Alpine adventure in tourist aircraft

Press, 15 June 1978, Page 27

Alpine adventure in tourist aircraft

The booming tourist attraction of ski-plane trips from the Fox and Franz Josef airfields and across the alps, began when Harry Wigley and Alan McWhirter landed on the Tasman Glacier, outside the Malte Brun hut in 1955. Two-foot lengths of greenery cut from the Wigley garden in Timaru and thrown from the plane helped the men to judge height and distance. That first landing, in an Auster with clumsy wooden skis, was smooth and effortless, in fact Harry Wigley described it

NK'•AfcwKSAvv -“AW-W as almost an anti-climax. Today, Sir Harry Wigley is managing-director of Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Co.. Ltd, one of New Zealand’s oldest and most diverse tourist firms, which was started by his father, Rudolf Wigley, . at the turn of the century. Alan McWhirter is the traffic manager of Mount Cook Airlines. During the 12-month period ended May 1976, Mount Cook Airlines handled 48,650 passenger in their 15 ski-planes. The planes are mostly fiveseater Cessna 185 aircraft,

although the company is introducing a number of Britten-Norman Islander aircraft — the first Islanders in the world to be fitted with retractable skis. Users of the ski-plane service include not only tourists but mountaineers and skiers. Travelling by ski-plane, a climbing party can be landed on a remote snowfield in half-an-hour from the Fox, Franz Josef or Mount Cook airfields. Walking in to the same area might take two or three days, and although the party could arrive at the foot of their peaks less

fit than if they had walked, the saving in time and effort is considerable. Experienced skiers are taken out in parties, dropped at the top of a glacier or near a base hut, and given the opportunity of exhilerating runs of five to seven kilometres through varying snow, often untouched by other skiers. Flying is only possible in favourable weather, and tourist trips are modified to suit prevailing conditions. For those who have done both, flying among the Southern Alps is infinitely more awesome than climbing on them, the view more comprehensive. For tourists who have done neither, a flight to the head of the Fox or Franz Josef Glacier, with a landing on the neve, is a never-to-be-forgotten experience.