Glacier Grey, Chile
Capture the raw nature of this icy icon and
kayak around its extremities, or for the more
daring, try ice-climbing — as long as they can
ix on crampons, your teens can take part.
The dramatic Torres del Paine National Park
is a good place to start, with head-spinning
views of geological oddities and ice-treks on
the gargantuan glacier. Though with rising
temperatures, the future for this vulnerable
glacier is under threat.
HOW TO DO IT: Responsible Travel’s 16-day
Patagonia Family Holiday starts from £5,445
per person and includes the Perito Moreno
Glacier in Argentina’s Los Glaciares National
Park and Torres del Paine National Park.
responsibletravel.com
BEST FOR: Teens
Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
For James Bond kicks, travellers big and
small can soar to Franz Josef by helicopter,
landing directly on the ice, and spend several
hours gazing at crevasses and negotiating
narrow paths. It’s located in Westland Tai
Poutini National Park — a wild and weird
expanse with mint-green lagoons, dramatic
mountains and colossal valleys. This is also
the fastest and steepest of New Zealand’s
glaciers, which moves up to 13t every day.
HOW TO DO IT: Wexas’ 13-day Best of the
South Island tour ofers family-friendly, but
extraordinary experiences, including a heli-
hiking tour of Franz Josef. From £3,125 per
person. wexas.com
BEST FOR: Eight-plusVatnajökull, Iceland
Want to know how it feels to cruise across
a glacier so large it can be seen from
space? Daring travellers can do just that on
snowmobiling tours of Vatnajökull, coasting
on compacted ice and snow towards a bright
white horizon. For end-of-the-Earth drama,
stop by iceberg-strewn lagoon Jökulsárlón,
where you’ll spot eerie, bobbing chunks
of ice: the castofs from Europe’s largest
iceield, Vatnajökull.
HOW TO DO IT: Discover the World’s eight-day
Essential Iceland Self-Drive trip includes
a stop at this glacial lagoon, from £957 per
person. discover-the-world.com
BEST FOR: Six-plusAthabasca, Canada
You could play it safe with a walk along the
glass-loored Columbia Iceield Skywalk.
Then again, you could go full adventurer
and zoom over the glacier in an ice-gripping
vehicle on a family-friendly tour, stoppingICY WONDERS
to drink its pure glacial waters and learning
about mountaineer’s tools. What’s more,
this is probably the world’s most accessible
glacier with a car park just metres away
from its luminous edges in Jasper National
Park. Scientists predict Athabasca has a life
expectancy of less than 50 years, so if there’s
a time to see it, it’s now.
HOW TO DO IT: Classic Journeys has a six-day
Canadian Rockies trip from $4,295 (£3,533)
per person. classicjourneys.com
BEST FOR: Six-plusTrit Glacier, Switzerland
Landing on this precarious glacier isn’t
recommended for children, but the journey
to it will hit the spot for adventurous kids,
who will relish the cable-car ride that
soars close to this glacier in the Bernese
Highlands. Jump of and it’s a challenging
hike, through alpine meadows and rugged
mountain paths to the vertigo-inducing
suspension bridge with views towards the
glacier. But be warned, the 560t-long Trit
Bridge certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted,
swaying around 330t of the ground.
HOW TO DO IT: Catch the bus to Nessental,
Tritbahn, and purchase your cable-car
tickets from here: grimselwelt.ch/en
BEST FOR: 10-plus HELEN WARWICKVatnajökull, IcelandOctober 2019 16704
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