New Year’s Eve on New Zealand’s glaciers

We continue south to New Zealand’s highest peaks. Our accommodation is right next to Franz Josef Glacier. We take a short tour to the glacier break. Chunks of ice up to 1 metre in size lie everywhere in the valley. A DOC ranger tries to stop the crowds from going as far as the last barrier in front of the quarry. The chunks all came down in a big wave yesterday.

The evening is quiet in Franz Josef Village. The next day we continue to the neighbouring Fox Glacier. Less crowded. We have booked a tour over the glacier tongue. The ascent first goes through the valley, then 200 metres up a steep face next to the glacier break. After an hour we reach the starting point for all the glacier tours. We are given crampons and ice sticks, then off we go.

There is hardly any other place in the world where it rains so much – i.e. it snows on top of the glacier. The Fox Glacier is growing, just like the rainforest that surrounds it. The glacier stream below pours into the sea just 20 kilometres away. We’re really lucky with the weather today. The sun only shines here two days a week. Today is one of those days.

I’m walking on ice with crampons for the first time. It’s all very unfamiliar, and it takes a while to gain confidence in my footing. Our guide Simon uses a large ice axe to carve a path into the untracked ice. We take our lunch break at the front break in the glacier. Simon explains a lot about the formation and transformation of the glacier while the ice crunches and cracks.

After some time of free walking on the glacier, Simon deviates from the planned route, which gives us an extra hour on the ice. The route becomes quite strenuous. We climb several walls of up to 7 metres, sometimes using ropes, shimmy through narrow crevasses and jump over meltwater. The walls are really fun with the crampons, you can climb incredibly steeply uphill.

The Fox Glacier is a little less crowded than the Franz Josef Glacier – but rush hour in the early afternoon is still a bit stressful. Too many people on too little ice. The glacier empties again in the afternoon. We climb until just before the upper glacier break. Then the walls become too mighty and we make our way back. There’s a nice traffic jam on the narrow, steep path down towards evening.

The hostel in Franz Josef Village is completely empty. Everyone has travelled to trendier towns like Queenstown for New Year’s Eve. We cook, make a fire and then go to a disco/pub in town. I meet a very interesting German architect who works in Sydney. She’s already invited to her place but disappears from the hostel the next morning without a word. It ruins the new year for me.