We awoke at 8:30AM this morning and took a leisurely walk down the street to get prepared for our glacier hike! It was pretty neat. First you go through an assembly line where they give you waterproof pants and jacket, boots, socks, crampons, hats, and gloves. We boarded the bus and soon after set off on foot to the valley left by years of glacier retreat. The glacier is HUGE!
Pretty much the Fraz Josef Glacier is a big block of ice mountain with mountains on both sides. It was really cool and a fun day all around besides the cramps still left in my feet from the crampons. The name fits perfectly. The glacier looks like a blue coconut snowcone with cream, absolutely delicious! You start at the bottom where it is mostly rock the glacier has displaced. Then you make it to the ice where your guide cuts out stairs in the ice as you go with an ice axe and puts in a rope where it is really steep. It's pretty crazy, but was a great time. After 6 hours of ice hiking we were spent, the group got back to the bus and we spent the rest of the day in the sauna with a few beers. Simply lovely.
Tomorrow we head to Queenstown for the true adventure portion of our expedition. Fun awaits on certain sore legs and adrenaline pumped bodies. Shwang!
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