Glacier On Ice Heli-Walk Experience
A helicopter flight to the upper Franz Josef neve and a guided walk on the glacier surface — the only way to experience the full scale of ice on the Southern Alps.
- 1
Helicopter Departure Pad
Flights depart from the helipad at the edge of the village — the 10-minute flight to the glacier neve is itself spectacular, banking over the terminal face.
- 2
Neve Landing Zone
The helicopter lands on the flat upper snowfield — the neve is the accumulation zone where snowfall compresses into glacial ice over decades before flowing downhill.
- 3
Crevasse Field Viewing
Guides lead groups safely between the deep blue crevasses that split the glacier surface — some crevasses are 30 metres deep, their walls glowing electric blue.
- 4
Ice Cave & Meltwater Channel
Meltwater carves extraordinary caves and channels through the ice — their walls polished by water to a deep blue translucence unlike anything in the natural world above ground.
- 5
Main Divide Panorama
From the neve, the Main Divide of the Southern Alps stretches in both directions — peaks over 3,000 metres rise above the ice on all sides.
- 6
Aoraki Mount Cook View
On clear days, Aoraki Mount Cook — New Zealand's highest peak at 3,724 metres — is visible to the north above the glacier neve, its summit above the clouds.