Rob Roy Glacier, Alpine glacier in Matukituki Valley, New Zealand

Rob Roy Glacier sits within Mount Aspiring National Park, displaying ice formations and crevasses that descend from the Southern Alps peaks. The terrain offers changing perspectives on the glacial features as you advance along the valley walk.

Around 20,000 years ago, at the peak of the last ice age, Rob Roy Glacier filled the whole Rob Roy Valley and flowed into the Matukituki Glacier, which joined the Wānaka Glacier in a continuous ice river reaching almost to where Cromwell stands today. Rob Roy Peak was named after the Scottish hero Rob Roy MacGregor when the first European explorers and farmers arrived in the Matukituki Valley in the 1870s. Since the 1920s, four generations of the Aspinall family have allowed access across Mt Aspiring Station into the national park.

Rob Roy Peak was named after the Scottish folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor by European explorers and farmers who settled the Matukituki Valley in the 1870s. Since the 1920s, four generations of the Aspinall family have allowed access across Mt Aspiring Station into the national park, a tradition that continues today.

The track begins at Raspberry Creek car park and is manageable for people with moderate fitness, though some sections are steeper. Good footwear, waterproof clothing, and caution with slippery conditions are important, especially during wet or cold months.

Kea parrots, large mountain birds with olive-green plumage, regularly fly near the glacier and show their impressive adaptation to alpine terrain. These inquisitive birds are a distinctive feature of the higher reaches and visitors are likely to spot or hear them.