West Coast Glaciers Attractions

The Franz Joseph is a 12 km long glacier situated in Westland National Park on the W Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Together with the Fox Glacier 20 km to the S, it is unique in descending from the Southern Alps to less than 300 metres above sea level, amidst the greenery and lushness of a temperate rainforest. The area surrounding the two glaciers is part of Te Wahipounamu, a World Heritage Site park. The river emerging from the glacier terminal of Franz Josef is known as the Waiho River. The glacier area is one of the main tourist attractions of the West Coast, with around 250,000 visitors a year. Guided and unguided walks up to and onto the glacier are possible. The latter require some specialised equipment, namely ice axes and crampons that latch onto a sturdy boot. As the walking part of any tour up to the glacier takes a long time, and ends at the first icefall (a sort...

The Fox Glacier is a 13 km long glacier located in Westland National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It was named in 1872 after a visit by the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir William Fox. Like the nearby Franz Josef Glacier, it is one of the most accessible glaciers in the world, with its terminal face an easy walk from Fox Glacier village/Weheka. It is a major tourist attraction and about 1000 people daily visit it during high tourist season. Though people are told not to, some go beyond the barriers and climb without guides onto the glacier, whose rapid advance creates dangers of sudden ice and rockfalls. Fox Glacier township/Weheka, 6 km away from the glacier, functions mainly as a service centre for tourists, though it also services the local farming community, which had been its main focus until the 1990s (though tourism started a...