Icy - Like A Fox (June 23)

The last time we’d been in glacier country, the weather was so dreary and we were a bit burnt-out on travel, so we didn’t even consider doing a glacier hike. Turns out that was a stroke of luck for us, as Marie and Alex were really keen on hiking a glacier as well, so we booked a full-day hike on Fox Glacier. Though Fox is somewhat less famous than Franz Josef, they’re pretty much interchangeable as far as hikes go, and Fox is a bit cheaper, which is always alright with us.

Andrew navigating an icy tunnel

We gathered for our hike around 9:30, got our boots and crampons together, and jumped in a van for the quick ride out to the glacier. Our hiking guide was Tamra, a native west coast Kiwi girl probably about our age, but who could wield a nasty ice-pick. Between the constant hiking and ice-chopping duties required of the job, glacier hiking guides must be some seriously fit folks. Since it was the off-season, our group was really small, just us four and two girls from Hong Kong.

Tamra, our hiking guide, weilds a mighty pick

Before reaching the glacier, a short hike up to an entry point on the glacier is required. It’s certainly not a strenuous hike, and having been outdoors for most of the last six months we had no problem with it. However, one of the girls from Hong Kong had a lot of trouble even negotiating that part of the hike, so our guide gently suggested she go back with some other guides, as the glacier would probably be too much for her. Even though you hate to see somebody’s day end that way, we were all pretty much thrilled, since we were going nowhere fast with her in tow, and weren’t relishing a day waiting for her to climb more than two steps at a time.

The hike up to the glacier

Those are some serious crampons, and socks!

On the glacier, we spent most of the time oohing and aahing over various formations such as moulins (cool vortex-like holes in the ice), caves, frozen-over ponds, and crevasses. I especially enjoyed the ponds since I was the only one in the group that grabbed a climbing stick, and poking holes in the ice is endlessly entertaining. You have to take my word on this.

Andrew being endlessly entertained by poking holes in the ice

Weather-wise, it was a bit overcast on our hike, which was actually quite good, as it made the blue hue of the ice stand out even more than usual, producing some spectacular colors. The snow from the previous day was also advantageous, as it was beautiful and gave the crampons even more purchase for climbing along the ice. We neglected to mention earlier, but Alex is a bit of an amateur photo nut, so we’ve left all the photography to him for the next couple weeks. He didn’t disappoint on the glacier, taking what had to be hundreds of pictures. Hey, maybe there’ll even be some pictures featuring both Becky and me at the same time! Seriously, merci Alex.

Marie looking into a giant moulin

Having now done the hike, let us say that we absolutely recommend it, especially if you can do it in the off-season. We had the glacier to ourselves for almost the entire afternoon, whereas in the peak season there’d be hundreds of other hikers (literally) on the ice at the same doing various hikes. It might sound corny, but being able to be the only ones on the ice made the experience even more magical, and sometimes you really do just have to marvel at the beauty in nature on such a day. Also, if you’re inclined to do a glacier hike, definitely splash out the extra bob and do the full-day. It takes awhile to hike up to the glacier, and if you do the half-day you only get ½ hour to an hour on the ice, and you’ll be kicking yourself for it later. Lastly, having made the drive through the west coast seeing things like the pancake rocks before, it was nice to do an activity that we hadn’t done previously, which made us pat ourselves on the back for having the foresight for not doing a glacier hike back in March. In this case, good on us!

The vivid blues shine through the ice

Enjoying a group shot at the end of the walk