If you want to experience the majestic Franz Josef Glacier, best to get your (ice) skates on, writes Simon Kay.
Actually, it’s crampons you’ll be strapping on rather than skates, but the sentiment remains.
The Franz Josef Glacier is retreating. Now around 8.5km long, it has reduced an estimated 3.5km during European times, including 1km in the past decade - another casualty of global warming.
And it’s not just the glacier length that is impacted. The height is also markedly lower, meaning the volume is significantly reduced - although there’s no sense of diminished dimensions when you’re standing on the glacier facing hundreds of metres of ice in all directions.
Visitors used to walk up on to the glacier, but an increasingly unstable terminal face ultimately made that too dangerous. Access on foot ceased in 2012 - helicopters are now the only way on and off the glacier.
But the main reason you should consider booking a trip sooner rather than later is because Franz Josef Glacier Guides have committed to reduced helicopter landings for sustainability purposes. As visitor numbers drop, the aim is to further maximise the experience, so they have introduced a new bespoke experience to their trip menu, where clients rather than guides decide how time is spent on the ice.
The best time to book
Franz Josef Glacier Guides is owned by Ngāi Tahu Tourism and has exclusive guiding rights on the glacier.
It’s highly advisable to allow a reserve day or two when booking a trip. Low cloud can see a day’s flying cancelled - staff milling around outside the Franz Josef Glacier Guides office in the village is often a precursor to unwanted news on the flying front.
But that can be the catalyst for some lower-altitude activities. That’s what happened on my first day at Franz Josef. After an initial early-morning postponement and not enough cloud movement in the following few hours, my glacier excursion was officially put off around lunchtime to the next day.
The glacier may have been obscured by clouds but the weather at Franz Josef Village was pleasantly clear and sunny. I booked myself onto a 2pm kayaking trip across nearby Lake Mapourika which also included a walk through an ancient rainforest on the far side of the lake.
The number of people on my kayaking trip swelled from three to 11 thanks to a raft of impromptu bookings after confirmation the day’s helicopter flights were cancelled.
Don’t let the idea of booking a winter trip put you off. While you’re usually better off hiking and climbing in the Southern Alps during summer, it doesn’t work that way with glaciers. The times of year most conducive for flying on to Franz Josef Glacier are generally mid-summer and mid-winter.
Franz Josef Village has a permanent population of just 500 but there are several quality bars and restaurants, with much of the nightlife driven by a young and energetic contingent of guides, many from Europe and North America.
There are also plenty of accommodation options, including the Scenic Hotel, where I stayed. It was with some trepidation that I pulled back the curtains on my second morning there. I was greeted by blue skies - we’d surely be flying today.
What to take
Franz Josef Glacier Guides supplies virtually all the gear for the trips it runs, including boots, crampons, water-proof jackets and over-trousers, helmets and walking poles, and also gloves and hats if you don’t have your own. The most important item you need to bring is a pair of sunglasses, essential to reduce the glare off the ice.
A warm base layer is also necessary, but walking around on the ice can quickly warm you up. I took a lightweight jacket but didn’t wear it.
I was the only New Zealander on my trip. Of the rest, half were American and half European, from Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.
While there was an upsurge in domestic visitors during the Covid years, the majority are from overseas, and there’s a sense some Kiwis don’t fully appreciate this stunning attraction in their own backyard.
Steps are taken to ensure the helicopters are not overloaded. All passengers are weighed; nobody over 115kg can go. Passengers have to be at least 10, 35kg and 1.37m tall.
You can’t take a backpack. You can take a mobile but caution is advised - the young German guy on our trip lost his down a crevasse and it couldn’t be retrieved.
It may yet resurface. Our guide recounted how a mobile lost months earlier reappeared still in working order, complete with a video clip including an expletive which captured the moment it was dropped.
Getting on to the ice
There’s a 10-minute walk to the helipad, then a spectacular five-minute flight to the glacier. Contracted helicopters take up to five passengers at a time - two up front with the pilot and three in the back.
Crampons are attached on the ice and then heli-hike passengers wend their way for up to two and a half hours around a circuit that evolves daily. Guides are constantly cutting steps and amending the path taken to incorporate as many interesting features and picturesque views as possible.
Our trip included crawling through a small ice cave (although this could be easily bypassed by anyone not keen on doing it) and squeezing through narrow crevasses.
Think of a glacier as being like a frozen river. Just as a river has rapids, eddies and waterfalls, a glacier has frozen equivalents. But rather than water gushing to the sea, the progress of the ice is, well... glacial.
The term ‘retreating’ is a misnomer since glaciers are continuously inching forward. The decrease in length occurs when the amount of ice accumulating at the top is not enough to replace what’s lost at the bottom.
Franz Josef is the world’s fastest-moving commercially guided glacier. The upshot is that its surface is constantly changing and no two trips are ever quite the same.
Tales behind the names
Unusually for a former British colony, the glacier is named after an Austrian emperor. German-born geologist and explorer Julian von Haast liked naming things after himself (Haast Pass, Haast River), but chose Franz Josef when he first saw the glacier in 1865.
The Māori name for the glacier is Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere (the tears of Hine Hukatere). The story goes that Hine Hukatere loved climbing and persuaded her lover Tuawe to accompany her. Tuawe was a less experienced climber and an avalanche swept him from the peaks to his death. Hine Hukatere was broken-hearted and her tears flowed down the mountain. Ranginui the Sky Father took pity on her and froze them to form the glacier.
The bespoke experience
After our group had completed its circuit, I was treated to my own private tour of the glacier with guide manager Michael Rooke (better known as “Rookie”) to get a taste of the bespoke experience.
This is around double the price of the standard heli-hike but you get an extended helicopter flight, you’re on the ice for twice as long and you’re served lunch and drinks on the glacier. And you call the shots regarding where you go and what you do and see, rather than following a path set by your guide.
The heli-hike is spectacular and memorable; the bespoke trip takes the experience to another level. I was after something a little more challenging, so we took on terrain which required Rookie to attach fixed lines in places, which we clipped into our harnesses and he then removed after we’d clambered to the other side.
I even had a go with his ice axe, which was heavier and harder to handle than it looked. We traversed a part of the glacier Rookie thought nobody had ever been on previously.
The best aspect of the bespoke experience is that you determine the level of difficulty. So if you want to take your time over your picnic lunch, go ahead, enjoy the views. This trip can be as easy or challenging as you like. Just don’t leave it too long.
For more things to see and do in the region, visit westcoast.co.nz.