Fox Trot

Choices, choices!

When in New Zealand you have an option of two glaciers to hike - Franz Joseph, and the Fox glacier. The most remarkable thing about the NZ glaciers is how close they are to sea level - around 250m above sea level only! However, separated by a mere 27km, Fox and Franz Joseph have a history of rivalry, both claiming to offer the "superior" glacier experience.

You can walk near to the terminal face of each glacier for free, but to get on a glacier you must go with a guide. With only one guiding company at each glacier, the competition is fierce!

Franz- Joseph is a slick operation. Glossy brochure, promises of the "best gear" and "longest time on the ice" abound with added perks that basically included talking up the "town" as a more happening place to be.

Fox bills itself as a family run, longest standing glacial guiding company (in NZ) with the highest safety standards. We ultimately pick them because we hear that they take out only a few small groups.

If you're going to do it, we figure, go big. So, we pick the "Nimble Fox" full day experience that promises us a hike up to the edge of the jagged ice fields with heaps of time on the ice and lots of "features" (tunnels, arches, crevasses).

We arrive shortly before 9:10am to get suited up for what we hear will be a cold day on the mountain. Warm socks, sturdy boots, raincoats and "over trousers", mitts, hats, and crampons.

Our guide Elizabet is Argentinian and previously guided glacial hikes in Patagonia. She doles out all kinds of interesting information on our 20 minute drive out to the start of the trail about the moraines we are seeing, and where, at different points of time the glacier reached.



Over the past few days there has been much rain so the river that flows out from underneath the glacier is in full flow washing out much of the trail and making for some dicy hops over/through the rushing water. There are large chunks of ice all around the river leading Elizabet to explain that a chunk of the terminal face of the glacier fell off overnight. The DOC has actually closed off the trail to the public which makes us feel extra special as we climb over the ropes and head on up. After a 25 minute walk we are at the side of the glacier (getting onto a glacier from the terminal face is dangerous as that is the most unstable ice) and strapping on our crampons.







The Fox glacier is 13km long but it is not straight. You can see all the way up to the ragged ice fields (that are filled with tricky to cross seracs) and then the glacier takes a dog-leg right up to the neve and, ultimately its end. Fox is one of the most active glaciers constantly advancing and retreating (up to 2m a day!).



Each day a group of appointed guides (everyone gets their turns) head out ahead of any hikes to cut steps into the ice so the initial walk up onto the glacier is a well cut staircase. The first 40 minutes or so we are on a section of ice that is well traversed (as it is the area where all the 4 hour 1/2 day hikes come), but after that we branch out and head further up. There is no trail or route here. Elizabet scouts out routes and cuts steps for us as we explore the ice on the look out for tunnels, caves, and the like.


We marvel at the clear blue of the ice, of the gaping holes down which water flows, and the remarkable ice formations. We squinch ourselves into caves and squeeze through crevasses. The group was well prepared for rain, rain and more rain but quite the opposite materializes and we complete most of the day in lovely warm sunshine with beautiful views surrounding us.

















Elizabet finds us a "high point" where we stop to have our lunch where we can see both, down into the valley over the section of glacier we've already covered, and up to the neve. Lunch on the ice is a cold affair (as it is bound to be with several hundred meters of us ice under our bums!) but we find rocks that the glacier has moved along to sit on. Apparently in this dynamic ever-changing environment, it takes ice from the top of the glacier about 60 years to move down to the terminal face.














After lunch we continue our ascent until we reach the edge of the ice fields. There is no going beyond this point unless you are forking out for the helicopter hike. We stop for a few photos and to admire the waterfalls off the sides of the surrounding mountains and then begin our descent ducking into a few deep crevasses and ice tunnels as we go.






We learn that, although the glacial water is a treat to drink, it is so pure that it lacks any of the replenishing minerals and salts that water needs to have. Consequently your thirst will never be quenched and, should you be drinking it on end for days, you will actually become dehydrated! That doesn't however, stop Keir and I from finding a crystal clear pool and sipping handfuls of the pure stuff in the hopes that it will miraculously heal the nasty cold I've picked up.






Matt is another guide who is with us. He is "evaluating" Elizabet (even though he was the one who recruited her from Patagonia) as she is applying to stay on to guide during the winter season. That means that we get TWO experienced guides which is to our advantage on our way down as Matt scouts on ahead (returning every so often to steer us towards another great feature), while Elizabet cuts steps.






The pace is much slower that we are accustomed to but we both don't mind as it allows us heaps of time to ogle all the ice candy!










At the bottom we again bump into Anne-Marie and Terry who are heading up with a group for the 4 hour tour. We make a loose plan to all meet up in Franz Joseph for drinks (which we do) later.

As the West Coast is also known as the "wet coast" for the huge amounts of rainfall it receives, we appreciate The Monsoon Bar's tag line of "when it rains, we pour". For, when we are enjoying our drinks, it does indeed begin to.