![]() Phil points down the valley to a clearly visible horizontal line cutting across the lower mountains. He pauses: “To be fair, it’s not really in the rainforest anymore.” There are certainly bigger and faster glaciers out there, but it’s unusual to have one that finishes in temperate rainforest,” says Phil. “It’s like a conveyer belt constantly moving downhill fast. The frequent fresh snowfall, coupled with the steep and narrow valley, means the glacier is on the run, moving up to 13ft each day. “We’ve had lots of rain the last few days, which washed away the old trail, so we needed to make a new one,” he tells me, as we stop to rest in a naturally formed tunnel of blue ice.įranz Josef is a rainy place, receiving around 16ft of rain each year, which causes the surface to constantly shift. Underfoot, our boots crunch on a thousand shards of fractured ice - the result of guides like Phil chiselling the path with pickaxes in the early hours. Striated walls of ice squeeze us and then disappear entirely to reveal vertiginous drops and glorious views across the glacier. With crampons on and carabiners secured, we set off up the glacier, shimmying through narrow trenches and up icy staircases. ![]() We’re following pathways that have been carved into the ice and lined with secured ropes. He tells me it’s his first day back on Franz Josef after the pandemic shuttered tourism in the country but, as he’s just spent a season in Antarctica teaching field survival training to scientists, I feel I’m in safe hands. Waiting for me at the top is senior mountaineering guide Phil Crossland, who’s been leading wide-eyed visitors across the crevasses since 2017. But, unlike those other antisocial glaciers, Franz Josef is just 11 miles from the west coast and only 980 feet above sea level, making it one of the most accessible hiking glaciers on the planet. Most of them are inaccessible, except to the most serious mountaineers. New Zealand’s Southern Alps ripple 400 miles down the western flank of the South Island and has around 3,000 glaciers stuffed into its many folds. Even though it’s a sunny day, the temperature is -6C and the cold radiating from the glacier bites my fingers. Beyond I can see the Tasman Sea winking up at us. Painterly mountains with snowy crowns encircle us on all sides bar downhill, where the valley leads to the small township of Waiau we had just flown from. The pilot sets us down on its surface to disembark and then he’s gone again in a whirr, leaving us in awed silence. Lush trees surrender to moraine and then the fissured surface of Franz Josef Glacier, which, from the air, looks like a tsunami frozen in time. Looking out of the window, I can see our shadow shrink until we’re just a black fly speeding across farmlands, riverbeds and rainforests. The helicopter’s purr deepens to a roar as the rotors gain pace and lift us into the air. For practical advice on visiting the glaciers, see National Parks - Westland Tai Poutini.This article was adapted from National Geographic Traveller (UK).Professional guides lead journeys onto the ice helicopters or ski planes can take you up to where the glaciers begin.Surface melting occurs throughout the lower altitudes, feeding the frigid rivers that flow out the rocky ravines and on through temperate rainforests to the Tasman Sea. Shelving in the valley floor deep beneath the glacier causes cracking, upheaval and deep ravines in the glacier surface, creating a dramatic and potentially dangerous frozen landscape. This effect, combined with the high snowfall feeding the top of the glacier, means the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers flow around ten times faster than most valley glaciers. The movement is lubricated by ice that melts under pressure between the glacier and the steep valley floor. This ice slides down hill to the more level river valley below, where it is still 300 metres thick. ![]() The snow is compacted at the top of the glacier into blue ice hundreds of metres deep. ![]() It is fed by four alpine glaciers that receive around 30 metres of snowfall each year. Here are some facts to help you get the picture: Over its 13 kilometre length, the Fox glacier plummets 2,600 metres from high in the Southern Alps. The sheer enormity of both glaciers is very humbling. You can also take in the view of magnificent Fox Glacier from Cook Flat Road (on your way to Lake Matheson). The temperate climate at this low altitude means these glaciers are among the most convenient to visit in the world. An easy walk is available to the foot of Franz Josef Glacier along the river valley with steep sides bearing gigantic horizontal scars from when the glaciers have retreated and advanced over millennia. ![]() While glaciers around the world are retreating, the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers still flow almost to sea level. ![]()
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