Walking on Fox
Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Sat 26 Mar 2011 09:50
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More photos of the Fox Glacier and our adventure trekking up
through the wooded valley side to walk on it.
 This cardboard cutout gives the daily
conditions on the glacier.
 Looking back down the valley at the wide
scree-filled river bed that we walked along to reach
this
point. Here we started to go up through
the forest to get above the side of the glacier.
 Looking up the glacier and the corner it
turns.
 Yes, we walked down those steps, and then up an
equally steep set as
the track weaves its way up the valley
side.
 The track up and on to the glacier! Another climb,
but steps of ice this time. One of the guides looks down from the
top.
The side of the glacier is very black and grey as it comes
into contact with the rocks on the valley side. The path up can change
on a daily basis as the ice moves and a new route up has to be found
and another set of ice steps cut. We went up in the afternoon and the steps
had already started to melt from the morning and had to be
re-cut.
 The blue tinge shows through once you can see
under the surface.
 Standing on the top and in the middle looking
up the glacier, and .....
 .... looking down towards the face and over it to
the river valley below. The river comes from the melting
ice.
 A small ice cave. Hood on to try and
keep the dripping ice off!
 Mountaineers? - I think not - too cold - we'll
keep to sailing (in the tropics!) Standing on a relatively flat
section, looking up the glacier, and
....
 ..... a not so flat section -
walking through gullies and shallow crevasses, back to the side of the
terminal face to head back down the
valley.
 The terminal face of the
glacier.
 The long walk back - the people give some idea of
the grand scale!
 The melt water rivers join; the fast running grey
water from the terminal face bringing
down sediment
and chunks
of ice, and the slower
running blue from a side creek.
 Some of the many chunks of ice coming down the
river get left high and dry
on scree between the streams.
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