There are walking tracks in the glacier valley. While you can take your car to the car park at the foot of the glacier, you will need to get out and walk 25 minutes to the terminal face, as the glacier is receding. Mount Cook Airport is on the other of the mountains, and a scenic flightseeing trip can often be arranged at short notice. Tour buses generally make Franz Josef one of their stops, either for the night or at least a lunch break.įranz Josef Airport is really only suitable for light aircraft. The nearby South road bridge on SH6 that was badly damaged in March 2019 is fully repaired. The road north was badly damaged on SH6 in December 2019, road works are still happening but the road is now fully open.DoC is also considering reviewing the limit on the number of heli-hikes allowed on the glacier. In 2011, about 330,000 people visited Franz Josef, and 184,000 went to Fox.ĭoC is considering an emergency plan to build a new road to the rapidly retreating terminal face but The Westland National Park plan and park by-laws may have to be changed so the road can be built. The walk from the car park to the terminal face is now nearly 4 km and many visitors are considering visiting the larger glacier at Fox township instead. Tourists had been flown on to the ice by helicopter, but now even this is in jeopardy. Scientists using seismometers detected "ice quakes" - the ground shaking from an ice collapse - as a huge cavity formed beneath the glacier, eventually causing its surface to sink into it. Then, in 2012, a huge hole opened up and guided walks were stopped. The retreat began in 2008, and in 2011 the ice thinned by about 70 m behind the glacier terminal. But in the following five years it melted almost 820 m. Then, between 19, this glacier advanced almost 1.5 km after heavy snowfalls. Between 1893 and the end of its last big retreat 90 years later, in 1983, Franz Josef Glacier receded about 3 km. Although the South Island's steep, low altitude glaciers have always been dramatic in their advances and retreats, the rapidity of the present retreat is remarkable in geological time scales. The glacier retreated 800 m in five years, prompting suggestions of a road up the valley as the ice disappears from view. The recent spectacular ice retreat at the Franz Josef Glacier has surprised even the experts and shocked local businesspeople who thought the impressive ice river would be a reliable source of income for years to come. It lies at the foot of the western slopes of Mount Cook and is in the middle of the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Ice climbers on Franz Josef Glacier in 2006įranz Josef is a glacial area in Westland. Not to be confused with Franz Josef Land in the Arctic.
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