Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( www.hermitage.co.nz ; The Hermitage; adult/child $20/10; 7am-8.30pm Oct-Mar, 8am-7pm Apr-Sep) This
multimedia museum opened just three weeks before the January 2008 death of the man
widely regarded as the greatest New Zealander of all time. Sir Ed's commentary tracks
were recorded only a few months before he died. As well as memorabilia and displays
about mountaineering, there's a domed digital planetarium (showing four different digital
presentations) and a cinema (screening four documentaries, including the Mt Cook Magic
3D movie and a fascinating 75-minute film about Sir Ed's conquest of Mt Everest).
Tasman Glacier
At 27km long and up to 3km wide, the Tasman is the largest of NZ's glaciers, but it's
melting fast, losing hundreds of metres from its length each year. It is also melting from
the top down, shrinking around 150m in depth since it was first surveyed in 1891. In its
lower section the melts have exposed rocks, stones and boulders, which form a solid un-
sightly mass on top of the ice. Despite this considerable melt, at its thickest point the ice is
still estimated to be over 600m deep.
Tasman Lake , at the foot of the glacier, only started to form in the early 1970s and now
stretches to 7km. The ongoing effects of climate change are expected to extend it to 16km
within the next 20 years. The lake is covered by a maze of huge icebergs which are con-
tinuously being sheared off the glacier's terminal face. On 22 February 2011 the Christch-
urch earthquake caused a 1.3km long, 300m high, 30-million-tonne chunk of ice to break
off, causing 3.5m waves to roll into the tourist boats on the lake at the time (no one was
injured).
In the glacier's last major advance (17,000 years ago), the glacier crept south far
enough to carve out Lake Pukaki. A later advance did not reach out to the valley sides, so
there's a gap between the outer valley walls and the lateral moraines of this later advance.
The unsealed Tasman Valley Rd, which branches off Mt Cook Rd 800m south of the vil-
lage, travels through this gap. From the Blue Lakes shelter, 8km along the road, the Tasman
Glacier View Track (40 minutes return) leads to a viewpoint on the moraine wall, passing the
Blue Lakes on the way.
GLACIER
Activities
Tramping & Climbing
Various easy walks from the Hermitage area are outlined in brochures available from
DOC. Longer walks are only recommended for those with mountaineering experience, as
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