| The Franz Josef Glacier can no longer be seen from | | | | formed about 12,000 years ago, when the glacier |
| the road or the village, however, on a dull day there is | | | | advanced again after a spell when it had been in |
| no mistaking where it lies, for a pale light seems to | | | | retreat. |
| shine from its deep valley. To see the 11 km long | | | | About 3 km from the present face are heaps of |
| glacier in all its shining beauty, you must drive into this | | | | terminal moraine left by the glacier during halts about |
| valley. The glacier comes into view with dramatic | | | | 1600, 1750 and 1825. Since 1893 has edged forward |
| suddenness, the white and turquoise stretch of | | | | several times, but since 1950 has receded, apart from |
| gleaming ice flowing down from its snowfield, high in | | | | a 400 m advance in 1965-67. |
| the mountains between the Baird and Fritz Ranges. | | | | These fluctuations are governed by snowfall, the |
| The present Franz Josef Glacier is less than 7000 | | | | glacier advancing when the snow accumulates faster |
| years old. Over 14,000 years ago it had an ancestor | | | | than it melts, and retreating when melting prevails. |
| with huge lateral moraines (debris shed by the glacier) | | | | Because the melt rate is high at the low altitudes and |
| right down to the coast. A classic, 30 m high, crescent | | | | the valleys are steep, this glacier is highly sensitive to |
| shaped ridge known as the Waiho Loop and rising | | | | climatic change. |
| abruptly above the river flats is a terminal moraine | | | | |