Great Glacier
Walkthrough

Your exploration of the Great Glacier begins after you finish the snowboarding trip down the mountain from the Icicle Inn. Some important notes about the Great Glacier:

Great Glacier Map
Map of the Great Glacier

After a certain amount of steps (544 steps which is equal to approximately 145 seconds of movement) you will pass out and regain consciousness in Mr. Holzoff’s cabin in an area north of Area (13).

You can return to the Great Glacier after having passed out. Just proceed south away from Mr. Holzoff’s cabin and you will return to Area (13) which is a snowy area that looks like the World Map. You can travel west into Area (12), south into Area (11) or east into Area (14).

Depending on the routes you took when the paths split during the snowboarding mini-game you may have landed in any one of the four following areas:

  • Left followed by a left: Area (3)
  • Left followed by a right: Area (1)
  • Right followed by a right: Area (2)
  • Right followed by a left: Area (7)

Use the maps included below to help you discern where you landed.

Do not get mixed up when traveling from one Area to another. North/West/South/East will only apply when you reach a landmark but not when you travel between two landmarks.

The Ice Gate and entrance to the Great Glacier

Area (1)

The Great Glacier Cave

Area (2)

Forest in the Great Glacier

Area (3)

Dead tree in the Great Glacier

Area (4)

The lake in the middle of the Great Glacier

Area (5)

The rock in the center of the lake of the Great Glacier

Area (6)

The lone pine tree in the Great Glacier

Area (7)

The rocky area in the Great Glacier

Area (8)

Log across the cliff in the Great Glacier

Area (9)

The Top of the Mountain in the Great Glacier

Area (10)

The hot spring in the Great Glacier

Area (11)

The huge face in the Great Glacier

Area (12)

The world map type area in the Great Glacier

Area (13)

Alexander’s Cave in the Great Glacier

Area (14)

You may encounter an enemy in this area called a “Snow” which looks like a female human pictured in the screenshot below. You can steal an accessory called a Circlet from them which increases the users Magic and Spirit stats by 30 each. This is a very strong accessory for Magic users.

Stealing a Circlet from a Snow enemy in the Great Glacier

Start off by traveling from where ever you landed to Area (3) or if you were lucky you may have already landed in this area.

In the middle of the forest is a small item bag that contains a Mind Source. Travel to the east from where you found the Mind Source over to Area (5) as indicated on the map. It can be a little bit difficult to find your way through the forested area but just make sure you exit out of the right side of the screen.

Mind Source in the forested area

You can find all of these items below in the order listed. If you pass out you will find yourself at the Base of Gaea’s Cliff which is located just north of Area (13) on the map. Travel back south into Area (13) which looks like a snow field and use the trail markers to exit either west, south or east.

Finding the Safety Bit

In Area (5) you will find a lake with a sheet of ice in the middle. Walk straight over to the ice platforms - pick up the Potion lying on the ice and continue northwest towards Area (6) which is shown in the screenshot below.

The lake in the middle of the Great Glacier

This mini-game is fairly simple - you have to jump onto the floating icebergs without jumping onto a submerged iceberg (or trapping yourself in accidentally having to step onto a submerged iceberg) and making it to the other side of the screen. You can attempt this mini-game yourself if you would like to or use the following key:

Jump onto the first iceberg and then go:

North - West - South - West - North - East - North (x3) - West - South - East (x2) - North.

The ice berg jumping mini-game

Proceed into the cave to find an item bag that contains a Safety Bit.

The island in the middle of the lake
Picking up the Safety Bit in the island in the lake

To get back across the iceberg maze use the following path: Jump onto the first iceberg and then go West, South, East (x2,) South, West, South, East, South, West.

Finding the Added Cut Materia

Travel from Area (5) northeast and along the pathway until you reach Area (7) with the lone pine tree. Head east (to the right) away from the pine tree towards Area (10).

The top of the rock pathway on the east side of the map

You will then travel through three snowy trail screens to the northeast ending at Area (10). Take the trail leading to the northeast (top right) side of the screen towards Area (11).

Continue along the trail leading northwest away from Area (10) and on the second screen you will find a nearly invisible Added Cut Materia lying in the snow.

Picking up the Added Cut Materia in the Great Glacier

Finding the Alexander Summon Materia

The first step to obtaining the Alexander Summon Materia is to travel towards Area (11). You can either return to Area (10) and head northwest or, if you passed out and were returned to Area (13), head southeast.

Reach down and touch the hot spring in this area. This step is required before you can move on to obtaining the Materia.

Touching the hot spring

Travel northwest from there towards Area (13) which is a huge snowy field. Use the marker poles to help guide yourself as the camera will spin whenever the wind blows which makes it hard to keep track of which direction you are traveling.

The middle of the snowy field

Make sure that you exit out the east side of the field. Follow the trail along until you reach the screen shown below.

Approaching the cave that contains Alexander Summon Materia

Enter the cave on the top right side of the screen and speak to the person sitting off to the right. Now that you have touched the hot spring this person will fight you.

The fight is fairly straightforward. It is against an enemy called a “Snow” which you may have already fought once or twice in the Great Glacier Area.

The cave that contains the Snow enemy

The person will disappear after the fight leaving the Alexander Summon Materia behind (notice the spelling error on the ‘received’ notification box in-game with an extra quotation mark).

Picking up the Alexander Summon Materia - screen with the typo

Finding the All Materia

There is an All Materia in the center of Area (13). There is a huge rocky cave right in the middle of the snowy field - just keep traveling around the center area until you find it.

The cave in the middle of the snowy field
The All Materia in the middle of the field

Make your way north from Area (13) at the Base of Gaea’s Cliff near Mr. Holzoff’s cabin when you have picked up all of the items in the locations listed above and are ready to continue to the next chapter of the game.