Today we awoke to the cold and thought that the one remedy was 9 hours walking on an ice-cube. Well, maybe not the one remedy but, it was awesome!
We got fitted for crampons and donned our jackets and gloves. We began walking in the valley that the glacier had been receding from. Here we saw turquiose glacial pools (caused by mica in the water) and huge cliffs.
It took us 45 minutes to walk up a flight of stairs and we were about 50 stories up before being able to get on the glacier. It wasn't too bad, save for the 30 metres of trek that had a light signalling if there was a rock slide above us or not. What were we told? "If I yell, run, get out of the way!" says our guide.
We got onto the glacier and began our hike. Props to our guide, we stayed on the ice from about 10:00-4:30 and were the last group to get off. Instead of setting out on the well worn paths, he used a pick-ax to carve out a new path for us and we headed through giant boulders and icy crevasses.
The glacier was not like anything we could have imagined. It was a giant, undulated ice-cube! The colors ranged from a muddy grey to spectacular blues. Water rivers cut gorges into the ice which extended 100s of metres down into the glacier - we amused ourselves by tossing rocks into holes and waiting to hear them hit the bottom.
They also formed some caves that we were able to walk through. Here, we had to take off our packs because the spaces were quite narrow and we went down and out. The colors ranged from a clear white ice to turquoisy blue. Awesome.
We ate lunch on a rock field that fell off the cliffs and hiked to the terminal end of the glacier. Now, after a dinner of chips and pies (we usually eat healthier than this, promise), we showered up to thaw out and prepare for our final days. Tomorrow we start going to Christchurch and should roll in the 14th. See you three days after that!
Take Care (Jer),
Much Love (Nick),
Over and Out (Jax),
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