December 27

Drive to Fox Glacier, Glacier Walk

It was raining hard when I got up. The manager had predicted it would rain today, and said yesterday's sunshine was quite unusual lately. It had been raining for weeks on the west coast. I had a shower, which cost 50 cents here, and then breakfast, and started north toward Fox Glacier. I was glad I saw the beaches yesterday, because there wasn't much of a view today. At times the storms were intense.

I arrived at Fox Glacier at 11 AM, and found a room at Ivory Towers, a Budget Backpackers Accommodation. It was a very nice hostel. Parking was a bit scarce, though. I got a room in a small dormitory in a little building across from the main building. It was very homey and clean, with a central living and cooking area surrounded by several shared bedrooms, and a dinner table in a little alcove surrounded by windows. The main building had a bigger common area and kitchen, plus a TV room.

I went to Alpine Guides headquarters and checked that the glacier walks were still going today, even though it was raining. In fact, the walks had been canceled for some time due to landscape changed caused by all the rain, but they were going again now. Helicopter tours were canceled, however, until better weather. It had been weeks since a helicopter got off the ground.

I had some time before the afternoon glacier walks, so I made reservations for a cave rafting trip in Greymouth I had read about in the Lonely Planet guide. I would be there Saturday. I also tried to get a bed at the Franz Joseph YHA for tomorrow night, but they were full, so I arranged to stay at Ivory Towers another night. I bought some groceries at the store, where the supply of fresh foods was again very limited, especially meats.

I went to the cafe in the Alpine Guides headquarters and got quiche and ginger beer and a chocolate square for lunch. Then I signed up for the long five hour glacier walk that goes up onto the glacier, for $35. There is a shorter and easier $20 trip just to the base. Rains and the associated landslides had completely changed the terminus area of Fox Glacier recently, and private cars were not allowed to go there yet. You had to take a guided tour to see it. We were issued heavy leather boots, wool socks and instep crampons, and raincoats if needed (I wore my own).

We boarded busses at 2:30 and drove out to the terminal morain of Fox Glacier. Here, everyone got a walking stick with a nail in the end. It was still raining. The guide carried a large board to help us cross streams, which would be high today. Earth-moving equipment tried to move the river channel back where it was, so they could rebuild the road to the glacier. The old road was now buried under a huge pile of rocks.

After crossing the soft, squishy grey mud of the morraine, and fording several streams (with the help of the board at times), we started climbing above the valley. The trail was steep and treacherous in places. There were ropes to hold onto at some of the steeper places, or above big cliffs. We had one difficult crossing over a swift swollen stream, aided by the board and the guides. This would not be a good trail for someone who was not fit, or who was afraid of heights. One elderly couple was along, and was beginning to think they had signed up for the wrong walk, having trouble believing a guided tourist walk would be so difficult. They did fairly well, however.

The guide pointed out how dynamic the landscape is here, with frequent floods and landslides, and the advance of the glacier itself. New Zealand's coastal glaciers are among the few in the world that are advancing, after retreating for much of the century. The tops of the glaciers get around 10 meters of precipitation a year. This allows the glaciers to advance 100 yards or so yearly into the subtropical rainforest below. The only other place in the world with glaciers coming so low into rainforests is Chile.

Finally, we arrived at the glacier, and put on our crampons. The guide used an axe to cut steps in the ice. We followed a way up the craggy glacier to a point where we could view the icefall above. Rain was only intermittent now. We stopped at several points for views, and I took some pictures. We then made our way back, as the rain started again.

It was a long way down to the bus. The trail was surprisingly rough for a guided walk, but constantly changing conditions made maintaining the trail difficult. This was a very dynamic landscape, and the trail crossed a number of unstable landslide zones. We saw a big block of ice fall from the face of the glacier, crashing loudly into the river below. We got back to the Alpine Guide center at 7:30. As we changed back into our own shoes, the guide filled out "Certificates of Achievement" for anyone who wanted one. These certificates seem to be a big thing in New Zealand, and just about any adventurous activity seems to have one. Almost everyone, including me, insisted on having one, though I suspect the guide would rather not be bothered with this silly detail.

I went back to the hostel to shower. I had food to cook, but I saw an interesting pizza place, Cone Rock Cafe, and went there for a deluxe pizza, with venison, pepperoni, and many vegetables, and a Black Mac ale. The cafe was crowded, and it took a while to get my pizza. Afterward, at 10 PM, I went to the glow worm grotto on the edge of town. For $2 NZ, you can walk around a short loop here and see glow worms in the dark trees. It was very popular, though some people spoiled the effect by bringing flashlights. at 10 PM

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.