Glacier country

Today, something big was happening with Wiegesagt. I could hardly sleep the night before and didn’t even need the alarm at 6:45 because I was already awake. So I luxuriously started my day in the little outhouse with a sink. After a quick breakfast, I drove about an hour towards Fox Glacier. And yes, of course, I arrived too early, but it’s better to be early than late. Once there, I could check in around 8:30, got weighed, and my bag was checked. Then we received a 25-minute safety briefing (we had already signed some safety thing beforehand stating that if we died, they wouldn’t be held liable and so on). This was good because I had never been on a Glacier or in a helicopter before. We then got jackets, gloves, shoes, socks, pants, and backpacks, so it was a full outfit, and we were driven to the helipad by bus. Just that alone was impressive; I had never been so close to a helicopter. I was lucky and got to sit in the front, which did separate a couple, but what can I say, I didn’t make the seating arrangement :)

When that thing took off, damn, it was cool. I felt like I was floating; it’s completely different from being in an airplane. We didn’t fly for long, but the views were insane, especially flying into the Glacier. The people who were already there looked so small, and the glacier was massive. Battling strong winds, we then went out onto the ice. We got our spikes to walk on the ice, pretty cool items that I had never worn before. We had a super nice lady as our guide from Australia who showed us so much and was my personal photographer. First, we looked at a small tunnel where you could step inside a bit; there was even a small pool next to it. It was breathtaking to see all that ice and how it pushed against itself. That brownish stuff, which one might think is dirt, is actually not dirt. In the lower areas, the ice moves about 1 meter per day; at the top, around 2-4 meters per day. This causes rocks from the edges to get between the ice and rub against each other, leading to the discoloration of the ice. You can clearly see the different colors; white and blue ice. Our guide then kept chopping steps into the ice with a sort of axe; sometimes ropes were attached for us to pull ourselves up. There was also a big cave that you could slide into, which was pretty fun. You think it’s just ice, and you know how it looks, but you take a few steps and everything looks different. She also showed us where the glacier was back in 2008; in pictures, you can see the rocks at the side where nothing grows. There’s some moss up top; that’s where the ice extended back in 2008. It’s shocking. A colleague of hers who comes only every few months can always see how much it has retreated. But that’s normal; a glacier has phases where it shrinks and grows. Currently, it’s shrinking, and if it continues like this, it may not be visitable in 30 years. It would need 5 years of good snow to start growing again. It’s also unique because it is so low and surrounded by rainforest. The waterfalls, as far as I remember, are the Victoria Falls, coming from a smaller glacier higher up (maybe the Victoria Glacier, but I’m not sure). We could even drink glacier water, and no joke, it was the best water I’ve ever had. After about 2.5 hours, we headed back down. You think you’ve covered quite a distance, but it looks like the route could be done in 5 minutes. A few years ago, there was a guide at the top of the 12 km glacier, and it took him 12-13 hours (and he is experienced in the field) so we headed back into the heli. I had another dream flight, and then I returned my gear, and the day was far from over.

Next, we went to Gillespie Beach, a beach with black sand and pebbles, which was incredibly cool. Plus, the waves—I had never seen waves that high before; it was enormous. I’m sure you’d die if you got caught in them. And there was infinite beach, with not a single person around, so I ran around like a madman; it was beautiful. I cooked there since there were benches and even a sink, but there were a million sandflies, and I was the only victim. So, I’ll remember this beach for weeks due to the itching; wonderful.

As I was leaving, I once again saw the Fox Glacier so beautifully; then the clouds parted, and I saw Mt. Cook as well, which is so crazy because I had seen it from the other side the whole time and now here—it was so impressive.

Then I took the 10 km gravel road through the rainforest back towards Franz Josef Glacier. I did a short hike to see it as well, but when I arrived, everything was full of clouds, and I couldn’t see anything. However, I waited, and the clouds beautifully lifted; it was breathtaking. Then it was super winding (more pass than the Haast Pass), beautiful ups and downs through mountains and valleys that seemed endless, and then came the sunset. I was right next to the sea on the road and thought, okay now I’m going crazy; I looked at the stars, and there was a line of stars, that’s how it looked. I stopped. So you can imagine ten stars in a perfect line moving above you. After some research (okay, come on, those who know me know I asked ChatGPT), it turned out they were Starlink satellites; super cool, I’ve never seen anything like that either. I’m just at the camp for today and dead tired, but I had a first-class day.