This trip to the glaciers involves 3 students from Raphael House Rudolf Steiner School in Lower Hutt. We are going to help with some glacier monitoring at the Brewster Glacier near Haast Pass, with a brief visit to Mount Cook village on the way, and a short stop at Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers on the way back.

Left to right in the photo is Elwin, Lucianna, Jake and Eric.

The students are each doing year 13 projects. Jake Smythe is focussing on climate change, Elwin Burger is interested in landscape photography and Lucianna Howell – Kress is researching bush and mountain safety and survival. Assisting us also is Elwin’s father Eric Burger.

 After catching the night ferry to Picton, we arrived in Mount Cook village in time for a steep walk up the Mueller track to the ridge just below the Mueller Hut.

The view is spectacular, looking straight across to the East Face of Mount Sefton, as well as up the Hooker Glacier to Mount Cook.

We were able to see the whole range of glacial landforms from proglacial lakes to moraines, steep alpine faces with icefalls and crevasses.

While we were watching there were several large avalanches thundering down the big rock wall on Mount Sefton.