Heli-hike on Franz Josef glacier
Heli-hike on the Franz Josef glacier. I can’t really describe it that well so I’ll type a little bit and posts lots of pics…
There are various different options for hiking on the glacier, most of them involve hiking to the base of the glacier which we did for free unguided. The alternative was the heli-hike. Helicopter ride to high up on the glacier, then hiking around on it for a couple hours before another helicopter takes you back down to town.
I’ve never been on a helicopter before so that was cool in and of itself, plus you are flying over a glacier. The weather was perfect.
Once on the glacier, you get ice picks/axes and crampons and start hiking. Some parts were steep, some pretty flat. Some areas had huge towering chunks of ice, and there were a few ice caves and tunnels we went through. The ice formations are all unique, it’s different every 20ft you walk and the colour blue in parts of the glacier is stunning. Awesome hike. Here’s some pics…
me in an ice cave:
me in another ice cave:
Another Ice cave:
After that, we drove down the coast…
and across the mountains to Wanaka. Not bad scenery around here either…
Tags: New Zealand, Travel
Adam
That is badass!