She said it is possible that the part of Franz Josef where guides currently take clients could be completely gone in as little as 30 years. As a result, Franz Josef could retreat much faster than the Fox Glacier. According to Purdie’s research, the nearby Franz Josef glacier is much thinner and shallower than the Fox despite their being of equal size. New Zealand glaciers are retreating at different rates. ![]() The upper-accumulation zones presently are routinely covered in deep snow, making it impossible for him to run the same types of trips that guides have been leading on these glaciers for over a century. Given the rapid rate of retreat, Purdie said, “we need to be thinking very carefully about our current approach to ‘chasing the glaciers up the mountain’ with helicopters.” Shrinking territories for guides and their clients This situation is bad news for Richards, who guides clients only on the more narrow lower elevation sections. Purdie says her research indicates the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers will be reduced to just their high-elevation accumulation zones at some point in the near future. However, she said that the short-term variability of these glaciers makes it difficult to pinpoint exact timelines. Glaciers like Fox respond rapidly to small climate perturbations and undergo short-lived advance and retreat cycles. Her research shows the Fox Glacier has already retreated by about 880 meters – more than half a mile – since 2009 when the most recent retreat phase began. Purdie, the researcher, said in an email that the situation is unlikely to improve. In addition, the changes make running a guiding company more expensive, less productive, and more logistically challenging. “Being helicopter-dependent increases cost, adds layers of risk, and makes more weather dependent,” Richards says. Now he relies on helicopters to deliver clients to the ice above. This practice had been done by guiding operations without climate-related interruption for well over 100 years until 2014. After several years of rapid retreat by the glaciers, he felt he could no longer safely lead clients from the valley onto the glaciers. ![]() However, the biggest change to Richards’ guiding operations came in 2014. Not only is Richards losing ice to climate change, increased rockfall risks make the ice that remains more dangerous for clients and guides alike. “The lower height of the ice has also meant we don’t have the natural catching features on the glacial margins, so rocks are making it further out onto the glacier.” To keep guides and clients out of ever-increasing rock fall zones, Richards has to constantly reduce the size of his guiding territory. “Some areas that have been traditionally stable, have now become active,” he continues. This means we are seeing more rockfalls and bigger events.” He explained in an email that “As the glacier is lowering in height and pulling back from the valley walls, there is less support at the base of the mountain sides. For Richards and fellow guides, the major concern is for safety. As glaciers retreat, they often get thinner and lower in height as they lose ice mass. Richards says the glacial retreat has made his job much more dangerous, adding more elements of risk to every journey for his clients and for him. Relying on rockfalls and helicopters for access Sign up for our weekly email newsletter and never miss a story. The climate is changing, and our journalists are here to help you make sense of it. However Richards and his fellow guides will have to contend with more than just a loss of ice as their country’s glaciers dwindle. This is having profound effects on Richards’ livelihood. Researchers like Heather Purdie and her colleagues at New Zealand’s University of Canterbury have determined that the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers are smaller and retreating more rapidly now than at any other time in their history. Throughout his career he has personally witnessed the surprising speed at which these glaciers are disappearing. Richards has spent the past 15 years helping tourists from around the world experience the Fox Glacier, one of New Zealand’s largest and fastest-retreating glaciers. This is bad news for glacier guides like Macomb Richards. Low-elevation glaciers like the Fox and Franz are retreating quickly across New Zealand. However, climate change may be altering that. Despite the country’s temperate latitude, large glaciers like the Fox and Franz Josef sweep down from the mountains to the coastal rainforest below. New Zealand’s Southern Alps are crowned by some of the most accessible glaciers on Earth.
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