American World Traveler Summer 2018 Issue

New Zealand’s Gorgeous Glaciers
Cool Since the Beginning of Time
by Elisabeth Easther
Franz Josef Glacier, Photo: Fraser Clements
Some of the world's most accessible
and majestic ice formations are in
New Zealand, home to more than
3,000 glaciers.
There’s something undeniably impressive
about glaciers, bodies of ice so dense that
they’re constantly shifting under their own
enormous weight. Understandably, adventurers
are drawn to their beauty, travelling on
foot, by ski, or buzzing above them in helicopters
to steal a glimpse of nature’s majesty.
South Westland’s World Heritage Jewel
The bulk of New Zealand’s glaciers can be
found inside the 2.6 million-hectare World
Heritage Area known as Te Wahipounamu.
Comprised of four national parks –
Aoraki/Mount Cook, Westland Tai Poutini,
Mount Aspiring and Fiordland – this picturesque
wonderland is home to outstanding
glaciers, snow-fed rivers and air so pure you
wish you could bottle some to take home.
Admire Tasman Glacier by Boat
Tasman Glacier is New Zealand’s largest, and
one of the few accessible glacial lakes on
earth where you can watch icebergs float
around you. Rugged up warmly, visitors set off
from Mount Cook Village before zipping
across the surface of the lake in custom-made
boats. Keep your eyes peeled for giant bodies
of frozen water as they fall from the glacial
face in a process know as “calving” while your
guides explain how these extraordinary formations
came to be.
Tasman Glacier, Photo: Glacier Explorers
Plane Sailing on Ice
Mount Cook Ski Planes’ founder Harry Wigley
started flying tourists around Aoraki/Mount
Cook and over the glaciers in the 1950s.
Necessity led him to invent a special
retractable ski that allowed planes to take off
from the airfield and land on the snow. The
company still takes tourists to the pristine
Southern Alps, Tasman Glacier and
Hochstetter Icefall. Choose to land on snow or
glaciers, or pick the more affordable but
shorter scenic flight option. If you’re fit and
feeling adventurous, the possibilities include
skiing, ice climbing and snowshoe adventures.
High Hopes with Fox Guides
Heli-hiking on Franz Josef Glacier is an experience
to treasure forever – an outing that
includes a helicopter ride and a three-hour
guided hike through this land of towering
peaks and ice of alpine blue. If you’re on a
budget, the Fox Trail Terminal Face Walk is an
easy two hours (complete with a chance to
check out the glacier’s “snout”) accompanied
by a guide who’ll share Maori legends and
scientific facts.
Sky’s the Limit
For pure perspective and eye-popping
scenery, little beats seeing glaciers from
above. Not only does a flight across Tasman,
Franz Josef or Fox glaciers give unparalleled
views of these natural wonders, you’ll also
understand how these masses of ice have
carved out spectacular glacial valleys. An Air
Safaris Grand Traverse scenic flight takes in
all three glaciers, as well as Aoraki Mount
Cook National Park, brilliant azure lakes, and
the spring and autumn colours of the vast
alpine sheep stations. Operating from Tekapo
or Franz Josef, the wings of the aircraft are
fixed above the windows to allow for maximum
viewing.
www.newzealand.com