I have seen glaciers many times in many places but they never seem to lose some magic that they have. The awesome power of tons on ice carving out the rock around it, the unique blue of the water on and from it. The sound of cracking ice. It is a special thing. And these two glaciers, Franz Joseph and Fox are no different. And yet they are very different from each other and any other. We took a walk up to the face of Franz Joseph this morning. A nice trek over the strewn rock debris it has left in its retreat. But we could only go so far, right up to its face. At our next stop, Fox Glacier we arr
anged to join a tour to
actually go on to the top of the glacier. And though the trip to the point where we could get on to its side ( the face is constantl changing and too dangerous) was much more of a journey than we thought (600 steps up, many of whom had definetly never seen a code book - steep!) it was so worth it. After donning crampons we made our way onto the flank through steps cut with an ice ax daily. It is a unique enviroment, especially on a hot summer day as the ice melts more than 100mm a day. (this one also moves about a meter or so downhill daily as it advances instead of retreating). Rivulets of ice cold water, deep cracks, undulating ridges, and all sorts of blue tones from crystal clear to deep turquoise. What an adventure. Tomorrow we cross the Southern Alps.
I have seen glaciers many times in many places but they never seem to lose some magic that they have. The awesome power of tons on ice carving out the rock around it, the unique blue of the water on and from it. The sound of cracking ice. It is a special thing. And these two glaciers, Franz Joseph and Fox are no different. And yet they are very different from each other and any other. We took a walk up to the face of Franz Joseph this morning. A nice trek over the strewn rock debris it has left in its retreat. But we could only go so far, right up to its face. At our next stop, Fox Glacier we arr
anged to join a tour to 
actually go on to the top of the glacier. And though the trip to the point where we could get on to its side ( the face is constantl changing and too dangerous) was much more of a journey than we thought (600 steps up, many of whom had definetly never seen a code book - steep!) it was so worth it. After donning crampons we made our way onto the flank through steps cut with an ice ax daily. It is a unique enviroment, especially on a hot summer day as the ice melts more than 100mm a day. (this one also moves about a meter or so downhill daily as it advances instead of retreating). Rivulets of ice cold water, deep cracks, undulating ridges, and all sorts of blue tones from crystal clear to deep turquoise. What an adventure. Tomorrow we cross the Southern Alps.
No comments:
Post a Comment