Simon & Caroline's World Tour 07/08

Well, the title gives it away a little, Franz Josef is actually a rather large glacier, and today we had the pleasure of climbing a fair way up it! With all the thermal layers we could muster, and a double helping of woolly socks we walked to the base of the glacier and strapped on our crampons (big metal boot spikes), tucked our trousers into socks mountaineer style and set off up the steep face of the glacier, stamping our feet to get a good grip as we went. To begin with we were on the dirty grey foot of the glacier, but before long we were up in pristine blue ice, with our guide Bruce cutting steps as we went up and down and across crevasses. All around us the ice was melting and forming streams, although standing on 80 metres of ice means it'll take a while to melt through! Eight fun filled hours later we were back at the bottom, exhausted and with a two mile walk back to the bus. I think the chicken nuggets for tea were well deserved!