Wednesday 28th March 2007. Franz Josef. New Zealand.

In true Coast tradition the name is shortened to 'Franz' and its 300,000 annual visitors make this the most visited tourist stop on the West Coast with the entire town supported only by the glacier. It is another of those town's that claims to be New Zealand's wettest, but then in 1982 it lost both its airstrip and its bridge when a torrent of 1.83m of rain fell in just 72 hours...more rain fell, but the gauge overflowed and it wasn't recorded...Beat that Otira!

After breakfast I am off today to ice-climb. Franz Josef Glacier was named in 1863 after the Austrian Emperor and it is around 11km long.

Franz Josef is found in the stunning Westland National Park here in the rugged West Coast hemmed between the Tasman Sea and the imposing Southern Alps.

Glaciers are active remnants of the ice age, cascading from the snowfields of the Southern Alps to valley floors just 300m above sea level. There is nowhere in the world's temperate zones where glaciers are so accessible.

Glaciers are literally rivers of ice and high in the glacier catchment area around 30 metres of snow falls annually. This gradually compacts to clear blue ice which builds up until it starts to flow downhill. Friction against the valley walls slows the sides of the glacier, while the ice in the centre moves faster, giving the characteristic scalloped effect on the surface.

The steep valleys of the West Coast cause the glaciers to break up into ice falls, which feature towering pinnacles of ice called seracs and mazes of crevasses.

While there is some surface melt (the ablation zone) the constant high snowfall continues to push ice down the valleys. Combined with basal sliding (caused by a layer of water beneath the glaciers) the high snowfall causes the Franz Josef glacier to have flow rates that are up to 10 times faster than most valley glaciers.

Glaciers are a balancing act. If the amount of snow at the top of the glacier (the neve) is greater than the rate of melt at the bottom (terminal face of the glacier), then the glacier will advance. If the rate of melt is greater than the snowfall it will recede.

Franz Josef is one of the world's few advancing glaciers. Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina (where I was in the autumn term) is another.

Franz Josef is an advancing glacier that descends into temperate rainforest. This glacier bucked trends in 1985 when it began advancing, growing 1km in length between 1985 and 1998. It began receding between 1998 and 2003 and then it moved again into an advance phase.

Franz Josef and neighbouring Fox Glacier are unique in that they are the only glaciers to have survived recent global warming in a rainforest environment.

The Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers were originally named for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert but in 1863 Julius von Haast re-named Franz Josef after the Austro-Hungarian Emperor and following a visit from Prime Minister William Fox in 1872 "Albert" was re-named.

The Maori have another name for the Franz Josef Glacier with a legend that tells of the beautiful Hinehukatere who loved climbing in the mountains and who persuaded her lover Tawe to climb with her. Tawe fell from the peaks to his death and Hinehukatere was brokenhearted crying so copiously that her tears froze to form the glacier. Known to Maori as Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere, The Tears of the Avalanche Girl...who needs science when you have such legends?

So here I am ready to Heli-Hike and explore the ice formations that exist high up on the glacier.

We have a wonderful scenic flight up to the glacier top with spectacular views (although I have to admit I am no lover of helicopters).

Atop the glacier we have great fun exploring the steep pinnacles, ice caves and deep crevasses, the colours of which are extraordinary.

Tina unfortunatley went deep into a crevass almost immediately and she remained soaked for the rest of the climb. That said, it wasn't long before our explorations meant we were all wet through.

I became Jill's guide keeping her stable on the ice, but I must say I realised just how nuts this ice-hiking was when I was buried under tonnes of ice knee deep in flowing water in an ice cave. Here I am on an active faultline where if there is any shake it may be my last...

As it was we had great fun and a real good laugh in and out of crevasses and over thick and thin ice.

Talking of ice...tonight we dined at the Blue Ice Cafe as a group where I enjoyed a glass of Monteith's Celtic Red Beer. The Monteith's Brewery was established on the West Coast in 1868 and my beer is an Irish-style ale in the heritage of burnt red beers. Its fiery red hue is certainly celtic being derived from the kiln-roasted malt that creates the smoky aroma and chocolate maltiness.


In terms of glaciers, some 140 flow from the Southern Alps but of these only Franz Josef and Fox penetrate down to the rainforests. There are few sights to equal the spectacle of these giant tongues of ice as they grind down through temperate rainforest to just 250m above sea level.

So now you know. A glacier is simply a slow moving body of ice drawn by gravity down a valley. It is fed at the neve (its accumulation basin) by large amounts of snow that compacts and partially melts to form a whitish granular snow called firn. Over several years as water seeps in and air is expelled under the weight of accumulating snow the granules merge together forming bluish glacial ice.

Under the constant gravitational pull down the valley the glacier slowly moves forward/downward like a giant ice river. The ice slowly melts as it reaches the more temperate lower levels closer to sea level.