Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers and storm # 2

Not to be too down by the disappointing penguin sighting at Dunedin or the cancellation of Milford Sound, I arrived at Fox Glacier eagerly anticipating the next morning's helicoper flight over the glaciers and Mount Cook.  But while the afternoon weather was nice, fresh clouds started rolling in that evening and I had a forboding feeling that I would be stymied by the weather gods once again - a feeling unfortunately justifed the next day.  I awoke to a raging storm that blanked the area with pounding relentless rain and erasing any view of the mountains.  When I got to the helicopter tour meeting point, they did indeed cancel the trip.  So now, I'm three strikes out and very disappointed with my lousy luck so far on this trip.

  At this point I decided to just go off script, throw out as much of my planned itinerary as I could and just start working around the weather as best as possible.  I would cut my Lake Nelson tramp short by a day and waste today waiting out the storm so that I could try to reschedule the flight for tomorrow.  Braving the freezing rain, I trudged up to the Franz Josef glacier face (where plenty of signs warned people NOT to come this far because of the precipitation) and took photos of the ice chunks crashing off the face.  When I was too wet and numb with cold to feel my face, I headed back to the hotel to watch some TV.   According to the news, the entire Island was locked in a "Northwester."

The next morning, I was delighted to see that maybe, just maybe, my luck was beginning to turn after all.  A perfectly clear (but cold) day outside!  Sure enough, I got to go up on the flight and it was a perfect morning for it too.  We even landed on the top of the glacier, near the mountain peaks for some photos.  According to the pilot, the snow pack at the top is over 300 meters deep.  It was so beautiful and peaceful up there, I didn't mind the -18 degree celcius temperatures.