While it turned to be a bright sunny day for us up there on Fox Glacier, the clouds never really go away on the west. Or at least they didn’t while I was there. We were just lucky that day and they opened up a path from the top of the glacier all the way down to the sea, so we could get up. But the clouds kept shifting around the mountains, alternatively revealing and hiding different things. Right before we got on the chopper to go back down, they came off the north side, revealing these mini-mountains on the hill. Really cool, mysterious looking creatures.
There wasn’t much life up there. Much higher up is a cabin where you can take trips up and spend the night. Jenny had been up to it for her ice survival course. Said it gets rats – so like everywhere, it seems the rats and the cockroaches can survive the elements. She had to be dropped deep into a crevasse (we didn’t see anything you felt like you could fall in and never get out, but I think this one had that feel) and then be pulled up by her partner. Right before you get pulled up, I guess they have to let the ropes go and drop you a little deeper. While Jenny was waiting for that moment, she said she was fairly convinced that she was just going to fall all the way in. That split second and a few feet sounded as though it felt like being dropped miles into the earth. The one form of life we did see up there was some type of midge. They apparently live on some algae that develops on the ice.
Oh yeah – remembered something else about arches. They are sometimes formed by the small debris that gets dragged down the glacier. The rocks, because they are black, absorb the heat from the sun, which causes the ice to start to melt and then the water forms the caves and arches. Can’t remember what kind that’s called though…sorry.