Fox Glacier 24-28 August
Wednesday, 24 August 2016
We stopped at Punakaiki on the way down
The first load heading up the Chancellor hut
The glacier is truly stunning
Chancellor sits on the left hand lower terrace just above the snowline
It was built between 1929 and 1931 - a beautiful hut
Looking back on the glacier
Passang took us for a walk in the snow - it was hard work
Everyone had a turn breaking trail
The view back to where we'd come from
We had amazing views of Mounts Cook (R) and Tasman (M)
Pano showing some of the neve (25km wide) that feeds the glacier
We had fun sliding and practicing our self arrests on the way back to the hut
Walking over a recent avalanche shute
...just enough time for another slide
We saw plenty of avalanches
The morning dawned bright
A great day to walk back down
There were a few drop offs, but nothing too scary
Had to pay attention though...not easy for some of us
A particularly steep section
We climbed down towards the upper glacier
Passang checking out the condition of the glacier
Luckily this track has been cut over summer
Passang put up a line and we explored the upper glacier before we headed back into the bush and down to the middle glacier
Looking for a suitable spot
Nev climbing onto the middle glacier
We explored some ice caves and Glen tried out his rocket pack
Crossing to the middle of the glacier
The middle glacier is a lot smoother than the upper glacier
Glen practicing his abseiling skills
That night we went to Passang's son Migma's 2nd birthday
The last day arrived and we borrowed Passang's car to go exploring
and ended up at Gillespies Beach
It had great views back to the mountains
There was heaps of old gold mining stuff
and a tunnel - everybody loves a good tunnel
We walked to Galway Bay and ate leftover tramping food - tight bastards!!
Heading back to Gillespies Beach
We had fun, but got wet and muddy feet
cheking around the local cemetry
We stopped at the beautiful Lake Matheson, but didn't get the magic reflection photo