Franz Josef

Today the sky was clear and morning trips to the glacier was not cancelled.
Yesterday it was cancelled because it was cloudy and drizzling.
So I'm really privileged and blessed to have the opportunity to go up.

The helicopter ride was a first for me. And that was nice.

It is just on the glacier that things turned awry.
I didn't count on my lack of balance or fitness to have held me back from managing on my own on the glacier.
From the moment we started walking away from the helicopter landing pad I felt difficulty in stomping the crampons into the ice.
I had to held on to a guide like 95% of the time.
And there was this part where we had to climb the glacier grabbing onto a rope hanging beside which was hard for me going up, but worst going down.

I actually wanted to quit early on but when the other guides came and asked me to confirm and make up my mind for good I thought I can't just quit now and I said I wanted to continue.
But in the end, I didn't go all the way up with the rest of my group but only up to a certain distance and another guide came to guide me back down the way we came.
I guess I was taking too long and the weather was starting to get cloudy.

At one point before it rained I even asked if I can just roll down the glacier and he said if you roll down you will die.
I thought that wasn't such a bad idea because we had such a long way to go.
I was so tired there was even a moment where he asked if I'm okay and I gave my hysterical laughter in response.

And it started raining awhile into the way down.
Which made the glacier even more slippery and dangerous.
The guide just kept telling me we had to move on.
It was scary.

About a third of the way down another guide met us and by that time I could see the rest of the group had reached the helicopter landing pad.
And because the rain had made the glacier more slippery the guides were brainstorming which way was safest to bring me down.

The other guide then decided to take the left way and made me hold on to his bagpack where he had some picks strapped in for me to hold on to while the other guide was behind me.
And every step was a slippery step. The guide himself was taking small steps.
We had to go over some large gaps in the ices and that was scary especially holding on to him and yet his crampons need to have step in enough for my feet to cross the gaps after him.

When I reached back the helicopter landing pad, another guide which had earlier went up when I said I wanted to quit said, 'At least you survived!!'
And my group guide was telling that this was one of the hardest days in a few weeks because of the rainy days they had.
The afternoon trip had to be cancelled because of the rain.

Despite my struggles, the glacier was amazing to be on.
The view. The glacier formation itself.
Rain water and melted snow from way up higher made its formation special everyday.
When I took off my gloves I was really touching ice itself everywhere.
There were so many types of holes made that I wished I could stop and admire.

I'm really grateful for the guides and other people in the group that helped me where I was struggling.

The whole afternoon have been spent resting my aching body for tomorrow.