Glamping on the glacier: New Zealand’s exclusive Franz Josef experience
For exclusivity, isolation, views and a guaranteed chill-out ambience, nothing comes near this unique South Island glamping experience.
New Zealand’s newest high-end resort has a level of advantage not available to its competition. For exclusivity, isolation, outlook and a guaranteed chill-out ambience, nothing comes near it. Because there is nothing at all near it, 1250m above the coastal plain in the South Island’s Westland. And there’s no competition. This is New Zealand’s first glacier glamping experience.
Accessible only by helicopter, Franz Josef Glacier has long been the domain of day-trippers, a chance to scrunch around on the range that’s home to New Zealand’s highest peak, Aoraki/Mount Cook, breathe the cleanest air and understand the fickle nature of this dynamic ice. Alpine weather also being fickle, tour operator Franz Josef Glacier Guides has to be ready for anything, and it stores emergency camping gear and rations here should the need arise to bivouac overnight.
But what if, the company thought, guests actually wanted to stay up here? By amping up the comfort level and keeping it small, the Glacier Overnighter was born.
Franz Josef is the fourth-largest glacier in New Zealand, 12km long with a snowfield of 20sq km. Yet up close it’s no smooth sea of ice but a patchwork of rocks, caves, seracs and crevasses, and on quite a slope compared with its larger neighbour, Fox Glacier. It took a deal of hackwork to create a permanent level platform for helicopter landings, and more thanks to them, because that’s also where we build the camp after the 10-minute flight from Franz Josef Glacier township.
Nothing is left in place when guests and guides aren’t in residence, and out of the chopper’s cargo pods come luggage, tents, food and the kitchen, a gas-powered hotplate. Once the landing pad is clear, we’re connecting pole sections, and in no time our “suite” has been created, albeit close to the edge. There are openings at each end but one – on the scenic side – has a shin-high lip. “Just remember,” says guide Brad Bishop, “that one is not a door.” Into it go two camp stretchers, sleeping bags and thick top blankets.
While Bishop completes the more basic staff quarters plus the off-suite a discreet distance away, second guide Michael “Rookie” Rooke gives us hiking poles and an introduction to walking in crampons. “Keep your feet apart and lift them a bit more,” he advises.
German emigrant geologist Julius von Haast named many things during his explorations down the west coast in the 1860s, including several after himself; driving over from Queenstown we encounter the Haast River and Haast Pass. He also anointed the glaciers, including one in honour of the Austrian emperor. The creation story is far more engaging, about how the ice was formed by the gods freezing the tears of a mountain woman grieving for her lover, a coastal man who had died by falling in this unfamiliar terrain. The Maori name is Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere, the Tears of Hine Hukatere.
We hear this story on an icy tongue, Rookie having hacked steps up to it with an ice pick. “The trails change often, especially after rain. The glacier is always moving, making our job a bit tricky, such as creating false floors in the crevasses.” Checking one crevasse, he says: “That’s confirmed my suspicions. It’s a bit soft there.” So he chops away at another route, the ice flying, and we must stand clear to avoid a cold shower.
The camp is a halfway house, as the glacier’s head is another 1250m above us. Currently, like many glaciers the world over, it’s retreating, but being close to the coast means these ranges catch a lot of precipitation. If enough falls as snow, Franz Josef will in time start advancing again.
Back at camp, dinner is served, starting with cheese, smoked salmon pate and grapes, followed by courses pre-ordered from SnakeBite, the town’s brewery/pub. Bishop has heated up duck noodle soup, beef rendang, vegan Thai curry and twice-cooked pork belly, finishing with chocolate brownie and apple crumble. “Dig in,” he advises. “Things cool down pretty fast up here.” And because glaciers have slipped through the cracks in the licensing regulations, alcohol is strictly BYO. But this place is too cold even for white wine, but never for hot chocolate.
The afternoon has been hit-and-miss with the panorama plus the view down the valley to the Tasman slipping in and out of cloud. But the evening is clear, under a sharp and brilliant moon, and we’re visited by some cheeky kea, the world’s only alpine parrots. Bishop warns of their antics, such as stealing food or using the dome tents as slides. We observe one trying to unknot a rope, and later they will disconcertingly thump the roof of the ablution tent.
After a cosy night, helped by a hot-water bottle that goes straight to my overchilled feet, it’s a snack of pastries and coffee, before packing everything for the helicopter’s 8am arrival. Our final task is to lie, facedown and spreadeagled, on top of the gear so the downdraft doesn’t blow it away. Ten minutes later we’re off in glorious sunshine, leaving this imperious place just as we found it.
Rookie had said: “Landing a helicopter on a melting glacier is surreal.” We’ve found the whole thing surreal. Did we really just do that? The service was, as it says on the tin, glacial – no need to rush anything up here – and overall we’re giving it one star, that star being Venus, beaming out above the range, as last night’s moon was too bright to see any others.
In the know
The Glacier Overnighter is $NZ7000 ($6330) a couple, or $NZ14,000 for four people in one party. Camping gear, boots and necessary clothing are provided. The package includes a night in the Te Waonui Forest Retreat in the town, before or after the glacier night depending on conditions. This includes a five-course degustation dinner at Te Waonui’s The Canopy restaurant and full breakfast both days. Franz Josef Glacier is five hours’ drive from either Christchurch or Queenstown. The experience is summer-only, December to late March.
Jeremy Bourke was a guest of Franz Josef Glacier Guides.
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