Travel blog: Franz Josef Glacier and the Haast region

New Zealand's Franz Josef glacier (photo: Anna Kainberger)

Monday, 14, Apr 2008 10:26

Anna Kainberger is taking a year-out from her career to travel in south-east Asia, Australasia and the South Pacific, along with Hawaii and the USA. This month she is reporting from New Zealand. Here is her sixteenth blog entry:

From Greymouth it is a fairly long and winding road along the very beautiful west coast of New Zealand to reach the tiny village of Franz Josef.

Franz Josef has only 300 inhabitants, one pizza place, one pub, one internet cafe (located in a red bus) and the helicopter and hiking companies that offer heli-hikes, glacier hikes, skiing and all sorts of mountaineering related activity, as well as some good quad-biking.

I was looking to do a full day glacier hike. Not because I had never been on a glacier before - being Austrian that really is out of the question - but because it seemed like the right thing to do when a glacier is named after the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I.

In fact the glacier is named after Franz Josef's beard as Sir Johann Franz Julius von Haast, the German geologist and explorer who named the region, was reminded of our dear emperor when he set eyes on the glacier.

The Maori name for the glacier is Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere ("the tears of Hinehukatere"), arising from a local legend.

Hinehukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb with her.

Tawe was a less experienced climber than Hinehukatere but loved to accompany her until one day an avalanche swept him from the peaks to his certain death.

Hinehukatere was broken-hearted and her many, many tears flowed down the mountain and froze to form the glacier.

I think both stories are rather endearing - lover's tears or emperor's beard - you can choose your favourite.

The full day glacier hike started at 08:00, when we met at the company's shop to receive jackets, crampons and trekking boots if needed, as well as woolly mittens and a warm hat.

I had carried my own trekking boots on this trip and preferred to wear them but was thankful for the waterproof jacket and the rest of the gear.

We hopped on a bus for a ten minute drive to entrance of the glacier river area and from then on it was onwards and upwards.

It is a two kilometre hike from the parking area through to the actual Glacier itself, where we put our crampons on and started climbing about a million steps upwards.

We were divided into five groups and told that if we went up on glaciers every day back home we belonged in group one and then in the other groups depending on our fitness levels. So group five was the inexperienced or slow people, or people with knee injuries.

I ended up in group four because one was out of the question and two and three filled up so quickly I was left with no other option.

However, my hiking and wandering the mountains in the various countries I have visited must have instilled some good stamina as I somehow found myself in group one when we reached the glacier.

Little did I know that, although this would have been the right group for me, the day was going to take a rather unfortunate turn.

The groups were full and no more than 11 people were allowed in each group. With me catching up to group one, we were 12.

My guide was contacted on the walkie-talkie by one of his colleagues who was worried that he was missing someone and it was decided that I had to be left behind due to security, health and safety and what not.

I nearly laughed when he said that I was now going to be in group five. And I nearly cried when it turned out to be the slowest of all five groups.

I spent most of my time standing around waiting for our guide to finish cutting steps into the ice. I did not fit in to group five and I was annoyed.

The weather turned from rain to sunshine for a bit on the actual glacier and then back to more rain. By 14:00 I was so pissed off with constantly having to stand around that I was ready to go back down again.

We climbed one major crevasse but apart from that it was more like a walk then a hike.

I had loved group one - there was no-one ahead of us and we moved fast and had fun. I hated group five.

The glacier itself was impressive, although I have seen bigger - and the colours of the actual ice, the texture and the views into the valley were truly great.

If I had not felt so misplaced this would have been a great day. So I do recommend you go up the glacier in a group. It is fun but for me the experience turned a bit sour.

By the time we got back to the village I was soaked and cold but the hostel's spa (jacuzzi) was the cure for me and after dinner I had nearly, but only nearly, forgiven the guide who put me in group five.

As the full day glacier hike costs NZ$130 (£52) you may understand my annoyance.

If you have done a lot of mountaineering or skiing this may not be a particularly special mountain experience.

There are more spectacular glaciers in the world but this is one of only three that are within close proximity of the ocean, as well as being very accessible to tourists.

The Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are also great regions for a skydive - although when I was there it rained for three days straight so I did not hang about too long before heading further south to reach Wanaka.

I felt a bit run down from the constantly having to get up early and the weather had turned a bit cooler as well.

So I planned a quick rest stop in lovely Wanaka, which is supposed to be how Queenstown was ten years ago, before reaching the adventure capital of New Zealand - the famous Queenstown.

Anna Kainberger