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Adventures in Glacier Country
Glacier Country, NZ
The west coast of New Zealand is home to quite a unique environment. The Southern Alps Mountain Range that follows most of the length of the South Island is home to the tallest peak in NZ (Mount Cook), as well as some of the world’s most accessible glaciers, giving it the name ‘Glacier Country’.
Fox Glacier
From Wanaka, our first stop on the West Coast was to a small town called Fox Glacier. This town gets its namesake from the nearby glacier. Fox Glacier is 13km long and descends from the Southern Alps, beginning at 2600m in elevation, to terminate just 350m above sea level. It’s accessibility makes it a popular destination for tourists. Mac & I headed out from our hostel in town to check out the glacier one fine morning (<- jokes – it was raining. Obviously). We first went to the River Walk Lookout Track. After a long and winding journey through the forest on a gravel road, we arrived at a parking lot. From there, it was a short walk to a lookout of Fox Glacier. Granted, the lookout was through some very overgrown trees, and it was foggy so we couldn’t see much anyways, but the nearby scenery was nice!
There was a fast-moving river just behind us as well as many lush trees & bushes. We got lucky for a brief moment when the fog parted and we were able to catch a glimpse of Fox Glacier.
From the River Walk, we headed to the Te Moeka o Tuawe Valley Walk. The car park here was surrounded by water on either side. To the left was a calm, turquoise coloured pool fed by glacial water. To the right was a rushing river filled with sediment making it brown & murky. The contrast between the two was stunning!
From the car park, there’s a short walk along the glacier valley floor that takes you to a viewing area a short distance away from the terminal face of the glacier. The fog returned during our time here, so again our views were a bit distorted. The waterfall theme continued though, and we were fortunate to see many of them on the valley walls!
Franz Josef Glacier
Just 30km north of Fox Glacier is Franz Josef Glacier. This town is bigger than its neighbour with many more hotels, hostels, restaurants, and cafes. Just south of town is the actual Franz Josef Glacier. This glacier is a bit smaller than Fox at 12km long, but terminates at 300m above sea level.
Similar to Fox Glacier, there is a walk to the terminal face of the glacier from the car park. The walk here was longer than the one at Fox Glacier (about 40 minutes, one way), and it seemed a bit more impressive (though that could have been due to the fact that it wasn’t raining!). The glacial valley was quite a bit bigger, and we were able to get closer to the glacier.
Soon enough, the clouds started coming in and Mac & I decided to head back to the car before the rain came.
Glacial Changes
One thing that needs to be mentioned here is the rapid rate at which these glaciers are receding. At each of the three glaciers we visited (Tasman Glacier, Fox Glacier, & Franz Josef Glacier) there were signs in abundance declaring exactly how fast these glaciers are disappearing. On the road to Fox Glacier, there are signs seemingly ages away from the car park saying: ‘Glacier was here in 1750’, then a little while later: ‘Glacier was here in 1830’ and so on. Remember that the terminal face of the glacier was still a 15 minute walk from the car park! Mac visited Franz Josef Glacier when he was here 5 years ago and even he could see a drastic change in the size of the glacier.
These amazing feats of nature are receding at a rate of hundreds of metres per year. And this is not unique to New Zealand. Glaciers worldwide are retreating and causing serious threats to the environment. There are numerous types of flora & fauna that depend on the freshwater from glacial melt for survival and the retreat of these glaciers threatens them as well as the environments in which they live. There are also several communities globally which rely on water runoff from glaciers for irrigation, drinking water, and even hydropower.
Combined with an increase in global temperatures (April 2016 was the hottest April on record, and “the 7th month in a row to have broken global temperature records” [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][1]), shrinking glaciers are yet another set of evidence that climate change & global warming are very real, and very problematic issue. Though it may seem like an impossibly daunting task to tackle, there are ways to reduce your carbon footprint. The most notable of these is to reduce your animal product consumption. Animal agriculture ALONE is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions, more than the COMBINED exhaust from ALL transportation(!!!!). [2][3] A fantastic documentary to watch about this topic is Cowspiracy. It’s currently streaming on Netflix, so watching it (and getting educated) has never been easier. Cowspiracy is chalk FULL of facts & figures which have all been cited and sourced on their website. Climate change is real and it’s happening now. I want special places like these glaciers in Glacier Country to be around for the next generation to visit and appreciate them like I did.
[3] http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e/a0701e00.HTM[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
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