LURE OF THE WILD

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 73, 30 March 1929, Page 13

LURE OF THE WILD

RIVAL TO FRANZ JOSEF

GLOJMOUS FOX GLACIEE

SCENES OF WILD BEAUTY

(By E. E. Muir.)

With so lavish a hand has Providence distributed a wealth of scenic attractions throughout New Zealand that in South Westland, when He fashioned that vast blazing jewel in the mountain side, the Franz Josef Glacier, He created another to be a rival unto it —the Fox Glacier, which, while corresponding in many respects to its peerless brother, has special qualities and beauties of its own. Unfortunately, it is not nearly so well known, for which tho Government and tho people of New Zealand .must be blamed, and it is only now, after .eighty- years of settlement, in New Zealand, that it is coming into its own.

NOTABLE ' CHARACTERISTICS.

The Fox Glacier is situated some 17 miles further south by road than its twin brother, the Franz Josef, and among New. Zealand . glaciers is specially remarkable for the fact that it dcsc'emls 9000. feet from the largest snowfields, or neve, of the Southern Alps, tho total area covered by the ice of' the Fox, its tributaries, and snowfields being estimated at 10,89-1 acres, while that of "Tho Franz" and its tributaries adjoining comes next, being placed at about 10,102 acres. The Fox, moreover, is longer than "The Franz," being nine .md throe-quarter miles in. length, as against eight and a half miles'; it also penetrates down to an even lower level —670 feet as compared with 692 feet. While both glaciers issue out of immediate adjoin-, ing Hiiowfields in the bosom of the Great Divide, they are separated in the higher levels by the dwarfed peaks rff: tho Kaiser Fritz Range, and from there branch off almost' at a right-angle to one another, "The. Franz" going north and the Fox west. . .

. Working from the lower portion of the Kaiser Fritz Kange, which flanks tho western-- sido. of the Franz Josef, the angle in between Hand the Fox is filled: by an amazing jumble of forest-clad-ridges, and .ice, comprising the Fritz Glacier, ,the .Victoria Range, the Victoria Glacier (four miles in length), and the Chancellor Bidgc (a high spur running down from the upper portion of the Kaiser Fritz, Range to the head of the Fox). Tho Fox Glacier thus flows between, the wholly precipitous Victoria Eange and Chancellor ftitlgo on "its northern side, and the still more imposing barrier of the Fox Range on its southern side —the Fox Range which ascends right up to that crowning glory of tho whole of Westland and of tho Alps, Mount Tasman itself.

SOME ENTRANCING VIEWS.

As seen from close to Wcheka one gets a charming glimpse of the lower portion of the glacier descending, between densely wooded mountain spurs. This peep is rapidly shut off as one motors out on to Cook Flat down to the Cook Elver, the point of departure on the trip over the Copland Pass to the Hermitage on the. Mount Cook side. Here one is rewarded by a line view of the head of the glacier with its Main Ice Falls, and a magnificent panorama of the southern portion of the Great Divide. - '

It is from Lake Matbeson, a short ■distance out from Wcheka towards the sea, : howcver, that a vision of the most perfect loveliness is presented: the majestic King and Queen of the Alps, Mount Cook (12,349 ft) and Mount Tasman (11,475 ft), rising in unbelievable splendour over the crests of the towering snow and ice-clad ranges, a. spectacle rendered the moro beautiful and wonderful still by its sharp contrast against the rich green of the forest covering the 1 rugged ridges for thousands of foct up from the plain; a small portion of the glacier near its. terminal face shining out as a radiant gem from the centre of this luxuriant vegetation; the Lake itself being almost entirely enclosed by glorious bush right down to the water's edge— the whole scene; in the most delicate fusion of its . beautiful colourings, being reflected 1 to perfection in the flawless mirror provided by the crystal clear waters of the Lake.

- The route to the; Fox Glacier from Weheka lies along a well-formed track, about three miles in length, through a fairyland of bush. On reaching the terminal face of the glacier one finds that, unlike the rare Franz Josef, it is covered for a considerable distance up by moraine. This soon gives place to a short, length of. cracked and broken ice, and, when this is.negotiated, the lover of the wild and the beautiful enters upon a long section of smooth and undulating ■. white ice which stretches for some two and a half miles up to the first ico-falls, wholly jagged and broken ice extending right across tho full width, of the- gorge. These ico-falls go up. for half a mile or more to a height of 3000 feet above sea level, to be succeeded by another stretch of smooth ice, and then by the Main IceFalls ascending in a further length of three' miles to a height of 5300 feet. Above arc the immense snowfields and a ■ dozen or more. glaciers from which the Fox derives its being, with the cele-

brated Douglas Peak (10,107 feet), fluted in places almost like tho pipes of a vast organ, centred at their head.

THE CLIMAX: CHANCELLOR

KIDGE,

Looking up the glacier from Cone Rock at "the terminal face, -from' tho ice itself, or from any point of vantage on tho Victoria Range, Chancellor Eidgc, or the .'Fox Eauge, the climber is furnished with a picture oj! the_ wildest grandeur, .comparable only in its colourings, and setting with that-of tho Franz Josef. But it.is from Chancellor Eidge that the.best views arc to be obtained—rabove and all round, vast expanses of snow rind ice, colossal black cliffs and towering mountains, range upon range; boiow, tho glacier flowing through seas of flaming scarlet when tho rata- is hi. bloom, the plain with its charming wooded lakelets, the broad expanse of the Cook River, and the open sea. : r : : . The Fox Glacier is, in truth, a jewel

which all New Zcalandcrs should make it iheir ambition to sec. Having seen it, one can only express astonishment that it has not been more developed. It is' good news, therefore, to learn that a swing bridge is to bo erected over 111 0- moraine, giving easy access to the white.and blue ice, and that a hut is fo bo erected this year on the Chancellor Ridge,- which will make easy for amateur climbers journeys they could not otherwise undertake.

Tin; next article will give some interesting information regarding that fascinating .-bird of the mountains, the Ken, .and will raise the question as' to whether -the war, of extermination declared against him by the Government is justified.