Crevasse Video
2012-01-11
Franz Josef is the town near the base of Franz Josef Glacier. I decided to do a guided hike onto the glacier rather than a unguided hike to a viewing point and I made the right decision. It's a popular spot and many people want to hike on the glacier, so we were broken up into groups by how confident and adventurous we were. I got myself into the first group, which meant that we walked ahead of the other groups and set the trail. I had never used crampons before, but I got used to them after a few minutes. As the lead group, if we wanted to go a certain way, we just asked the guide and off we went, chiseling out stairs along the way. It was a fantastic experience. The ice melts so quickly that new stairs have to be cut every day, even if the same path is followed. Glacier ice looks different from the ice we are used to because it is formed at higher than normal temperatures due to the pressure of the snow above pushing down on it. Air bubbles in the ice sometimes cause it to look blue. Franz Josef is in a rain forest, so the surrounding mountains are lush with lots of waterfalls on their faces. The pictures just didn't capture the experience I'm afraid. It was one of the many highlights of my trip so far.
There was a group of people a ways behind us led by a new and inexperienced guide. He was supposed to follow us by looking for "crunchies", the ice shavings left behind by our crampons. The guide did okay for awhile, but in the end he got lost. He also seemed to be out of shape and was huffing and puffing at the end of the day. I felt bad for him. He seemed like a really nice guy. Hopefully he'll get the hang of it.