Fox Glacier - Valley bottom to Chancellor Hut

I came here twice 8 years ago. It is one of the few places on earth where you can start walking on a glacier at around sea level (200 meters) unless you go up really far north or south (to the poles). What impressed me the most back in the day was the quick change from a landscape covered in thick bush to glaciers, crevasses, ice falls and snow. We packed our backpacks full of food for 5 days so they were pretty heavy to start with.

At the car park ...

Okay, lets get the thing going ...

On the lower part of the glacier we had to walk a lot on the shoulders which is not ice covered.

There is also some guiding happening for day tours so we could use their entrance to the glacier which was quite handy.

The guided trips are only half day trips so we were on our own pretty soon which was good.

We had to climb around 1000 meters in elevation today. This picture was taken at around 600 m after doing 400 meters.

Big boulders, well, huge is probably the better term.

Hopefully it is not going to collapse.

We had to walk through this rock slide since the glacier had too many ice falls.

The lower dot marks where we had to get of the glacier, the upper dot marks roughly the location of the hut on the ridge.

An interesting cloud system moved in.

There were some guides on the glacier who prepared a landing pad for helis for heli glacier walks for later in the season. They were picked up by the helicopter due to the cloud that moved in.

As fast as the clouds came they were gone.

Getting off the glacier involved a few challenges but it wasn't too hard.

Taking of the ice gear.

Not too many people go up this route so it involved a bit of bushwhacking, good fun with a heavy backpack. It was also pretty warm.

Probably my favourite picture. It shows so well what mountaineering on the west coast is and the contrast it has between bush and ice.

Good that Kerstin had a red backpack so I could see here.

After around 7 hours we could see the hut, we still had to hike for another hour. It is such a relaxing feeling once you see a hut.

It says in the guide book that this is the best outhouse view in New Zealand, I don't doubt that.

Good Night!

 
Größere Kartenansicht

Next day - Glacier Time: Chancellor Hut to Pioniner Hut

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