I watched with amazement, on a news clip on my iphone, as the one-lane bridge at Franz Josef washed away in the flooded Waiho River. It was only a week before that I had crossed this bridge with a coach load of British tourists. I had commented at the time that the river was very low, but it could rise very quickly. I was able to show my clients, before they left New Zealand, the destruction of the bridge on my iphone.
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| The bridge over the Waiho River at Franz Josef, just a week before it was washed away in a flood, March 2019 |
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| This photo was taken several years ago when the Waiho was in flood. Note how high the river is |
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| When the river is in flood, large chunks of glacial ice tumble down the river along with the river boulders. |
Franz Josef is a small tourist village on New Zealand’s South Island West Coast. The town takes it’s name from the nearby Glacier, named after the 19th century Emperor of Austria-Hungary by the German traveller and geologist, Julius von Haast. Along with the nearby Fox Glacier, these two icy rivers are a major tourist attraction.
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| The Franz Josef Glacier as it was in March 2008 |
Climate change has, of course, taken its toll on these two Glaciers over the last few years. I first visited both the Franz Josef and the Fox Glaciers in 1975, when they were in retreat. Then, during the 90s, both Glaciers advanced spectacularly, and I did read a report that the eruption of Mt Pinatuba in the Philippines was partially responsible. In this report it stated that the large amount of ash pushed into the atmosphere by the volcano, cooled the average temperature in this part of the world by only about half a degree Celsius, but it was enough to increase the snowfall in the glaciers’ névé areas to push these rivers of ice forward.
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| The névé, or snow catchment area of the Fox Glacier |
During this period of advance I led many groups to Westland where a hike on the Fox Glacier was an included highlight. This was a most popular inclusion as most of my clients had never been on a glacier before. The Fox was our preferred Glacier and for a time access was through the surrounding stunted rainforest which we had to hike through before dropping down onto the glacier ice. A unique experience.
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| Hiking through the stunted temperate rainforest before dropping down onto the Fox Glacier |
Each time I visited both the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers, things could be different. Sometimes rain had washed out the access track, or ice movements had altered the access points to the ice. It was an ever-moving landscape with no two trips being the same. If the access road to the Fox was washed out, which was not uncommon, my groups would hike up to, and onto, the Franz Josef Glacier. This was usually considered a bit more difficult and was certainly steeper.
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| A group hiking on the Fox Glacier |
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| Among the ice crevasses & pinnacles of the Fox Glacier 2008 |
The two glaciers reached their peak advance in 1998. From 1999 until 2003, there was a recession of the glaciers which soon became noticeable, then there was a further advance until 2008. Since then both Glaciers have receded, and the amount of melt has been rapid. Hikes onto the glacial ice can now only be done using helicopters, and the Franz Josef has disappeared from view from Sentinel Rock, which used to be a main viewing platform for non-hikers.
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| A large ice cave was visible from the main access track to the Fox Glacier in 2007 |
A large slip has cut all access to the Fox Glacier, and now the Waiho River bridge has been destroyed, although this is being replaced and should reopen within the next few days, restored the main highway between Franz Josef and Fox Glacier and on through the Haast Pass to Wanaka and Queenstown. These recent events have most definitely emphasized how much this really is a landscape on the move.
© Neil Rawlins text & photography
Travel books by the author available from Amazon Books
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