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The Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers are part of the Westland/Tai Poutini National Park, the most north-western park in the Te Wāhipounamu South-West New Zealand World Heritage Area. The high snowfall on the two glaciers’ névés, combined with the narrowness of the valleys down which they travel, results in a flow rate which is 10 times as fast as most other glaciers in the world. As a result, the glaciers are noted worldwide for their proximity to the sea, and terminal faces which descend right down to the rainforest mantle of the lowlands.
Accommodation and Where to Eat in Franz Josef Glacier
Accommodation and Where to Eat in Fox Glacier
More about the West Coast
Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers Activities "Our Selection"
Guided Glacier Walks & Helihikes:
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Franz Josef Glacier Guides -- Phone: 03 752 0763
Offers a range of glacier hiking tours, ice climbing, Heli Hike.
Main Road, Franz Josef Glacier.
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Fox Glacier Guiding -- Phone: 03 751 0825
Offers a large range Fox Glacier walks, Heli treks and ice climbing, overnight heli trek, mountaineering.
Main Road, Fox Glacier
Aerial Sightseeing:
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Fox & Franz Josef Heliservices -- Phone: 03 752 0793
Alpine Adventure Centre, Main Road, Franz Josef Village
- Helicopter Line -- Phone: 03 752 0767
From 20 min flights to Heli Hike Paddle Combo.
Main Road, Franz Josef and Main Road Fox Glacier
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Mount Cook Ski Planes -- Phone: 03 752 0714
Twin Glacier Flight with snow landing.
Main Road, Franz Josef.
Tandem Skydiving:
- Skydive Franz -- Phone: 03 7520 714
- Skydive NZ Fox Glacier -- Phone: 03 751 0080
Walks & Tracks:
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Fox Glacier area
- Franz Josef area
Westland/Tai Poutini National Park
GLACIERS
Glaciers form in places where winter snowfall is greater than summer melt, typically high in the mountains, but at lower latitudes nearer the poles. Their advance and retreat is determined by the seasonal balance between these two factors. Until the 1980s, when an inventory was taken by Trevor Chinn and his assistants, it was estimated that there were about 370 glaciers in New Zealand. Chinn listed over 3,100 glaciers larger than 10,000 sq metres. 18 of these cluster around Mt Ruapehu on the North Island’s Central Plateau. The rest lie mostly hidden among the peaks of the South Island. The Tasman Glacier, lying below the heights of Aoraki/Mt Cook, is by far New Zealand’s longest and largest, measuring 29 kms in length and up to 600 metres in thickness. Though a shadow of its former self, when it formed part of a massive ice-sheet which encompassed the Murchison, Hooker and Mueller Glaciers, the sight of it can still take your breath away. The trough this huge glacier carved is now filled by the beautiful Lake Pukaki, whose fabulous turquoise colour is due to the suspended rock flour in its waters.
