I was able to get in a full-day guided trip onto
Franz Josef Glacier after there was a cancellation in the morning. I had thought hoped this would be a trip such that we could cover a good bit of ground, however it seems that most of the time we were simply sitting around waiting for the guides. Apparently they would have to go off to scout an area and then spend more time chipping out steps. I understand most people have never done anything like, but I would hope that some kind of advanced option would be available.
I am getting pretty tired of every tour that I attend being so watered down that there is no element of risk, nothing truly exciting. the views were incredible and quite astounding, but when paying a lot of money, I simply don't want to just sit around. However on a business side, the way the go about things reduces risk (and thus liability) and allows them to fit in even more paying customers. Unfortunately the only way to ever truly experience such things is to go off on one's own, hence the reason most of my trips are solo. With that said, I still did have a good time and simply enjoyed the different experience. I don't think I would want to do ice climbing or deal with crampons on a regular basis, but being able to walk around a mountain of ice while wearing short sleeves can be nice in itself.
On the way down we came across another of the guided groups right at the terminal face where the ice ends with a person sitting down being attended to. Apparently just a few minutes before one of the guides in that group had commented how nice it was that not a single person had been hurt that day. Not 30 seconds later one of the girls apparent;y had a misstep and fell with her leg hitting a rock, splitting it open. Unfortunately she'll have a large permanent scar and some tendon and muscle damage, however on the plus side both she and her companion got to get a free ride in the company hospital since there was still a mile or so of very rough hiking needed in order to get out. Both she and the guides were calm and handled things quite well and all were joking around a bit, so I was impressed with their response and preparation.
I was able to get in a full-day guided trip onto Franz Josef Glacier after there was a cancellation in the morning. I had thought hoped this would be a trip such that we could cover a good bit of ground, however it seems that most of the time we were simply sitting around waiting for the guides. Apparently they would have to go off to scout an area and then spend more time chipping out steps. I understand most people have never done anything like, but I would hope that some kind of advanced option would be available. 
I am getting pretty tired of every tour that I attend being so watered down that there is no element of risk, nothing truly exciting. the views were incredible and quite astounding, but when paying a lot of money, I simply don't want to just sit around. However on a business side, the way the go about things reduces risk (and thus liability) and allows them to fit in even more paying customers. Unfortunately the only way to ever truly experience such things is to go off on one's own, hence the reason most of my trips are solo. With that said, I still did have a good time and simply enjoyed the different experience. I don't think I would want to do ice climbing or deal with crampons on a regular basis, but being able to walk around a mountain of ice while wearing short sleeves can be nice in itself. 
On the way down we came across another of the guided groups right at the terminal face where the ice ends with a person sitting down being attended to. Apparently just a few minutes before one of the guides in that group had commented how nice it was that not a single person had been hurt that day. Not 30 seconds later one of the girls apparent;y had a misstep and fell with her leg hitting a rock, splitting it open. Unfortunately she'll have a large permanent scar and some tendon and muscle damage, however on the plus side both she and her companion got to get a free ride in the company hospital since there was still a mile or so of very rough hiking needed in order to get out. Both she and the guides were calm and handled things quite well and all were joking around a bit, so I was impressed with their response and preparation.
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