UKC

Looking for a bit of information on the New Zealand glaciers.

The wife and I are going to NZ for a few months in the New Year, primarily to sea kayak and cycle tour, but we have about a month to play with to do other things. One of the things we want to do is explore at least one of the west coast glaciers. We'd much prefer to do this unguided. How much scope is there to hike out onto the glaciers unguided? Is this allowed? Recommended?

Although I have plenty of experience of winter walking and winter scrambling, I don't have any glacier travel experience. We're hoping to do this in March. Presumably the glaciers will be dry at that time of year?

Any other info and first habd experience greatly appreciated.

In reply to rubisco:

Yes - you can get to both the Franz Josef and the Fox Glaciers very easily, and there is nobody to physically stop you. You can get right onto them using the paths cut by the guided groups. We did this in 2008 taking our own kit and playing around doing some short ice climbs this way.

However, the glaciers are 'living' things and are always on the move and changing.

In 2008 2 lads were killed at one of the glacier terminal faces when a big bit fell off and landed on them.

In reply to JXM:
Stuff can come skidding down above us when we were climbing on the glacier. Keep a really good eye out and be careful.

thank you all, that's great info. One last question: How easy is it to hire gear there? We're not going to be taking boots, poons and axes just for the two or three days we'll be spending on the ice in a four month trip.

In reply to rubisco: The Glacier Guiding companies in both Fox and Franz take people ice climbing and might be willing to hire you some of their gear. Maybe drop them an email and check. If you use the tracks the Glacier Guides have set up you should find easy access to the lower white ice of both glaciers. You're in a national park there so, whilst there are signs to discourage inexperienceded tourists from using their tracks, the guides are invariably helpful and friendly when you meet them on the ice. As a couple of people have said, don't try to go up around the terminal faces as they're pretty unstable.