“Although massively weather dependent, we were lucky to be the 1 in 3 (season average per Reception staff) tour that got off the ground, literally. Mother Nature permitted a spectacular trip! Reassuringly detailed safety briefing and provision of necessary kit. My Garmin said the hike sir temp was anything down to 8° so that was 11° below Village temp of 19° , this being in March, so Summer, but you're being active. Own gloves, comfortable but not essential today, plus own sunglasses are fine, Reactolites work perfectly, or you will be required to buy their $10 glasses, you want to SEE that blue ice, not be blinded by it! 5 min walk through beautiful rainforest (listen for birds) and into the open sided safety hut to wait briefly while your group are transferred upto the hike starting point in 2 trips by the pilot. Don your headphones and clunk- clink and enjoy the 4 min ride with sweeping view of fan braided river before lifting up the valley side. Step out and fit on your crampons which quickly become your new best friend; with great advice to 'plant your walking pole in front (pole provided, don't try to take your own, not permitted) then stamp, stamp like a stroppy teenager', worked soooo well on both uneven 'path' surfaces comprising lumps of ice some 20cm cubes like oversized sugarlumps. The guides pre-walk the ever changing path route each morning to check for new crevasses (then bridge them with chain-sawed massive cubes of ice) or create new ice steps.
Be warned ice steps can often be at least 45cm risers, (test steps created in wood in Reception to check your ability, be honest with your guide) plus there are some awkward bending and full-stretch climb scrambles, pulling on a strategically placed ice pin for a grab handle. These are forever moving giants (1 metre a day, on the flatter part where we were but 4m a day just above us where it's steeper), this is the nature of a glacier....just don't move whilst I'm walking through this tiny narrow crevass right now please...... Saying that, the pace is modest and that's from a reasonably fit woman but aged 59. In fact we nearly caught up the group ahead, so had a lovely 15 mins towards the end of the loop where we could slow right down and really take in the surroundings, the crinkled ice forms, the quartz flecked rocks caught up in the glacial ice flow, the ultra fine rock mud sediment puddles, on sale in cosmetic shops I believe at huge prices! Then the quick 4 min helicopter trip back.
And don't forget to return, same day or the next) to the same building as Reception for the inclusive in price Hot Pools (3 at different temperatures, very rellaxing), nb own towel. As you can hear, we had a simply superb trip, feel so privileged to have made it. PS we've skied annually ON snow covered glaciers in France for decades, but to hike actually inside the crevasses and ice folds of a glacier without its Winter snow blanket, was magical and revealed the true majesty of a glacier.”
“Although massively weather dependent, we were lucky to be the 1 in 3 (season average per Reception staff) tour that got off the ground, literally. Mother Nature permitted a spectacular trip! Reassuringly detailed safety briefing and provision of necessary kit. My Garmin said the hike sir temp was anything down to 8° so that was 11° below Village temp of 19° , this being in March, so Summer, but you're being active. Own gloves, comfortable but not essential today, plus own sunglasses are fine, Reactolites work perfectly, or you will be required to buy their $10 glasses, you want to SEE that blue ice, not be blinded by it! 5 min walk through beautiful rainforest (listen for birds) and into the open sided safety hut to wait briefly while your group are transferred upto the hike starting point in 2 trips by the pilot. Don your headphones and clunk- clink and enjoy the 4 min ride with sweeping view of fan braided river before lifting up the valley side. Step out and fit on your crampons which quickly become your new best friend; with great advice to 'plant your walking pole in front (pole provided, don't try to take your own, not permitted) then stamp, stamp like a stroppy teenager', worked soooo well on both uneven 'path' surfaces comprising lumps of ice some 20cm cubes like oversized sugarlumps. The guides pre-walk the ever changing path route each morning to check for new crevasses (then bridge them with chain-sawed massive cubes of ice) or create new ice steps.
Be warned ice steps can often be at least 45cm risers, (test steps created in wood in Reception to check your ability, be honest with your guide) plus there are some awkward bending and full-stretch climb scrambles, pulling on a strategically placed ice pin for a grab handle. These are forever moving giants (1 metre a day, on the flatter part where we were but 4m a day just above us where it's steeper), this is the nature of a glacier....just don't move whilst I'm walking through this tiny narrow crevass right now please...... Saying that, the pace is modest and that's from a reasonably fit woman but aged 59. In fact we nearly caught up the group ahead, so had a lovely 15 mins towards the end of the loop where we could slow right down and really take in the surroundings, the crinkled ice forms, the quartz flecked rocks caught up in the glacial ice flow, the ultra fine rock mud sediment puddles, on sale in cosmetic shops I believe at huge prices! Then the quick 4 min helicopter trip back.
And don't forget to return, same day or the next) to the same building as Reception for the inclusive in price Hot Pools (3 at different temperatures, very rellaxing), nb own towel. As you can hear, we had a simply superb trip, feel so privileged to have made it. PS we've skied annually ON snow covered glaciers in France for decades, but to hike actually inside the crevasses and ice folds of a glacier without its Winter snow blanket, was magical and revealed the true majesty of a glacier.”
“I used backpacker deals to book the heli hike on Franz Josef but was never confirmed on an actual trip even after being charged which caused me to have to change to the fox glacier heli hike due to time and availability. The customer service I received from Franz Josef in trying to communicate via email and phone was slow and very unhelpful. Backpacker deals ended up rebooking me with fox glacier guides who had availability the day and time I would be able to do it on my trip and they were excellent. Also customer service with backpacker deals in rebooking me was awesome.”
