Fox Glacier
Fox Glacier is a 13 km long glacier located 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.
It has the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 300 metres 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. It is one of the most accessible glaciers in the world, with its terminal face an easy walk from Fox Glacier village. It is a major tourist attraction and about 1000 people daily visit it during high tourist season.
It has the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 300 metres 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. It is one of the most accessible glaciers in the world, with its terminal face an easy walk from Fox Glacier village. It is a major tourist attraction and about 1000 people daily visit it during high tourist season.
Mr Boyd's Visit
Mr Boyd visited Fox glacier in March of 2008 while touring through New Zealand. He flew up to a mid point on the glacier via a helicopter with a tour group.
Tour Safety
Having already been on a glacier, Mr Boyd knew of the risks that are present. He was quite surprised to notice the lack of safety. The tour guide was leading the group on a walk just centimetres from Crevasses without proper safety gear. A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet or glacier. We did have walking sticks with a nail at the end, and crampons (a traction device used on the bottom of your shoes to improve mobility on snow and ice). However, if someone fell into the crevasse, there would be no way to pull them up with a rope.
Ice Tunnels
The Fox Glacier is constantly moving, it cracks and breaks, melts and freezes, and changes its shape. Because of that, the glacier is like a piece of swiss cheese with lots of holes, tunnels, and caves. One of the fun parts of being on this glacier was getting to explore the aqua-blue coloured tunnels.
So You Think You Can Jump ...
a Crevasse? To have a little fun, Mr Boyd decided to jump over a crevasse. It was a short jump, and was going to be relatively. What Mr Boyd forgot was that he still had his crampons on the bottoms of his feet. When he went to jump, his crampon got stuck in the ice, and instead of leaping over the crevasse, he stumbled across. Fortunately the crevasse was fairly narrow, so he didn't fall in. Although he did need a band-aid.
Don't try this at home!
Goodbye Fox Glacier
Mr Boyd came, he saw, he conquered.