Glacier hiking in Franz Josef Glacier

30 August 2016

Glacier hiking in Fox of Franz Josef was one of the activities on my list while I was planning for my New Zealand trip. However, when I learned that you couldn’t just walk your way to the glaciers anymore and you really need to ride a helicopter, that plan went out of the window, thinking that it would just blow up my budget.

Glacier hiking

For some reason, I still found myself researching about glacier hiking and the prices in both Fox and Franz Josef. And I stumbled into Franz Josef Glacier Guides which offered a helicopter ride to the glaciers, 3 hours of guided hiking and entry to their hot pools for NZD 379. Expensive, but… it was affordable. I wasn’t quite sure if I was willing to spend this much money for 3 hours of hiking. Interestingly, when I told my mum about my dilemma, her response was, Go for it! YOYO! (Yup, she really said YOYO—You’re only young once). Weeellll, I’m an obedient daughter… I followed my mother’s advice. And that’s how we ended up in Franz Josef.

Franz Josef Glacier

Franz Josef Glacier Guides provided us with waterproof pants, jacket, shoes (with detachable crampons), socks and bag for the hike. They also gave away a beanie for each participant. We only needed to come in comfortable clothing and our happy selves.

Hiking through the glacial crevasses

The tour started with a safety briefing and hiking guidelines. Then we made a short walk through the forest to the helipad where we took a short helicopter flight to the glacier. We had a strong pretty lady as our guide who chipped off the ice and paved our way through the glaciers. There were several other tour groups but we were far apart. The hike was slow enough to take quick photos along the way. Some of the ice were dirty but a lot of them were crystal blue and white. It was pretty amazing to see the glaciers up close.

Going inside the glaciers

It wasn’t tiring at all and since it was quite sunny, I was pretty warm under the jacket they gave and the down that I was wearing. The hike wasn’t tiring at all and going through the tiny spaces between the glaciers was really cool. Before we knew it, three hours had gone by and we were flying back to the town.

Ice ice ice

After the hike, we made another trip to the Terrace Walk. We didn’t finish the entire trail the night before so we decided to walk a little bit earlier up to end of the trail, wait till it gets dark before walking back so we can check the entire trail for glow worms. We found the glow worms under the same tree we found them yesterday. Although the glow worms were still disappointing, the walk in the forest was nice and easy.

Terrace Walk

We ended the day by taking a dip into the hot pools. It felt so good that my runny nose got cured right away (I’m really meant for the tropics). I was glad I didn’t skip glacier hiking. Although a small town, Franz Josef has a charm of its own--a view of snow-capped mountains, hot pools and a memorable glacier hiking.