Best glacier walk in NZ ?

[Hallu]

A friend of mine wants to try a glacier walk in NZ in November, between 3 and 6 days or something. The most common one seems to be Bonar Glacier in Mt Aspiring NP, is it worth it, or are there better options ? Infos are pretty evasive, it would suck if the glacier were just packed with similar small group expeditions. I should mention he's got no experience in ice walking or climbing, so it should be a fully guided walk.

Thanks for your help.

[wayno]

good luck, the weather can be pretty bad in november. like winter. so it will be hit and miss....
if he's six days he'll be able to get a couple of glaciers in...
if he ski's he can do teh tasman glacier...
or can cross country ski around the top of the franz josef and fox as well as walk on the glaciers..
tasman fox and franz josef are all close together much more to look at as well as look around mt cook and westland parks , assuming the weather behaves.....

[Hallu]

Thx so you reckon if it's November, it's safer to do day walks on glaciers instead, and explore the parks around, this way you can juggle with the weather. I think he's more keen on choosing the best month for it if November is really bad, he really wants to do a multi day expedition on a glacier, is Boran the only option and all the others are either ski or day walks ?

[wayno]

if you have a guide you can walk right up the fox or the franz josef or just do day walks...
keep your options open depending on the weather..
you could then cross over the main divide and ski down the tasman ....
the weather now has been fantastic during feb esp second half....
bonar isnt that big, . you can cross it and climb aspiring and return in a day....
you can fly up to the top of the glaciers if theres a small window of good weather... and walk around or ski...

[wayno]

franz josef and neve

[roysta]

The weather is dicky then but the Bonar is nice. If you do manage to get good weather it's something you'll remember.
They're expensive, but email Aspiring Guides at Wanaka.

[wayno]

i think all the guides are expensive... so is the insurance they have to pay....

[photohiker]

We've done both Fox and Franz Joseph as day walks with the guides. Fantastic!

Without any experience, I'd be hesitant spending 3-6 days on the glacier.

[wayno]

wont be an issue with a guide, if you're spending sometime with them then they'll spend more time upskilling you to cope with whatever is coming.... so its as much a training course as it is a guided trip... unless you're a repeat customer the start of a multi day alpine trip with a guide will be them seeing where your skills are at and making sure they are up to scratch and going over the various skills you'll need.
any climbing guides will be charging around $1000 a day. again the insurance they pay is expensive..

[ninjapuppet]

Ive crossed the bonar glacier with aspiring guides (with Whit himself as my personal guide) on my way to climbing aspiring.
Reason that not much is written up on it, is because theres not much to it really. Getting there is a pain in the butt with a weeks worth of food unless you chopper up. That french ridge was a real pain. Most people that are on the bonar, are on their way to colin todd hut for a course or to climb mt aspiring itself.

I'd prefer to pay the guide to learn crevasse rescue and go myself to many other glaciers than for the guide to just take me across the bonar and still not fully understand crevasse danger.

Snow bridges are still strong in November but just got to watch avalanches. I crossed in April when the glaciers all opened up and took us a lot longer finding our way across.

[stuey69]

Ah, French Ridge, I have such fond memories of that one.