The Roberts Point Climb

After hearing the legendary exploits of the GSC yesterday I decided to save my money (and health) by completing a free tramp/climb with ‘great views’ of Franz Joseph Glacier instead of venturing onto the ice itself…
This meant a $12.50 ride on the car park shuttle to cover the 5km to the starting point of all the Glacier based walking (tramping) trails. At first I took it easy with a 20min stroll up sentinel rock where it was possible to get a great view of the base of the glacier and the run-off pouring out of the ice cave. Quite an impressive site with the glacial river in the foreground testament to the shear erosive force and power of the glacier run-off being filled with boulders, uprooted trees and rubble. The second walk (CLIMB!!) was to Roberts Point, a location overlooking the glacier from a nearby ridge on the other side of the river… This was estimated to take 2½hr hike/tramp/climb each way and I was warned that it was not an easy route to complete… But, heck - I had my merrell’s on so set out with some confidence. An hour later I had crossed the river and was heading at a good pace up loosely graved pathways and rocky outcrops through lush sub-tropical rain forest every so often getting glimpses of the raging glacial river below… but this was just lulling me into a false sense of security - soon the path changed to a much more challenging environment with smooth rocky areas glistening with water, angled loose gravel paths with vertical drops by their sides, steep slopes where tree roots needed to be used as levers to pull yourself up and finally suspension bridges with shear 20m+ drops to roaring streams far below 0_0 The tramping trail was however a real pleasure to complete with sub-tropical rain forest shrouding you for the first hour and then the sun warming you up as you crested each of the four ridges on route. There were several areas on route which had suffered landslides destroying the trail and so the DOC had erected orange triangles to lead you onwards to the continuation of the path, all you needed to do was navigate the field of debris (including boulders the size of cars and hole trees!!).