Glacier Country

About an hour and a half up from Haast is the start of "Glacier Country". New Zealand has over 3000 glaciers however the most significant ones surround Mt Cook.

On the West Coast the towns of Franz Josef and Fox Glacier house two of the most unique microcosms in New Zealand. Both towns lie approximately 30 minutes from the foot of a glacier and are bordered by the mountains on one side, the coast on the other. On a rare clear day Mt Cook can be seen in the background, crazy to think that the monster mountain is a prominent fixture 11 hours drive away inland and yet can also be viewed on the coast. Mt Cook has bred multiple mega glaciers, Fox, Franz, The Tasman and The Hooker all being some of the largest and well known spawning out New Zealand's largest peak.

The Fox and Franz Josef Have both receded exponentially in past years, once the glaciers almost reached the townships however rainfall, global warming and landslips have contributed to their retreat further and further up the valley, ironic when you consider they are always moving forward.

To see the glaciers for free there are DOC walks to a safe viewing point. Franz Josefs walk is about 20 minutes long and is "assessed" every day to where the safe viewing point is. Fox Glacier is about an hour return. Franz and Fox both have more difficult hikes however good knowledge of terrain, avalanche areas and high level of fitness is a good move. These hikes are not for the faint of heart, razorbacks, flash flooding and the threat of landslides keeps the expert hikes free of major foot traffic.

I walked both (easy) glacier hikes but my preference was Fox Glacier. The path runs parallel to the river till you reach the viewing point. Every 20 minutes or so a helicopter wers overheard disturbing the tranquil beauty, a reminder that even in "untouched wilderness" commercialism reigns supreme. The fox glacier walk is far more beautiful than the Franz Josef walk. Its large well maintained path is framed by lush rain forests that are often so dense they mute the river that flows next to them. Hidden in the trees is a variety of bird life which in my maturing years I've discovered I really enjoy bird watching, I really am getting old. It is the longer of the 2 glacier view point walks, at 5km return, it is a little more challenging of the two. I was surprised to find warm springs along the fox glacier walk, another natural byproduct of being along a fault line. Both I would consider very easy walks in nice weather.

Be aware that if you come with the intention of touching the glacier on either walk, you'll be sorely disappointed. Due to flooding, unstable ice and gradual receding of the glaciers you will still be around 3-4km from the bottom of the ice. I was fortunate to have brought my telephoto lens which provided me with a better photo than my phone.

Significant rock slips also plague glacier country, in fact it is rare to look at a mountain that hasn't been gouged by a fall. These slips vary in severity but ultimately all seem pretty deadly if stuck underneath them. Attributed to the high amount of rainfall even the abundance of trees doesn't appear to hold back these slides that cut into almost every mountain you see. Fox glacier has a slide so large its been named the Alpine Gardens landslide. The hazard line cuts down the parallel gully to Fox Glacier and has created a dangerous creek bed that according to signs could burst and kill you at any minute (and the Kiwis say Aus is dangerous!)

We did indulge in a heli-hike while visiting glacier country. For a hefty price tag ($399pp on discount) you can be flown onto the glacier to enjoy the marvel of blue ice close up. I had bucket listed this for as long as I had been coming to New Zealand and this was worth every bit of the money spent on it. We went with Fox Glacier Guiding who were not only reasonable they also had really knowledgeable and interesting staff. Our guide was Nepalese and made ice walking look simple, it was not.

I recommend a morning winter tour, the ice is blue and the sun doesn't hit the ice till mid afternoon. The tours provide you with gear and crampons, essential if you plan to walk as the ice is ridiculously slippery on the glacier. We got about 4 hours of ice time which was more than enough for me to take all the photos and get overly excited about ice formations.

We wandered around the lower, middle ice pact. The ice is about 60-50 years old in that section and about 3km from the bottom of the glacier. Fox Glacier is about 13km long however as the earths temperatures rise the glaciers continue to shrink away. I was devastated to think others in the future will not be able to experience this glacier like I have.

I really was blown away by the clarity of the ice. Other glacier melts I have been to have been quite silt ridden and dirty as rock fall is common in the area, but the ice here was quite clear. In some sections you can break the ice to create small pools and drink from the water there. This is true "glacier pure" water but a bit cold for me.

Climbing about was slightly haphazardness, your footing was rarely steady and we had been warned things that drop in the deep crevices do not return (this may or may not have included people). Ski poles and phones were common victims to a slip and slide down a hole, I wasn't keen to find out.

Part of the beauty of walking this in 2020 is that we had 10 people in our tour group and there were only us on the glacier. The guides told us that in peak summer there would be up to 30 groups on the glacier at a time and it was rarely private, I kept thinking how fortunate we were to be "stuck" in New Zealand at this time.

Fox Glacier is majestic, this experience was something I will never forget, it really did exceed my expectations. Sadly at this point both towns are experiencing a major economic crisis, both towns have had their trade halved, maybe even quartered and I keep wondering how these places will survive in the Covid future. All I can hope is that by telling people about this magical pocket of the world people will want to one day return again.