Tears of the Avalanche Girl
27th July 2006
Maori legend states that a maori girl named Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her. Tawe was not a fan of climbing but persisted for Hinehukatere’s sake. One day Tawe fell from the peaks to his death. Hinehukatere was broken hearted and her many, many tears froze to form the Franz Joseph glacier which the Maoris call Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere – or “The Tears of the Avalanche Girl”
The sun was out in force the day we chose to undertake a full days hike (with guide) up the Franz Joseph. Now most of you may think a travelling life is a somewhat easy life….No Sirrreeee! It took us both the best part of two hours, a lot of leaflet reading and a couple of rather good cappucino’s to finally decide on the Franz Joseph over its sister glacier, The Fox Glacier’ and a full day hike over a heli-hike or half day hike. Thankfully we believe we chose well.
The day began at 8.15am with the provision of our kit for the day. Apart from waterproofs we were provided with boots which reminded me of biker boots (which I like to think were something like you would find on Lara Croft) and a pair of “Talons”. I understand the talons are similar to crampons but with more teeth….although I am not that au fait with crampons to verify this.
We had a ten minute drive before we caught our first site of the glacier which is 12km long (the incline is approximately 6km and the top of the glacier is also approximately 6km). The first question our guide asked us is how far away from the glacier we were standing….now I seriously thought we were about 200m and was going to pipe up with what I later learnt to be sheer ignorance when Chris beat me to it with his rather closer guess (could not bring myself to write “informed response”) of 2km…..the correct answer was 2.2km.
The glacier has (like glaciers tend to do intodays climes) retreated signifiantly over the years and is still retreating but is currently in a short advance period…..think of the tide and the action of waves as the tide retreats and its something like that! The glacier can advance by 70cm a day which is phenomenal by glacial standards!
After the short trek to the terminal face of the glacier we donned our talons and began to proceed behind our guide onto the ice. Walking with talons is a little different to walking normally …the easiest way to describe it is that you have to stamp more……and boy are we feeling the product of our stamping today!
The first hour or so of hiking was interspersed with regular stops whilst our guide reset the previous days safety lines which were situated in places where the going was tricky or there was substantial drops to oneside. The ice was also considerably dirtier than that found higher on the glacier quite simply because it is older and has travelled further down the valley.
Once we got over the first ridge the landscape changed considerably…..not only was the ice alot cleaner ….think blue ice (the colour is due to the purity and compactness of the ice)……but the terrain was dramatically different with narrow gaps to squeeze through, tunnels to climb through and caves to enter……in short alot more of the funkier stuff!
The full day hike allowed us about 6 hours on the ice during which our guide used it as his personal playground…..carving out new steps with his ice axe depending on where his mood took him. At the start of the day we volunteered ourselves to join the more confident of the two full day hike groups and consequently were faced with some quite challenging climbs (which our guide made look easy!) which has probably only added to the fire in our quadraceps today!
On leaving Franz Joseph we headed to Wanaka (dont forget to pronounce the middle ‘a’) stopping by at Lake Matherson which provides picture postcard views of the mountains reflecting in the lake. The area is extremely peaceful and no doubt one of the most beautiful places we have visited so far on our travels.
P.S. Chris has now been stopped twice by the police and breathlised…….must look dodgy ….or maybe its just his driving! The first time was after disembarking the ferry from the North Island where every car was stopped and the second was last night in Wanaka. It appears they are having ahuge crackdown over here due to the numbers of road accidents. It was never in doubt ……both times he passed with flying colours.
Tags: Franz Joseph, GLACIER, New Zealand, NZ
Chris and Charl
These photo’s are the best, great views and you both look so happy…keep enjoying….Love you loads
Hey
Novelty of the site has surely worn off when our mams are the only ones posting comments! ….and then down to one liners!
Easy to take nice shots when scenery so amazing…..much more difficult to get a good shot of us two however…..1,000’s have been deleted!
In Queenstown today……rafting here we come!
Lots of love from us both
Charl and Chris
xxxxx
No, it hasn’t worn off (the novelty, that is!) Guess it’s just that come summer time & it’s actually been very very hot, not sitting so much in front of a computer!! However, today is cooler & having just cleaned the rooms after a couple of B&Bers, am taking the opportunity to catch up on where you are. Love the pics … but am thinking you’ll have to take at least another 6 mths off when you get back to sort them all out ! Jo here for a couple of days, arriving with her other cousins tonight. Must remember to show her your blog/pics. She will love that account of the skydive… but me??? – and as for the boat crossing. OMG!!! Continue to enjoy & keep well. Bisous Sue & Paul
We’re back – and I’m all up to date with your adventures. WOW!
….and of course the novelty hasn’t worn off!!! It’s trying to think of interesting things to tell you when you’re up to such fantastic things.
Photos are absolutely fab – you seem to be having the best time – we’re all missing you loads, but are so happy for you.
Will send e-mail to waffle about hols etc. Applying aftersun by the gallon trying to ensure the tan stays past Monday! Back to work tomorrow….off to watch Celebrity Love Island now……you see, nothing changes!!
Loadsa love, keep safe.
Sarah
xx
Hey Sarah…been thinking about you all ….keep saying to Chris ….they will be on hols now….they have been on hol a week….they will be home now…etc etc
Hope you had a good time….how was the sofa for Macrow?
Absolutely caning the budget in Queenstown……gonna have to pick all the fruit in Australia when we get there!
Say hi to Jon and Amelia
Lots of love
C
Hi Sue,
Nice to hear from you! You are right about the photos, at the moment we are just dumping them all onto the site, not looking forward to the sorting process when we get back (i think we have taken well over a thousand now!).
Please say hello to Jo from me when she is over, she would be impressed, we have just booked 3 days snow boarding starting tomorrow!
Take care, Chris
hey hey…look at you guys, yes very impressed!!! not seen photos just yet but am about to! good luck with the snowboarding…hope those arses dont ache too much! ouch… for god sake BUNGEE JUMP would you, go on, i dare ya!!! love jo xxx
Hi Jo,
Survived our first day boarding without any major injuries thankfully….got off to a bit of a slow start but was getting the hang of things by the end….bring on tomorrow!
Take care, Chris