Hiking the Franz Josef glacier in new zealand with a heli hike

Hiking the ever changing Franz Josef glacier is an one-of-a-kind activity in New Zealand. You need to be extremely lucky with the weather though, so make sure you have some wiggle room in your itinerary.

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Franz Josef

Franz Josef is a relatively small town on the west coast of New Zealand. The main business of the town is tourism and you’ll see many hotels, motels and campsites besides of row of heliports. You can drive or hike towards to glacier to the Franz Josef Glacier Car Park, but it will only give you a relatively distant view compared to back in the day.

From the town, you can book helicopter tours to the glacier and the mountains above. And, for the real adventurers, you can book a heli hike! I personally booked with Franz Josef Glacier Guides.

Weather

The heli hike is well-known by travelers in New Zealand. It’s an amazing experience but often cancelled by the weather conditions on the west coast. Your booking agent will keep their eye on the safety and will cancel and refund when its not deemed safe to go.

According to one of employees, the weather is often good until mid-day. Afterwards, clouds start to form on the mountains and helicopters can no longer land safely. So, when booking your tour, make sure to request a morning slot.

The day I went up, there was a weather window of about 20 minutes to get up there. So, timing and a bit of luck are definitely needed.

If your itinerary allows it, it might be wise to stick around in Franz Josef for a few days to make sure you can go up. Franz Josef Glacier Guides was very helpful with offering a new time slot on the same of next day when cancelled.

Heli Hike

The Heli Hike was by far my most favorite activity of New Zealand. Its unique, epic, adventurous and something you’ll tell everyone about once you’ve come back home. Due to the helicopter rides and specific knowledge of your guides, the trip can be a tad expensive, but I promise you its worth every penny.

Because video says so much more than words, here’s a quick video of the tour:

Yup. That’s just awesome, isn’t it?

The helicopter brings you up and lands on the ice where a guide is waiting for you. The helicopter ride takes between 5-10 minutes and is amazing on its own.

You’ll receive a waterproof jacket, pants, ice shoes, walking stick, sling bag and helmet.

Also, make sure you bring sunglasses as the reflection of the sun on the ice can blind you quite quickly.

The Franz Josef glacier moves around 5 to 6 meters a day, so the glacier never looks the same and neither does the hike. The guides create a path for you to walk on.

The hike takes around 1 to 2 hours to complete. You’ll move slowly so you can enjoy the surreal surroundings.

It’s a very unique experience and I hope you can experience it too before the glacier gets smaller.

Have fun!

Cheers, Mike

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GOOD TO SEE YOU!

My name is Mike Tesselaar, in short MiTe. I’m a photographer from The Netherlands with a heart for traveling and adventuring.

I write blogs about photo- and videography, travel, freelancing and personal related stories. Hope you’ll find inspiration and feel welcome to stick around a little longer!

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