Ice Climbing on Franz Josef Glacier

After a 5.5 hour drive traversing New Zealand's South Island from Christchurch to glacier country in our cheaply rented Sunny Nissan, Brian and I arrived safe and sound in the town of Franz Josef. Really not much to this sleepy little town, but it's located right next to the glacier--hence the name--which makes for some excellent scenery.

Next morning we woke up bright and early and walked three minutes to the Franz Josef Glacier Guides station, where we were geared up for ice climbing with ice picks, crampons, helmets, fleece hats, wool gloves, hiking packs, Gortex coats and pants. I felt pretty much invincible, despite the fact that only the night before I'd experienced a mini wave of anxiety (I mean, I don't have upper body strength...how could anyone expect me to haul ass up a gigantic wall of ice...). It's funny how a little gadget or item of adventure wear can make you feel all the more experienced--like when you go to REI (best store ever) and surround yourself with camping knives and inflatable rafts and all of a sudden you feel like Survivor[wo]man. Granted, my biceps were still non-existent, but with crampons on my feet and ice-picks in hand, I felt as though Franz Josef Glacier had nothing on me. Ha.

Shortly, Brian and I found ourselves on a little bus with approximately seven other ice climbers: a Texan named Lisa, a guy from Sydney, a couple from Wellington, and a group of three somewhat off-the-rocker, dreadlocked Spaniards who none of us could understand. After ten minutes, we arrived at the glacier:

 

the walk from the bus to the foot of the glacier

the view of the glacier from the rainforest. looks much closer than it appears. in reality, the foot of the glacier is about 2 km away. 

  

walking past the waterfall

 

brian getting outfitted/final checked before heading up

 

ice climbing wall

 

brian about to begin his first climb

brian reaches the top!

 

me = taking control of that ice pick

 

carlyn vs. large wall of ice

  

me climbing up one of the harder climbs...yessss

dramatic pic of brian

 

going on a little hike in between climbs

 

cool little blue cave we found

 

in the cave

 

headed back down

 

view from the top

 

back at the bottom, safe and sound :)