Visit to the glaciers

This was a deeply disappointing day for me.  Of all the things I had been looking forward to in NZ, the helicopter ride and hike on the glaciers was at the very top of my list.  I LOVE the mountains and wanted to see the amazing Southern Alps in New Zealand.  I wanted to “ooh” and “ah” as we drove two hours along the coastline with the mountains towering on one side of us and the ocean on the other.  I woke up in the morning, packed my sunglasses and put on sunscreen to prevent sunburn from glacier glare, and was ready to go.  I was a little concerned about the low clouds, but the day before they had burned off around lunch time, so I was hopeful that would be the case today as well.

It was not the case.  We arrived an hour early, having seen no mountains at all because of low clouds, and found clouds (not surprisingly) filling the glacial valley as well.  

The tour company said they had not made the call yet and to wait an hour to see if the clouds would lift.  We picnicked and return, seeing not change at all in the clouds.  And, the tour was cancelled.  I knew from my earlier research that there were very few ways to see the glaciers.  Because they are so active, there are no roads or trails near them.  That’s why I booked the helicopter ride in the first place.  We chose the next best option (along with a huge number of others whose helicopter tours were also cancelled), and hiked up a trail in the moraine (debris) valley of the retreating glacier to try to peak at its lowest levels in the clouds.

This was a view of the hike over the moraine to the base of the glacier at the start.

This is the same view after we returned from hiking to the base.  The clouds lifted slightly, but not much.

Looking down at the moraine field from the end of the walk.

Glacier base is just above the green mound in the forefront.

Huge boulders in the field.

The size of the debris field was impressive.  The sign markers showing where the mouth of the glacier had been as recently as a decade ago as it continued to retreat were alarming.

I tried to stay positive and not dump my disappointment on the group, but it was hard.  I cried on David’s shoulder as we turned around at the end of trail, still over a mile from the glacier, and hiked back toward our car.  #DreamDenied