Ice wall
Blue and white.
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The Rob Roy Glacier is a small hanging glacier in the Southern Alps of New Zealand's South Island, within Mount Aspiring National Park, about 9 km south of Mount Aspiring, and the end of its track lies about 40 km in a straight line north-west of Wānaka. The ice covers the steep slopes of the mountains around the head of the Rob Roy Valley. Its most prominent part is on the north-western side of the valley, on the slopes of the 2,644 m Rob Roy Peak, where it runs from just below the summit down to a high bench on the valley side and then breaks abruptly over the edge of a cliff at around 1,500 m. The track starts at the Raspberry Flat car park in the West Matukituki Valley, crosses a swing bridge over the river and climbs through dense beech forest beside a rocky stream before emerging at viewpoints facing the blue-white wall of ice. Meltwater falls pour down the cliffs, and in spring chunks of ice often break away in small avalanches you can hear. The track is free and takes about three to four hours return. The road to the start is gravel and crosses fords that can rise after rain, so check conditions, and do not go beyond the upper lookout.
Blue and white.
On the track.
On the cliffs.
West Matukituki Valley, near Wānaka, New Zealand
About three to four hours.
Gravel with fords; check conditions.