Free Fox Glacier Terminal Face Walk - New Zealand's Biggest Gap Year – Backpacker Guide New Zealand
Day 124: Today are doing the free Fox Glacier Terminal Face Hike in the Fox Glacier Valley! This is a free way of seeing the Fox Glacier on the West Coast and one of the most ever-changing hiking tracks in New Zealand. Join us for today’s adventure out of our 365 Days: 365 Activities.
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Today we are leaving the Fox Glacier area on the West Coast of New Zealand but not without checking out the Fox Glacier Terminal Face.
This is a free way to see the New Zealand glaciers, and it's only a 30-minute drive from the Franz Josef Glacier. So we drive up the Fox Glacier Valley to the start of the Fox Glacier Valley Walk.
The Fox Glacier walk is about 40 minutes one way down the every-changing glacier valley. It follows the Fox River then along a valley side until it reaches a viewpoint overlooking the Fox Glacier Terminal Face along with waterfalls.
After our Fox Glacier hike, we return the same way and continue our journey down the West Coast stopping at Hunts Beach along the way to try and find greenstone. Then we arrive at our final destination in Haast.
So what do you think of the free Fox Glacier Valley Walk? Is this a New Zealand Walk you would add to your must-do list? Let us know!
#NZMustDo #BackpackerGuideNZ #FoxGlacier #FranzJosefGlacier #FranzJosef #WestCoastNZ #NewZealand #TravelNewZealand #NewZealandVlog
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-- New Zealand Biggest Gap Year --
365 Days: 365 Activities
BackpackerGuide.NZ is New Zealand’s biggest online travel guide for adventure and budget travel in New Zealand. Join us, as the team behind BackpackerGuide.NZ, Robin and Laura, update the travel guide while taking on 365 Days: 365 Activities in New Zealand! It’s New Zealand’s Biggest Gap Year! We release new videos of the New Zealand backpacking adventure every single day, as well as New Zealand travel tips and 360 videos every Sunday so start making your New Zealand bucket list!
Read more about the Fox Glacier Terminal Face Walk on New Zealand’s biggest guide for backpackers:
-- More about Things to Do in Fox Glacier in New Zealand –
7 Ways to Take on New Zealand’s Glaciers ➜
5 Best Backpacker Hostels in Fox Glacier ➜
Glacier Country – Guide for Backpackers ➜
New Zealand-Arthurs Pass to Fox Glacier Part 7
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Fox Glacier:
The Fox Glacier (Te Moeka o Tuawe in Māori) is a 13 km (8.1 mi) long glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini 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. Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 2,600 m (8,500 ft) on its 13 km journey from the Southern Alps down to the coast, with it having the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. Although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years, it has been advancing since 1985. In 2006 the average rate of advance was about a metre a week. In January 2009, the terminal face of the glacier was still advancing and had vertical or overhanging faces which were continually collapsing.
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 as early as the late 1920s). The approximate township site had been gazetted as early as 1866. Bruce Bay is 46 km to the south-west of the township, and Franz Josef is 23 km north-east. State Highway 6 runs through the town.The outflow of the glacier forms the Fox River. During the last ice age, its ice reached beyond the present coastline, and the glacier left behind many moraines during its retreat. Lake Matheson formed as a kettle lake within one of these.Wikipedia
New Zealand - Franz Jozef Glacier Walk and View
Westland National Park ... Stretching the top of the Southern Alps in the east, where it shares a common boundary with Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, to the Tasman Sea in the west, this 1,175-sq-km (450-sq-mile) national park is renowned for its mountain peaks (which reach a height of 3,500 m or 11,500 ft), dramatic glaciers, dense rainforest, coastal lagoons and beautiful lakes. Although the park contains about 60 glaciers, the most famous are the Franz Josef and the Fox.
We walk through the moraine (debris) field at the head of the glacier for a close-up look.
Glacial Retreat in New Zealand - 2019
It is very hard to disclaim global warming in the face of the evidence all over the World. Case in point is the retreat of the New Zealand glaciers. We visited both the Tasman and Franz Josef glaciers in 2019. The one and a half hour walk up to what remains of the Franz Josef was truly eye opening. It is hard to comprehend how just far this once mighty glacier has retreated - it once came right down to near sea level. Now it is a mere shadow of its former self. My photos from 1977 help put it into context.
New Zealand - Fox Glacier
New Zealand - Hiking in Fox Glacier
The Fox Glacier (Te Moeka o Tuawe in Māori) is a 13 km (8.1 mi) long glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini 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.
Geography
Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 2,600 m (8,500 ft) on its 13 km journey from the Southern Alps down to the coast, with it having the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. Although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years, it has been advancing since 1985. In 2006 the average rate of advance was about a metre a week. In January 2009, the terminal face of the glacier was still advancing and had vertical or overhanging faces which were continually collapsing.
The outflow of the glacier forms the Fox River. During the last ice age, its ice reached beyond the present coastline, and the glacier left behind many moraines during its retreat. Lake Matheson formed as a kettle lake within one of these.
Tourism
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 as early as the late 1920s). The approximate township site had been gazetted as early as 1866. Bruce Bay is 46 km to the south-west of the township, and Franz Josef is 23 km north-east. State Highway 6 runs through the town.
The population was 375 in the 2006 Census, an increase of 117 from 2001.[10]
Fox Glacier - New Zealand
New Zealand - Hiking in Fox Glacier
The Fox Glacier (Te Moeka o Tuawe in Māori) is a 13 km (8.1 mi) long glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini 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.
Geography
Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 2,600 m (8,500 ft) on its 13 km journey from the Southern Alps down to the coast, with it having the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. Although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years, it has been advancing since 1985. In 2006 the average rate of advance was about a metre a week. In January 2009, the terminal face of the glacier was still advancing and had vertical or overhanging faces which were continually collapsing.
The outflow of the glacier forms the Fox River. During the last ice age, its ice reached beyond the present coastline, and the glacier left behind many moraines during its retreat. Lake Matheson formed as a kettle lake within one of these.
Tourism
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 as early as the late 1920s). The approximate township site had been gazetted as early as 1866. Bruce Bay is 46 km to the south-west of the township, and Franz Josef is 23 km north-east. State Highway 6 runs through the town.
Fox Glacier Valley walk 2
Glacier ice collapsing at Mount Cook, Tasman Lake, New Zealand
Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe, Westland, South Island New Zealand
Fox Glacier / Te Moeka o Tuawe is a 13-kilometre-long temperate maritime glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 2,600 m (8,500 ft) on its 13 km journey from the Southern Alps down to the coast, with it having the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 300 metres (980 ft) above sea level. Although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years, it was advancing between 1985 and 2009. In 2006 the average rate of advance was about a metre a week.[4] In January 2009, the terminal face of the glacier was still advancing and had vertical or overhanging faces which were continually collapsing.[5] Since then there has been a significant retreat,[6] with the 2009 high level clearly visible as vegetation line on the southern slope above what is left of the lower glacier today.
The outflow of the glacier forms the Fox River. During the last ice age, its ice reached beyond the present coastline, and the glacier left behind many moraines during its retreat. Lake Matheson formed as a kettle lake within one of these. Wikipedia
Somewhere in the lower half of the glacier you can spot someone in a red jacket ... and the size of the people walking up to it on the left gives an idea of how big it still it, although so seriously shrunken
Tour of a glacial valley
A glacier we visited on day 2 in Iceland.
Rock glacier
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Rock glaciers are distinctive geomorphological landforms, consisting either of angular rock debris frozen in interstitial ice, former true glaciers overlain by a layer of talus, or something in between.Rock glaciers may extend outward and downslope from talus cones, glaciers or terminal moraines of glaciers.There are two types of rock glaciers: periglacial glaciers, or talus-derived glaciers, and glacial rock glaciers, such as the Timpanogos Glacier in Utah, which are often found in the former places of glaciers.Possible Martian rock glacier features have been identified by the Mars Orbiter spacecraft.
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Worthington Glacier Alaska Sept 2010
Worthington Glacier, Alaska. You're allowed to climb the glacier, so I gave it a try. However, we only had a half hour before the bus was leaving, so I didn't get as far up as I wanted to. Quite a climb!
We stopped here on the bus ride from Valdez to the Princess Copper River Lodge on our Alska Cruisetour.
The Grotto
Ice Climbing the Grotto near Canmore, Alberta
Music: Engineer by Sentinel
Worthington Glacier
Callan describes Worthington Glacier's melting.
Across Country Quad Bikes Franz Josef
We had the opportunity to work with Across Country Quad Bikes in Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand. Here is the short sizzle reel we created for their sales office. What a fun day on the Quads - Their staff are highly professional, and know the terrain very well. You just can't beat the experience of riding through tropical rain forest, followed by the terminal moraine/glacial river areas. And with the backdrop of the Franz Josef Glacier!
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Franz Josef Glacier New Zealand
We hiked to the foot of Franz Josef Glacier. The path was across boulder-strewn, desolate land and a stream flowing out of an ice cave.
For a full description, see the travel section of joorl.com
Fox River Walk
A walk along the Fox River in Silver Lake, WI. We have been watching the trees that the beavers have been chewing on and climbing giant spruce trees. Plus the dogs love this trail and looking for anything they can attempt to catch!
Kayaking Franz Josef Glacier New Zealand
For more information & to book:
Visitors to Franz Josef and Fox glaciers experience a variety of landscapes, from the dramatic alpine environment of the Southern Alps and glaciers, to Westland's scenic wetlands and rugged coastline.
Our inspiring kayak tour offers a unique experience where you will paddle through a protected habitat with panoramic views of the glaciers and mountains. Weather is a feature of our tour - sandwiched between mountains and sea, Lake Mapourika, has its own micro-climate which enhances the ambience of the experience. With all equipment provided and our expert paddling advice, you should remain warm and dry on your eco-tour.
Leaving from Jetty Bay, the guided half day tour takes you across the glacial lake past rain forest and imposing vertical walls of glacial moraine. You then paddle through the pristine environment of the Okarito Kiwi Sanctuary and 900-year-old kahikatea trees.
In the morning, when there is generally little wind, our hassle-free kayak tours glide across the surface of the lake which mirrors the surrounding landscape and, on a good day, you can see views of Mount Cook, Mount Tasman and 14 glaciers, including Franz Josef Glacier.
After lunch, a coastal sea breeze ruffles the surface of the lake, making our afternoon scenic tours a little more adventurous, with the bonus of dramatic light change and cloud formations sweeping across the highest peaks of the Southern Alps.
The opportunities for photographers are endless. For those who don't want to carry cameras, we take high quality digital photographs of your kayaking adventure for you to take away free of charge.
Our experienced guides will ensure your guided eco-adventure tour on the South Island's West Coast is informative, safe and memorable. Your comfort and enjoyment are our priorities!
New Zealand - Franz Josef Glacier Helicopter Flight
Westland National Park ... Stretching the top of the Southern Alps in the east, where it shares a common boundary with Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, to the Tasman Sea in the west, this 1,175-sq-km (450-sq-mile) national park is renowned for its mountain peaks (which reach a height of 3,500 m or 11,500 ft), dramatic glaciers, dense rainforest, coastal lagoons and beautiful lakes. Although the park contains about 60 glaciers, the most famous are the Franz Josef and the Fox. Despite the intrusions of the West Coast gold rush of the 1860s and pastoral farming on the river flats, the area has remained largely unspoiled.