Glacier Climbing

Editor's Pick Award

Our Editors awarded this travel blog entry for providing relevant information that may be useful and inspiring for other travelers.

View more photos 

So I took the train across to Greymouth. Now it is supposed to be one of the most incredible train journeys in the world. It was raining and I was tired and maybe a little bit hungover, so I slept for two of the four hours. Because it was raining I didn't feel like it was such a bad decision. I got into Greymouth at 12:45 and my bus to Franz Josef wasn't until 1:30 so I went and found a sandwich. When I got back the bus was packed full of people, but I still managed to get two seats to myself towards the back. I did what I do on buses and slept until it got too twisty. I got into Franz Josef around 5 and the driver dropped me off right in front of my hostel. I checked in and then ran into the German guy who was in my dorm in Kaikoura, before going to sign up for a glacier climb. I signed up for the 3/4 day climb for Monday, and they only had space on the one that left at 7:30. Oh well, up early again! I went to the grocery store to get stuff for breakfast and lunch and something to supplement the free soup at the hostel. The soup was great, and I had brie and some bread in addition to it. I sat with the German guy and a really obnoxious Canadian guy talking until about 9:30 when I dragged myself into the shower. It took me two hours to get up and actually shower, but I managed. I went to bed a little after 10 to prepare for my early start.

View more photos 

I got up at 6:30, got my stuff together, had cereal, and made lunch before setting off to meet my glacier tour. The guide could have been incredibly good looking, except he had a mullet. Ew. First we got these enormous black boots, which I swear were so wide I could have fit both my feet into one boot, so I grabbed two pairs of socks and put them on. They looked like clown shoes. Then he gave us the ice talons, the spiky things that strap on to the boots for climbing on the ice. We also got waterproof pants, a jacket, and a wool hat and mittens before setting out for the glacier. All in all we looked pretty ridiculous, although I didn't wear the pants or the hat. We walked through the valley in front of the glacier, which was about 2.5km, although it looked really close. When we got up to the base of the glacier we strapped on our ice talons. I looked ridiculous. My pants were tucked into my socks, I had on clown boots and had the spiky things attached to the bottom, and an enormous coat and mittens. It was funny. The front of the glacier had a big cave with a river running out of it - apparently some idiot a few weeks ago went into the cave and a big piece of ice fell on him and took off his leg. Honestly. Who goes into an ice cave that has a moving river coming out of it... melting? Ever heard of it? I went with the slow group, which was fine because there were a bunch of people that were really gung ho to go with the fast group even though we were going to the same places. The first part of the glacier we climbed up steps that guides had cut into the ice, which they have to come back and work on every day, and as the glacier changes and moves, new steps have to be made. It was just incredible. We wandered through little caves and among ice peaks that looked like mini mountains. The glacier is just amazing. It pushes up the dirt as it moves, so some patches have big piles of rocks and dirt, and some patches are clear blue, which means they are the densest ice. Franz Josef is one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world - it moves six meters a day. At the top there are big ice waterfalls (which have a more technical name I can't remember) which move faster than the rest of the glacier, like a normal waterfall. We had lunch on the glacier before walking back down. It was just amazing. We walked back through the valely, I took off my boots in the parking lot (they were wet the whole time... cold feet) and got back to town around 3. I got some groceries for dinner, did laundry, showered, made dinner, and drank wine while I talked to the German guy and some other British guys I met. I was exhausted; something about spending time in the sun, so I went to bed at 10:30. There were these two REALLY obnoxious girls who came in at 1 and didn't shutup for almost an hour until some guy reached the breaking point and yelled at them... just as I was about to. Just because you're whispering and giggling, doesn't mean everyone can sleep through it.

look at the stuff I had to wear on my feet.

View more photos 

I got up Tuesday morning and packed very loudly in retaliation to the hungover obnoxious girls, one of whom had really ugly hair. So hah! (I'm very special apparently.) I went and got the bus at 9:15. It drove by empty, and picked up people at the hotels before stopping at the bus stop, so it was full when it got all of us who were energetic enough to walk the two blocks to the bus stop and I got stuck in the back. That is incredibly unfair. We should be rewarded for going where we're supposed to!