[Fox Glacier, New Zealand] When I got out of the van the moon was hanging high in the dark sky. It was early, but most importantly, the sky was clear. We walked over the street to Fox Glacier guides by 7:30 and got confirmation from Richard the dispatch guy that the good weather was expected to hold for the day – our flight out to the glacier was scheduled for 9:30. Excellent. Jonathan, our guide for the day, set about kitting us out with the required gear. Packs, gloves, caps, sunnies, boots, gaiters, crampons, helmets, jackets, harnesses and the coolest things of all – ice axes. The rigid boots are not the most comfortable things to walk around in (something like snowboard boots) and all the gear was top notch and well maintained. We got word that a flight slot had opened up (some people were late) so we stuffed our gear into the packs and headed out to the heli pad just down the road.

V had never been in a helicopter before and was just too excited. Our ride was a decently sized machine. A 6 seater, so V and I got to ride up front with the pilot. It never fails to amaze me how smooth these things are. The ride up the glacier was stunning but very short (We have lots of video from today – will upload when possible). We past the terminal face and continued over the lower sections where the guided day walks play before being deposited much higher up the 13km long glacier on a roughly flat and pristine piece of ice not far from the upper ice-fall. The ‘pad’ was busy with a large group of Heli-Hike clients being flown in for their 2 hours on the ice (We were on the ice at 9 and were not scheduled to leave until 16:30). After the last chopper left we were able to kit up and finally stand with confidence. Ice is slippery (no kidding) and crampons are amazing!

Taking in the surroundings we trudged up towards the upper ice fall leaving the Heli-Hike groups behind. The ice on the upper fall moves around 5m per day so no two days are alike. First up a short ‘bouldering’ session to get us used to the crampons and picks. Not too difficult but we immediately felt that our toes, calves and forearms were going to take strain today. With the basics under our belts in no time Jonathan led us on up through the gullies towards the ice falls. After scrambling and climbing our way through beautiful blue ice tunnels we stopped at a short (8m) off-vertical wall for our first toprope session. What a blast. After just having a whack at it we got some technique pointers. It’s amazing how little ice the picks and crampons need to provide a solid hold, but to learn to trust it is another issue. I also had a go at placing a couple of ice screws to simulate leading. My forearms where absolutely hammered after that attempt.

We carried on up the glacier as the terrain became steeper and much bigger – so much so that we were required to rope up on some sections. Another cave and hole got us out to a bigger and much steeper ice wall with a decent bulge in the middle and a slightly overhanging top section :gps:(GPS)::-43.50995::170.10144:gps: .”Jonathan has too much confidence in us” we thought. V had a good whack at the route while I found myself a loo with the ultimate view over Fox Glacier 🙂 V and I both had a hard time with the climb on our first attempt (forearms burning) but after some more coaching we nailed it. Nothing quite like the “Thunk!” of the axe going over the top lip.

Besides being fit (obviously) and having a little extra gear we reckon the biggest thing in ice climbing is understanding ice in its various forms and the terrain. Jonathan fed us a lot of information, from geology to anchors, but we were having so much fun that most of it did not stick. I do remember him explaining that in hot weather like this the screw anchors for topropes would need to be checked every 20 minutes (ice has a habit of melting). A good reason not to hang around for long on the rope.

The cloud started working it’s way up the valley as we started back down. Jonathan spotted a beautiful ice cave and set up a line for us so that we could get through without falling into the gushing stream below. Once again we have been impressed with the professionalism of the guiding in New Zealand. Safety was always first. Jonathan spent some time ‘preparing’ the tunnel for us by knocking off dangerous looking overhangs and cutting steps in critical spots. V even got to have a go knocking a big chunk off – who needs global warming to destroy glaciers when you have a huge mountaineering axe 🙂

The penultimate feature that we found to play with was an insanely deep hole carved out by water. The water was still gushing in down one side. We could not tell how deep it was from above (probably more than 20m) so the plan was to lower us into the hole and let us climb out (or haul us out if things went wrong). As usual I was first up. I don’t usually have a problem with heights or tight spaces or water or ice (in scotch) but at around 7m down the waterfall was raging at arms reach and the ice walls had turned clear (I think that means that it is very hard ice). Any deeper and I would have gotten wet from the waterfall and I was nervous about climbing the hard steep ice so I had a look around (it was maybe another 10m to the bottom) and signaled up that I would start climbing out. It was an awesome climb out and it’s always good to have some form of motivation under you. V’s lil arms had given up on her for the day so we carried on down towards the heli-pad (a flat piece of ice). Jonathan found one more stunning blue-ice cave for us to play in before we had to return our cool sharp pointy gear (we are going to have to get some of our own I suspect).

There was one final little treat in store for us. The helicopter that was collecting us had a ‘scenic flight’ customer on board so we got to see a lot more of the glacier. The pilot went almost up to the cloud layer before circling back around. He came in close (very) to some huge boulders that were part of a recent rockfall and took his time getting out of the valley so it was a much longer flight than the ‘Taxi’ ride in. It was the perfect end to yet another perfect day. Ear to ear grins on both of us once again (I think they are more or less permanent now). We’ll suffer tomorrow, but it was well worth it (even at the price).

Thanks Jonathan (and Fox Glacier Guides). It was an incredible experience and we both loved it. Yet another thing to add to the list of cool sports we enjoy. We’ll be back, but probably with our own gear hehe.

[Pictures: Our snazzy ride, Mt Cook in the background. V playing around on some features. Jonathan setting a toprope and V looking back up to the icefall. We have loads more awesome pics and vids to come]

The heli ride onto the glacier

V having a whack at the Glacier

Us climbing through an Ice Tunnel

Sim in the Moulin

The Ride out

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi