Franz Josef Glacier Hike

If it has not become apparent as yet, there are tons of tourist options in New Zealand. The south island is more into "adventure" activities, such as bungy jumping, mt biking, heli-hikig (they fly you to the top of a mountain, and you hike back), etc. We decided to check out the Franz Josef glacier on a 3/4 day hike, so that we could see more of the glacier up-close and personal.

The Franz Josef glacier is unique in a few ways: first, its terminal is practically in a rain forest (the base of the glacier gets an average of 18 feet of rain per year - in contrast, Seattle gets just over 3 feet per year). Additionally, it is very steep so the ice moves very fast (about 3 feet per day - in contrast to glaciers in North America which move closer to inches per day). Finally, the glacier is at pretty low elevation - the guide said we were only about 150 ft above sea level. All of this quick moving ice causes some incredible glacial behavior.


For example, we hiked from the bus for about 15 minutes to the base (aka terminal) of the glacier, and we were just getting set to put on our boot spikes when the glacier cave collapsed. The cave mouth opened by about 30 feet or so. For those of you who aren't into glaciers, this is an extremely rare treat. It is also extremely dangerous. Here's why: when the ice collapses it blocks off all of the water that is melting from underneath the glacier, and after the water builds up for a while there is a huge surge. As soon as the collapse occurred all of the guides started shouting for us and other folks along the creek bed to start heading uphill. It is difficult to say when the surge will take place and how much water will come out from the surge, so it is very important to get to higher ground.

Below is a video of the surge. You can see huge ice chunks floating by - they are the size of cars (no joke). It was so frightening and so exhilarating at the same time.


We hiked for about 6 hours, and yes we were quite sore afterwards. Fortunately, with the low altitude we didn't have to deal with any of the other difficulties of typical glacier climbing.

J