From the Sea to the Ice--and Everest too

Today offered several options. Some booked massages at the spa, one took a helicopter ride over Franz Josef and Fox glaciers (extra fee)—we get a glacier tour later in our trip. The rest of us took a mostly downhill 17-mile bike ride to the Okarito lagoons at the Tasman Sea. The scenery started out similar to the day before—ferns and forests, with the added treat of glassy smooth Lake Mapouriki and occasional views of the glacier across green valleys After a smoothie at a food truck, some of us took the van back, while others biked back to our hotel.

Next was a hike to the glacier terminus, or as close as you can get to it today— about 400 yards. Franz Joseph glacier has been advancing and retreating over the years, but as recently as 2009 we could’ve walked right up to it.

Dinner was on our own in a historic restaurant in town, and after dinner we got a treat! Backroads arranged for Mike Mahoney to talk to us about his 1977 expedition to Mt. Everest. He and seven others were the first Kiwis to attempt the mountain. Without sherpas or oxygen, they got to within about five hours from the summit before they decided to call it. They were the first expedition not to suffer any loss of human life, and certainly the smallest and lowest-budget group to make the attempt at that time. His slides documenting the trip and his passion for the success and safety of the ascent were palpable, over 40 years later!Read more