and found a crevasse for us to go through (not a bottomless one, I hasten to add!).  They decided this was possible, but didn't seem to appreciate that where skinny men can go, females with hips can't always follow!  It was not really a pleasant experience at all, moving down quite a steep slope, getting stuck, trying to remove backpack, passing backpack to guide down below who was coaxing me down, and then squeezing through a skinny man-sized passageway, pressed up against the walls which were melting on contact, and emerging soaking wet (from melting walls!)to then have to wait for the rest of the group to complete the process! Pity really, as it meant the day ended with several of us feeling rather chilly for the walk back down.

View up the glacier
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It was, all in all, a really good day and in actual fact, by the time we'd got back down we were pretty much warm and dry again.  I would definitely recommend it!