Franz Josef Glacier

Into the air

As we piled into the chopper, a slight hint of anxiety welled up in me. I get a bit skittish about flying and it’s especially magnified if I can’t see out a window. I was placed in the middle of the back row of a 7 seater and I could only see a sliver of the front windshield over the passengers seated in front of me. Everyone threw on their seatbelts and headsets and the pilot exchanged some quick confirmation with the tower. And then liftoff.

If you’ve never been in a helicopter, the sensation you get as the craft lifts and tilts forward will catch you off guard. A moment prior, we were sitting on the gravel pad and now we’re whipping along the Franz Josef River, all while the cockpit is pointed straight at the ground. Slowly my sense of doom that we will lawn dart into the ground subsides as the craft picks up speed and altitude and the angle of attack lessens.

I climb out of my anxiety hole as I become distracted by the mountain terrain appearing in the distance. The Franz Josef Glacier is one of the most visited glaciers in the world with 250,000 people making the trek annually. Many centuries ago it stretched all the way to the Tasman Sea, while nowadays it rests 12 miles inland. In the past, it was possible to hike up the terminal face and onto the main slab of ice for an unguided trek. But in April 2012, an icefall caused the leading edge to become unstable and the only way to reach the ice was via helicopter ferry.

Otherworldly

The feeling being out on the ice is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I truly felt like I was on another planet – perhaps the ice planet from the recent movie Interstellar. Tall sharp spires of ice tower above the ice field where the chopper set down. Our guide tells us that many of those spikes rise 30 – 40 feet into the air! Far off to our left we can see helicopters ferrying in new tour groups to hike the northern face of the glacier. They appear as tiny dots, only visible because of the same bright blue waterproof jackets we wear.

Everyday the senior guides head up at 7 in the morning to check the existing trails and carve new ones. The glacier is one of the fastest moving in the world and the middle section can shift downhill as much as 3 meters a day! Many similar glacier fields in Canada and the United States move only 3 meters in an entire year. My guide, Adam of Franz Josef Glacier Guides, told me that nearly every day he gets to the mountain they see something new. Just a couple days prior to our arrival a new ice tunnel opened up, the guides passed support cables through it, and we were able to shimmy through. In two days time it will collapse and something new will take its place.

Worth Every Penny

This excursion was the single most expensive part of my entire trip to New Zealand, but i wouldn’t trade it for anything. When I first started researching this part of my visit, there were multiple options. There is a second very similar glacier to the south called Fox Glacier with a guide company with nearly identical options. For both companies, they have exclusive rights to the mountain, so there is nearly no competition meaning prices are on the high side. And since the terminal collapse, the only way onto the ice is via helicopter, further raising the price. 

All that said, budget well and pay the extra to get on the ice. It is so worth it. Both companies offer a much cheaper option to have a guide walk you out to the base where you can lookup at the glacier towering over you. If this is all you’d like to do or can afford, don’t go with a guide. Anyone can walk out there on their own. And it takes about an hour to walk to the vantage point. But trust me, the flight and then trekking on the ice will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced. If you are interested in visiting yourself, check out the More Information box below.