Haupapa / Tasman Glacier

Haupapa, also known as Tasman Glacier, is a glacier in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand that extends more than 23 kilometers through the Southern Alps. The surface appears as a rolling expanse of grey-white ice flowing between steep rock walls through the Mackenzie Basin and ending in a terminal lake.

The glacier formed during the last ice age about 18,000 years ago and once reached the east coast of the South Island before retreating and unveiling the valley. Over the past 50 years, melting has lowered the ice surface by more than 200 meters and transformed the massive front into a landscape of retreat that shrinks further each summer.

The local Māori name Haupapa comes from the Ngāi Tahu tribe, who regard the glaciers as water sources linked to their spiritual geography. Visitors can read interpretive signs along the way that explain oral stories about how the ice shaped travel and life in this alpine region over centuries.

Most visitors reach the glacier lake in the valley via a short hike from White Horse Hill village and can book boat tours or helicopter flights from there. Between November and April the paths are open and the weather tends to be most stable for trips onto the ice.

Ice chunks in the terminal lake can rise up to 20 meters high and drift for days in the milky white water before melting or washing ashore. When they calve away, they create loud booming echoes that bounce off the surrounding peaks.