Hi fellow travellers,
Could anyone advise if there's a way and are we allowed to get on the ice without joining the guided tour?
The tour is quite expensive and is being monopolised by one agency only, so we don't really have any other tour options.
Thanks in advance
Thanks for the reply.
I did check that page before posting, but I couldn't find one which explicitly says that the walks will take us to the ice itself hence this post.
Could you let me know which trek would allow us to get on the ice part?
Appreciate it.
Did you not read the bit that says "Only experienced and prepared visitors should attempt to walk on the ice". Is that what you want to do or do you just want to get as far as the ice?
As long as you have your own ice axes and crampons and plenty of ice-craft experience there is nothing stopping you from walking on any of the 3000 glaciers in NZ.
Both Fox and Franz Josef glaciers are currently only accessible by helicopter; Fox glacier was accessible on foot with guides until earlier this year, but as glaciers do, things collapsed and so it is now chopper-only.
do not even THINK about going on your own, or ignoring the ropes. This is a recent tragedy when people ignored the signs:
as Kereru says, if you are skilled you can do glacier walks/climbs elsewhere, or you can take lessons. You can also walk TO the glaciers for free; check out the webcams but the valleys are spectacular and it is all well worth seeing.
We done the helicopter tour of the Franz Josef several years ago, and our pilot was telling us that in the last few years the glaciers were getting to be more and more unstable as time wore on.
And he did show us cracks in the glacier that were not there several years ago, and he did say their were area's he would not go because in his view they were downright dangerous to walk on.
I do not know for sure, but perhaps global warming may have some thing to do with it?
I've twice taken the helicopter trip which sets you down on the glaciers but you are told to stay well away from the edges as a snow ledge could collapse. Even in January it has not been that cold there so I would guess the ice and snow is not as hard as many climbers would like it and being buried under collapsed snow is a real possibility.