Breakfast consisted of walking down the street where I bought 6 eggs and hash browns and fried them up (Margaret scrambled two of them...). After breakfast we went to pack my mom's snowleopard pack with lunch, water and warm gear for the day. I also provided Margaret with and underarmor layer, which along with a coat was more than enough. We went to the base for the Franz Josef tours, where they gave us all wool socks and boots. They made me switch from my boots to theirs ... a fact of which I am a bit bitter because my boots were better... but that aside, they approved of all of my gear and that which I was carrying for the both of us, so we needed no more then their boots socks and crampons.
We took the bus to the glacier's valley, where we took a ...30 minute hike to the terminal face of the glacier. The sheer size of scale that existed made everything sen out of proportion. We could see a rough edge at the top of the glacier, but they were described to us as being the size of multi-story apartment buildings.
The hike was great. We were broken up into groups and Margaret and I joined to faster group, and started up by climbing up any number of switchbacks up a slate/gravel mound that made up the terminal face. (Sorry about all of the repeater words right there...) Here is where we reached the ice and stopped to pu on crampons. It may have been helped by what I was wearing, or the pack... or any number of things... but I made quite an impression with our guide when I was halfway throw putting on my second crampon by the time he started explaining how. When he came through to check everyone's he asked me what I'd done and I had quite a nice conversation with him.
We then started our assent of the glacier, and the shades of blue that are provided by the glacial ice are AMAZING! We went down some man-made stairs, and walked along trails with crevasses on either side. We would stop from time to time to be told about the movements of the glacier and the effects of the local waterfalls and it was amazing to learn how drastically much this particular glacier moved.
We continued up for about another hour, where we stopped for lunch. While we sat and ate (pita and humus for us) our guide worked on checking/filling a few places in a crevasse we would get to hike through to start our climb down. After lunch our guide had me how through, as he walked alongside to help. At the end he left me with instructions as to where to help people go and what to do as he went and helped people through his crevasse. Everything went smoothly and the color inside was beautiful.
We continued downwards with more views and traveling through new gorges as we went. The important point was when we steppe at a cave where we were allowed in... but just far enough for fun pictures, a massive echo, the deepest blue i've ever seen, and the ability to see how far a crevasse could continue. Then we continued out without much more excitement.
The day also did not stop there. Back at our hostel it was 65 and sunny with no wind. As such I sat outside in the sun for a few hours, until 6 when I had a bowl of free soup. After that we went to the glacial hot pools, which we had free entry to as a result of the glacier walk. I spent plenty of time sitting in 104 degree water as I listened to the birds of the local forests. After this we made a spaghetti dinner with some wine and felt very civil with ourselves.
That brings me to now and the end of an awesome day. The only thing left is I am on my way outside to try and find the southern cross.
P.S. this glacier is where they filmed the "lighting of the beacons" for Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately, you cannot see the full extent of the range unless you take a helicopter view... which is a bit out of my budget. Sadface. But still, basically was on part of the set!
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