There it is! A proper full-on glacier right there. So cool to be able to get up so close. It’s impressive. If you listen carefully you can even hear it creaking from over here. The ice is grumbling!
We’ve been ‘looking up’ at a lot of glaciers recently, but it was interesting at the saddle to look down on this huge river of ice.
These epic landscapes take hours to cross sometimes. But many tiny steps always get you there in the end. You can just see so far into the distance for so long its almost like looking into the future. In fact you can often literally see tomorrow’s weather on the horizon the day before the arrives.
Nico’s bag is quite a phenomenon. It’s enormous! ( Next time he puts it down I might try and sneak in ;) Shhh… don’t tell him ).The end of the Dart Glacier is sadly completely covered in rubble, you can see here the smear where it starts collecting it all and carrying it down the valley.
It’s not often it’s cool enough to actually hike in the Rab jacket. It’s a pretty cosey wear. But if ever there was an appropriate time, then strolling along a glacial moraine is probably it ;)We were told by the information pack in the next hut that this glacier once terminated at Kingston 135km away at the bottom of Lake Wakatipu! These huge moraine walls in the upper Dart Valley illustrate just how thick it must of been back then.
Audibly grumbling and rumbling it’s way along the valley was the sleeping ice giant. This is what I’d always imagined a glacier would look like. A long snake of ice, carving it’s way through solid rock. Just like the rivers there were smoother calmer patches and ‘rapids’ when the walls of frozen water dropped steeply. Moving down the valley millimetre by millimetre the glacier is effectively a river in slow motion, but with amplified erosive power. Only seeming static to the eyes of short living creatures like ourselves. Much like a sleeping human must seem to the bees and flies.This is probably my favourite view of the Dart Glacier, and believe me I took plenty of pictures from all the angles! The shot’s taken about halfway between the foot of the glacier and the Saddle.
I read that the Dart Glacier is retracting by 50 metres a year, it will be all gone in 80 to 100 years. It’s sad to think that this amazing view will be lost forever in just a few years..
I love this picture. A few months ago I could never have imagined myself climbing about in this kind of terrain. It’s pretty mind-blowing when I come to sit back, from the comfort of a sofa, and look at the picture. If you ever get the chance to do the Cascade Saddle route take it! :DYeah the South Island keeps throwing more and more amazingness at us. Each section it just seems to get better and better, the Cascade Saddle probably being the best ‘so far’ :)
Woohoo! The mist is swirling and breaking. There’s a moment where we see a full view of Mt Sefton’s awesome glacier right in front of us. Very cool. But this cloud knows how to keep the tension going. Will we ever get to see the main highlight ?
Ok, I might of been a bit premature steaking out the views up here.. We’ve been waiting for hours, we get the occasional view of the Sealy Range, but ‘The Cloud Piercer’ (translation of the Maori name – Aoraki) has yet to do any piercing for us..
We decided to miss the crowds of the packed hut and camp out a second night on the route down from Mt. Ollivier. When almost at the top earlier, Cookie let me know this was the first mountain Sir Edmund Hilary ever climbed. The chap to first climb Mt Everest. Awesome :) Does that mean I’m a proper mountain climber? ;)We didn’t really have time to get back down to the valley tonight, but that was alright I’d clocked a good camping spot on top of the ridge on the way up. Perfect place to watch the sunset this evening I reckon :)
This is the view from our tent door in the middle of the night. It’s bloody cold as you can imagine! But if there’s ever a time when struggling out of a warm sleeping bag at night was worth it, this must be it.
Numerous avalanches came down as we slept. Creaking and crumbling followed by ground shuddering rumbles. Pretty awesome. They felt so close! Thankful of the sharp but deep narrow valley between us and the action. Otherwise it might have been a little too ‘exciting’ ;)
We had a big moon tonight and clear skies, perfect for night photography. Some of the shots I got of the Sealy Range and night sky blow my mind, I got avalanches in action and even shooting stars :) Mt Cook is lurking in the back of this shot, his face is in shadow from the moonlight, but don’t worry, my alarm is set, I’ll get him later when the moon arcs over.
I recommend clicking these next few images to see them nice and big!
Actual sheets of ice covering the tent last night. God knows what temperature it was. But hey, no surprise it’s teeth shatteringly cold camping next to a glacier I guess!
We dismantled our steak-out hide-out. The hunt was successful. Our brains we full. Our memory cards were full. We gotten our fill, you might say. And it was time to start the hunt, for a flush toilet. There was also some emptying to be done ;)
