[Day 16] Fox Glacier

Wandering with open eyes and simple curiosity allows you to discover a much richer pleasure—the simple feeling of possibility humming in every direction as you move from place to place. -Rolf Potts

New Zealand has two glaciers that you can take guided hikes on and they are both on the south island. The most well known is Franz Joseph, from what we hear it is the more touristy one, thus more expensive. The second is Fox Glacier, and from what we gathered from talking to a bunch of people back in Aukland, is the better of the two. Fox is an actual town in New Zealand. The population hovers around 200, 60 of which work for the glacier tour company. The rest work in local restaurants, bars, hotels, etc. that support all the 200,000 tourists that go through the tiny city each year. It is truly a town that would not exist if it weren't for the spectacular glacier 5 minutes away.

The glacier itself is a sight to see. It lies in a lush valley. Massive cliffs soar on either side, striped in skinny waterfalls. Snow-capped mountains lie in the background to complete the amazing picture that is Fox Glacier. The glacier appears to be crawling down the valley at a snails pace, which it is... the guide told us it advances a mere 20 centimeters per day. To me, the glacier is a bit of a mystery because the area surrounding it is forest-like terrain, not snow, and not very cold. But regardless, it is there and we took full advantage of its mysterious existence.

After being fitted with wool sox and boots by our guides Chris and Passang a.k.a. “Sherpa”, we take the short 5 minute bus ride. Before we know it we're on the glacier trail. The hike is both exciting and invigorating! The glacier is this magnificent piece of ice that has been there for hundreds of years, if not thousands, and there we were about to explore it. Not many people get this opportunity!

Within the first few minutes of being on the glacier we walk through narrow halls of ice two feet wide and ten feet tall...spectacular! One of the coolest things about doing a full day hike, as opposed to a half day, is there is no set path. The guides pretty much play it by ear and wander around looking for cool stuff to show you, all the while carving out steps with axes as they lead you on your unique trip. We crawl through ice caves, throw ice chunks down 30 meter (90ft) crevis', have a few glacier dance parties, and take many pictures. Garrett dropped his walking stick down a pretty deep crevis. His puzzling yet hilarious explanation: “I don't know what happened, my boot just kicked the stick!"

So a few days before we did the hike, Garrett got the brilliant idea to strip off all of his clothes and swim in a pool on the glacier, and he couldn't have been more stoked on the idea! So throughout the hike we all had our eyes peeled for a deep enough pool for the crazy kid to jump in, as we all naturally wanted to see it happen. We had a few candidates throughout the day, but couldn't find a lake suitable for Garrett's naked white ass to grace his presence with. But on our walk back to the bus following our all day hike we come around a bend and an there it is, an electric green lake with GARRETT written all over it! Garrett B-lines it to the shore, strips down to his boxers and dives right in! The pool was not actually on the glacier, but it was surrounded by huge blocks of ice, and the bottom was ice, so the water was still damn cold!

All and all, the Fox Glacier hike was a completely unique experience that I will never forget, and I would say it is a must for anyone visiting the South Island of New Zealand…CHEERS!!!