Majestically flowing ice

Today it starts. The sun is shining from the sky. Chaka. Today we go to the glacier by helicopter, with a 3-hour hike on the glacier. How exciting. My first helicopter flight, although the hike is more difficult for me. We start at 10 o'clock. 4 layers of functional underwear cling to my body. It's 15 degrees down here, so it's really warm for me at the moment. However, before we go to the helicopter, we have to dress again. Boots, socks, pants, gloves, crampons, and jacket (I had a "house tent", the other jackets were too small because I still had 4 layers underneath). After a 5-minute walk through the rainforest, we reach the landing site.

Safety instructions and then it starts. The helicopter flight was great. 

And the hike was far less exhausting than I thought.

At the beginning, our glacier guide Kalie, from Canada, cleared more steps and talked a lot for her recovery than we hiked. Sometimes I was really cold 🥶, especially when the sun was gone. It was an awesome experience to hike there, even though I almost got stuck in a crevice. Carsten wanted to push, but I could get through on my own. 

The sound when the tension of the glacier loudly cracked was creepy and scary. 

I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Thanks to the crampons and hiking pole, I felt safe and the others, younger ones in our group, looked cumbersome while hiking. That reassured me. 

It was such an amazing experience. A real highlight that we would repeat anytime.

💡The Franz Josef Glacier 

is a 10 km long, southern neighbor of the Fox Glacier. Discovered in 1865 by the German Julius von Haast and named after the Austrian emperor. The glacier flows between 0.5 and 1.5 meters per day. It flows so much because water gets under the ice and serves as a lubricant.

For relaxation, we went to the private hot pool for an hour.

It was an unforgettable day all around.