Fox Glacier

Today I had a very calm day, drove comfortably to Fox Glacier, took a small hike around Lake Matheson, and then relaxed... so not much to tell!

Except one thing: the helicopters.

First of all: yes, I flew halfway around the world just for a trip, drove hundreds of kilometers here with a very thirsty car, and not exactly environmentally friendly! For a climate geographer, it's a dilemma, do you want to see the world or protect the climate? Both are difficult, but I have decided to offset at least part of it with Atmosfair (Thanks Paule, for the guilt ;-) )

But what's going on here is totally crazy, alone from the airfield in Franz Josef there are constantly (!) 5 helicopters in the air and that's just one of many airfields in the area. Because you can no longer walk on the Fox Glacier, as the road there has been washed away by the meltwater and the Franz Josef Glacier has retreated so far that you can no longer reach it, hundreds of people are flown by helicopter to the ice fields every day. Partly for 5 minutes to get off because they just want to have a quick look.

Well, enough excitement, in any case, a helicopter pilot's license is worth it here - maybe for the next 20 years...

By the way, the right peak in the photo is Aoraki/Mt Cook, with over 3700m the highest mountain in New Zealand.