A Little History
The early Maori knew Franz Josef as Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere (Tears of the Avalanche Girl). Legend tells of a girl whose lover fell from the local peaks, and her flood of tears freezing into the glacier. The glacier was first explored by Europeans in 1865. This glacier is descending rapidly, about 1m per day due to ample rain. A plane that crashed into the glacier 3.5km from the terminal face, made it down to the bottom 6,5 years later - a rate of 1.5m per day! If the present global warming continues, it is expected that the glacier will have disappeared in 40 years.
Due to the danger of the fast descentof the glacier, you cannot walk near it though there are several glacier valley walks in the area. So the only way to get a glacier walk experience is to book a tour and take a five minute helicopter ride.
We were very excited, and managed to get the front seats in the helicopter.
Notice how big the glacier is and how small the people are in this video of the landing.
We only slid a little going from the helicopter to the waiting area, where we put crampons on the boots, and off we went exploring the glacier. |
The guide, Mark from Toronto, hacked steps along the way to make it easier for us.
After about 3 amazing hours on the glacier, it was time to fly back.
Nowhere else at this latitude do glaciers come so close to the ocean.
We went from a cold glacier to glacier hot pools relaxing in the 36C, 38C and 40C water.
What a day!
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