Southern Hemisphere Travels

So finally the day had arrived where we would get to take a helicopter onto the beautiful blue ice of Franz Josef Glacier. Neither of us has ever been on a helicopter before so we were excited for the ride up as well a the hike itself.
On arrival we were all weighed and given wristbands to detail which of the two helicopters we would be riding on. I found out later that the 'F' printed on mine was code for getting to sit in the front - yay! We weren't allowed any backpacks, just a big bumbag that we could fill up with essentials.
We were shown into a changing room which smelt of a school cloakroom, lots of smelly shoes and socks, and given some lovely boots to wear that smelt like a million people before us had worn them (I imagine they had) and some thick but clean socks, so at least there was a barrier between you and the stink. We also were given some over trousers to wear to keep us dry and a waterproof jacket. I was fortunate enough to get a nice new jacket which looked like it might be breathable and had some sneaky pockets so I had some additional space for my go pro gadgets.

After a briefing on how to put on our crampons once on the ice we headed through some rainforest to the helicopter base. There are so so many helicopters taking off and landing and flying around here all of the time. There are multiple companies which offer tours on the ice and then there are many more offering scenic flights of the glaciers and surrounding mountains as well as snow landings up high on the neve of the glaciers (a big lake of snow basically that feeds the glacier).

We watched a few before us take off and land before it was our turn. The wind from the helicopter wasn't as bad as I had expected when getting on, but it was pretty noisy, thank goodness for the headset. Being in the front seat I quickly got ready to film the awesome views we were bound to see on the way - and then quickly found out that the WiFi on my gopro had been on for ages and my battery was almost nil. Safe to say I was very annoyed at myself, especially as I had also left the spare in the car. I was going to have to be very choosy.

Take off was smooth, obviously, you just simply lift up into the air. It was pretty strange though to take off like that when you are used to feeling the rumbling of a plane engine and being pushed back into your seat with the acceleration. It felt quite weightless.
What was also strange was being able to see both ahead and even down below through the many glass windows in front of me. Certainly better than the snippets you see through a small plane window. We took off and headed toward the glacier, turning was also a strange feeling as you tilt sideways. We approached the glacier by following the rainforest covered mountains that stood sentinel either side of it. An incredible view from up here, the trees, the river running from terminal face and the ever increasing expanse of ice that was coming into view the closer that we got. It felt like we were awfully close to all the trees that sat below us and extended up the sides of the mountains to our right, in reality I imagine we were quite far away. It was also a bit turbulent when so close to the mountains and you could feel a few shudders and bumps. I don't much like turbulence on a plane so this made me a little tense to be honest, still, the view was incredible at least.

As we flew closer to the blue ice of the glacier, its scale became even more obvious, it was massive! Still, it was only when we could see groups of people ahead on the ice that you could really appreciate it. Without the people there you could have thought that a certain patch of ice was only a couple of hundred meters away, but in reality it is far enough away that the people look like ants. The fact that it all looks the same and goes on for so long, there isn't much to offer perspective.

After only a few minutes in the air we were about to land. The landing pad was barely even possible to make out, save for the people gathered near it. It was a small section of ice, just big enough to land on, that had been levelled only 3 days ago. The glacier moves so much they usually change the landing pad and some of the pathways every 3-5 days.
On approaching the pilot informed us we should try to move faster than the last group once on the ice as they were about to know what it felt like to have a whole load of wind land on them. Sure enough, just before landing there was a swift response from the people sat around putting on their crampons, all suddenly trying to shield themselves from the blast of air. It was quite amusing to watch.

We got out pretty quick and made our way off the landing pad whilst trying not to slip on the ice. Within seconds of us getting off the helicopter was back in the air with a lot of noise and a lot of wind. We tried to take his advise, the next copter would be landing soon, but as there seemed to be a backlog of people getting their crampons on, we were like sitting ducks when the next one came in. I knew it would be windy and faced away, but I wasn't really expecting the force and the noise that it brought. The wind was so strong and although didn't last long it arrived with a hell of a force and a lot of noise. It made your whole body vibrate, Rob even found it hard to breathe and it kicked up bits of snow and ice too. If you were standing without crampons I reckon you would have just slid off the ice!

Once we all had attahced our crampons and had them inspected (and almost been blown away another couple of times), we set off up the Glacier.
We were quite a young group which was good as we were all able to keep some pace, although in hindsight we could have been a bit more relaxed as there was a backlog of people at the end and a fair bit of waiting around which could have been spent taking in the even more. We learnt that we were only our guides 5th tour group on her own though so I imagine she is still getting used to the pacing and probably thinking more about making sure nothing goes wrong than making sure we all get good photos. It always happens on a tour though, it was the same at Hobbiton. We learnt this time around to stay at the back, that way you can take photos without people in them and there is no one behind you trying to hurry you along. We missed out on a bit of the info and some group chatter at times, but hey, we wanted to see the ice!

The hike up had less stopping than on the way down as there was less to see in terms of cool crevasses and caves. The view every step of the way was incredible though, the blue ice mixed with the white and the lines of mud that crept in between. Our guide described it as a slow motion river and you can see all the so called waves arching around you, splitting or rising depending on the speed of the glacier.
Along the way we had to wait while our guide used the heavy pick axe to keep the path usable and had to be a bit careful holding onto guide ropes for certain parts that were a little precarious. For the most part we were not surrounded by towering pieces of ice at this point and so had great views all around. We stopped at a pretty cool carved out section of ice for a photo, it was so brilliantly blue, and then crawled through an ice tunnel which was awesome! Again - just so blue!!! It was pretty cramped to crawl through it and despite the crampons the rest of you just slid about on the walls as you moved through, I made sure to stop a moment to take it in before exiting into the bright sunny light again.

We stopped at the highest point of our walk where we sat and shared a few silly things about ourselves, for example which mix of animal we would want to be and why. I chose a wheagle, a whale to dive deep and an eagle to fly. Rob chose to be a mix of a Beluga whale and a sloth, because the whales always look happy and sloths love to snooze...typical!

From where we had stopped we could also see a huge section of rock that was exposed right in the middle of this section of the glacier. It is a steep glacier so from where we were it looked almost like a vertical face half way up. We weren't allowed to go near this section as it is where a lot of ice is carving away and bringing lots of rock with it. We were told if we hear rumbling or crashing that that is probably where we should look. Sure enough we were treated to a huge ice and rock fall shortly after, it didn't look all that massive from where we were (it is still hard to get perspective), but I reckon it was probably bigger than a car and the sound of it cracking and then crashing and rumbling seemed to radiate from all around. We saw another smaller fall a little later and heard a couple more too. They only think they have another 50 years of guiding on this glacier before they will no longer be able to safely do so due to the melting rate. There are some hopes it will start to accumulate faster than it disappears though soon...we will see.

Eventually we set off back down to the helipad. This time we were walking through crevasses which towered either side of us, we avoided the dangerous ones that seemed to continue to the depths of the earth of course! The ice here was even more blue than before with less of the mud running through it. We were even able to fill up our water from a flowing bit of the ice - it was delicious and so clear compared to our bottled water. IT was a bit tricky at times walking in crampons between these great big ice walls. There was sometimes only enough room for one foot and so you had to shuffle forward without crossing your legs one over the other. Even where you could try to walk normally you had to be careful not to catch a crampon on your trousers or other shoe and go flying. Rob managed to fall over a little of course, he is a bit like a newborn giraffe on his feet at times!Read more