Tasman Glacier Helicopter Flight and Guided Glacier Hike Mount Cook

Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park protects the highest part of the Southern Alps, with 19 peaks over 3,000 metres and the country's tallest mountain, Aoraki/Mount Cook at 3,724 metres, at its centre. It is part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage area and a place of glaciers, moraine lakes, alpine herb fields and some of the clearest skies in the world. The small Aoraki/Mount Cook Village, with its hotels and visitor centre, sits at the end of the road up the Tasman and Hooker valleys, and Mount Cook Airport, where this tour begins, lies about ten minutes' drive back down the valley.

A heli hike is the only way for a visitor without mountaineering skills to walk on the great glaciers of the park. From the airport the helicopter reaches the ice in about 15 minutes, a journey that would take days on foot over the moraine.

The Tasman Glacier

The Tasman Glacier is the longest glacier in New Zealand, flowing more than 20 kilometres down the eastern side of Aoraki/Mount Cook and up to 600 metres thick in places. Its lower reaches are covered in grey rock debris and end in a growing meltwater lake where icebergs calve from the terminal face, but the upper glacier where the helicopter lands is clean white ice, ridged, rippled and cut by crevasses that glow blue in their depths. Because the glacier is always moving, the guides find new features on every trip: fresh ice caves, arches, meltwater channels and seracs that did not exist a week earlier.

Walking on the Tasman Glacier is the highlight of a visit to Mount Cook for many travellers, and the guided walk is the safe way to do it, with the guide cutting steps, checking crevasses and choosing the route for the day.

The scenic helicopter flights

The tour includes two helicopter flights of about 15 minutes each. On the way up you rise out of the valley past the moraine walls of the lower glacier and the icebergs floating in the Tasman Lake, then follow the river of ice upward with the east face of Aoraki/Mount Cook and the peaks of the Main Divide filling the windows. The pilot chooses the landing site according to the conditions of the day, setting down on a flat, safe section of the upper glacier where the group disembarks onto the snow.

The return flight gives a second look at the whole glacier from a different angle, often with the afternoon light on the peaks. Seats rotate so everyone gets window time, and the flights alone are worth the trip; the landing is the bonus that no scenic flight from the ground can match.

The guided walk on the ice

Once on the glacier the guide fits your crampons and shows you how to walk with the spikes and the pole; within a few minutes everyone is moving confidently. The route winds between crevasses and over ridges of ice, stopping at ice caves, tunnels and meltwater streams running in deep blue channels across the surface, and the guide explains how the glacier forms, moves and melts and what the changes of recent decades mean. Up to two hours are spent on the ice, at an easy pace with plenty of photo stops, weather permitting.

The walk needs a reasonable level of fitness and sure footing but no experience; the leather boots, woollen socks, crampons, pole and waterproof jacket provided make it comfortable. It is not recommended for people with limited mobility or children under 9.

Mount Cook Airport and the practical visit

The tour meets inside the terminal of Mount Cook Airport at the glacier guiding desk, a small airfield about 10 minutes' drive from Aoraki/Mount Cook Village along the road towards Twizel and Lake Tekapo. Check-in and the safety briefing take about 45 minutes, including the fitting of boots and jackets, so arrive 15 minutes before your start time. Departures run late morning and early afternoon, and the whole experience lasts about three hours from check-in to return.

Bring warm layers, sunglasses, a hat, sunscreen and a snack and water, as food is not included. The trip is entirely weather dependent: cloud, wind or snow can ground the helicopter, and if the flight cannot operate you receive a full refund, so it is wise to book the first day of your Mount Cook stay to leave room to rebook.