Day 84 - Heli-hike on Fox Glacier

We gave an early start a go and managed it, allowing us time to have brekki and then drive down the road to Lake Matheson. This lake is renowned for its wonderful photo opportunities. The best times to visit are supposedly dawn or dusk when the waters are said to be less disturbed by the wind and therefore offer better reflections. Today was another gloriously sunny day, a very unusual but welcome trend in this part of New Zealand, and gave us little wind anyway. We did a full circuit of the lake and stopped at the viewpoints along the way. These stops allowed us to see the mighty pair of mountains that even manage to dominate the very mountainous area we’re in. These two huge rocks are: Mount Tasman and New Zealand’s highest mountain – Mount Cook. The placid waters allowed for some nice reflections in the lake and Corrie took full advantage of these camera friendly views.

After the lake we had to head back to park the van at the camp-site and then had enough time to make and devour a sandwich each; but that was all as we had to go and check in for our heli-hike.

We got in our group of ten and went to be kitted out with boots and socks, along with any other gear we might need to keep us warm. The weather was so nice most people just got boots and socks and stuck with their one or two layers. After this and a safety briefing we went outside to the helipads. Our group was split in two and four of us remained whilst the other six got in the chopper that would take them far up the glacier before returning to take us four.

The 5-10 minute helicopter flight was good and our pilot made a few fancy turns to give us a good birds-eye view of the massive ice flow along with some close fly-bys of a couple of the more noticeable features. We all were in awe at the views on offer and tried to grab a few pictures despite our fixation on what lay before us.

On landing we were greeted by our two guides and directed to crouch down whilst the helicopter took off and veered back towards the west. Our guides then introduced themselves and issued us all with the glacier walking essentials: crampons and hiking sticks. Once kitted out we set off in a snake-like trail to explore the wonders of Fox Glacier. There was a lot to see, not just ice though there was rather a lot of the stuff, and we stopped regularly to look at compression arcs (basically arcs formed by the faster moving part of the glacier hitting the slower moving part) and moulins (holes where the water has penetrated and made vertical/ almost vertical shafts in the ice) along with crevices and streams that cut through the slow moving giant. Our guides were very informative and answered any questions we put to them and they also helped to carve foot holds and steps for us as we navigated to terrain – though this seemed mostly for show in parts that appeared easy to traverse! We also got the chance to explore some of the caves that had formed in places and witness some of the fast flowing waters draining metres below the surface. These little explorations were fun and proved great photo opportunities for us all. We spent a good two and a bit hours walking around and exploring, learning a great deal as we went, before it was finally time to make our way back to the make-shift helipad and fly back down to the base.

 

 

The whole trip was really worthwhile and was made even better by the fact that we were alone on that part of the glacier. When there were no helicopters or planes passing by giving their scenic flights we were left with just the noise of the waterfall and the streams nearby. We’re sure Franz Josef is just as nice but we are more than happy with our experience of Fox Glacier. We’re also extremely thankful to the weather as the heli-hikes are cancelled more often than not due to the poor conditions that are normally found here.

We then walked the short trip back to our site and enjoyed the last couple of hours of sunlight. Then we went and microwaved the remainder of yesterday’s tea, which was still really nice, before retiring to the moderate warmth of our little van for the night.