Roam Relax Repeat

March 16, 2020

Thursday March 12

Flight into the alps

Awoke to a mixture of sun and clouds, the peaks of the alps were visible off and on. Our flight was scheduled for 9 am and we were told to call around 8 am to obtain a flight status. At 8 o’clock we called and the flight was on but the visibility was so-so, so we opted to wait and see if the weather might improve for the 12:00 pm flight. Went for a coffee in town and then stopped by the “Air Safari” office to see how things were developing. The pilot had just touched down from the previous flight and said that conditions were fine and he was going to refuel and be ready to go within the hour. We hopped in the van and headed to the small airstrip just outside of town and arrived at the small flight office they have at the airstrip. It looked like there are two businesses running operations from the airstrip, Air Safari and also a sky diving outfit – who just happened to be taxing out to take off with a bunch of excited sky divers! We hung around for a few minutes waiting for the pilot to return as he was ferrying the previous guest back to the town by van where they had left their vehicles. He soon returned with one other couple and a family of three, along with Lydia and I it was a full flight (it’s an eight-seater including the pilot).

The pilot, Tony, was very nice, relaxed and he gave us a brief safety talk out on the tarmac. Once complete, he strategically seated us to distribute the weight – Lydia and I were the light weights, so we sat in the back and had unobstructed views from either side. Soon we were rolling down the runway and lifted off heading west towards the ocean. The plane climbed down the river valley and over the flood plain of the Franz Joseph glacier all the way out to the ocean then we banked slowly to the south and then south east to fly back up and over to the Fox glacier…our first major view point. The southern alps are a lot like our mountains in BC with a rainforest and lots of clouds on the western side of the mountains but as soon as you go over the north / south spine of the alps, the clouds disappear. Even on the western side though the clouds were broken and we had fantastic views of the mountains and the glaciers cascading down the valleys. We climbed to 9000 feet and did a spectacular circuit around the highest peaks in the alps. We got especially close to Mt Tasman and Mt Cook as well as a bunch of slightly smaller peaks. The flight lasted almost 1 hour and we felt our tour gave us a great overview of the area that we would otherwise not have been able to enjoy (without going on a mountaineering expedition). The flight finished with a dramatic descent over the Franz Joseph glacier, we could spot helicopters stopped on the glacier below – it was truly spectacular. We landed back at the airstrip safe and sound with everyone raving how they had enjoyed the tour. Afterwards, we made our way back to town, did our grocery stop and headed back to camp for a chill afternoon and evening at our picturesque and comfy campsite.

Quick note: If you are wondering what the brownish residue on the snow in the alps is, it's ash from the wild fires in Australia!