A day on Franz Joseph Glacier....Adventurous, Stupid, or Crazy???

We entered the day thinking it was not going to include anything over the top or outright insane like our day in Queenstown…. the day started in the morning with a 3 hr hike through the mountains to the bottom of Franz Joseph Glacier. The views were stunning as expected. The trail was intermediate. And the bus ride back was fine… oh wait, there was no existence of the “easy bus to catch back”… no worries, we hitch hiked back to town.

We finally got a little down time and ate lunch at the hostel and prepared for our Heli Hike (helicopter ride to near the top of the Glacier for our hike through the ice). The helicopter ride was amazing, a bit shorter to our surprise… it left us wanting more… but was quite spectacular and all and all left us pleased that this was going to be the adrenaline rush for the day; little did we know what was in store...

Caveman Carl, our glacier (correct pronunciation in New Zealand: GLAY – C - AIR) guide, met us at the top. As expected… he was ruggid., energetic, thrilled with life, and enthusiastic to show us a good time… in fact, he had the group laughing from the start telling us we were all going to swim in the glacier pools… since we were all bundled up in our winter gear, we knew he was kidding.
As we cruised up and down the glacier with our crampons, windbreakers, hats, gloves, thermal socks, and hiking boots (all provided by the outfitter because although you would expect NZ to be warm… it is actually very cold here… it is a glacier you know!). We got to walk on the glacier surface, climb through blue ice caves, and slip through crevasses that you didn’t think a body could fit. Finally, we arrived at one of the largest ice pools on the Glacier… we were stopped to have a snack and some water. Wide eyed and in awe, before we barely sat down, Caveman Carl was half naked and standing atop the peak of the pool. Oh yes… within seconds he actually cannon balled into the ice cold pool! As he climbed out, he said “who’s next?”

All it took was an unspoken glance between us and we stripped down (don’t worry Rob, Alison wasn’t naked ). And then, we climbed to the top ready to jump…. ONE… TWO… THREE… we plunged into the 33 degree water with our boots and crampon’s still on our feet! The water was numbing, but the adrenaline rush made it all worth our while. To our surprise as we climbed out of the water to pile back on our warm clothes (relatively)… the three other groups on the Glacier had all stopped to take pictures of our leap. Once again, this felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity that we could not pass up. Would we do it again? Only time will tell…



So you tell us, what do you think?
Are we…
(A): Adventurous: (1)inclined or willing to engage in adventures; enjoying adventures. (2)full of risk; requiring courage; hazardous: an adventurous undertaking.

(B): Crazy: (1)mentally deranged; demented; insane. (2)senseless; impractical; totally unsound: a crazy scheme.

(C): Stupid: (1)foolish; senseless.

You be the judge!!!!

P.S. Above is the picture of all the glacier pool swimmers!