.. but its remarkable advances of 1.5 kilometres at the turn of the century were the darling of the anti-science crowd!

Actually it did not even recover its previous losses at that time but that did not stop it being used to show that talk of global ice retreat was nonsense.

Perhaps I did not clearly communicate my reason for posting the link, this being that the tours being offered of Franz Josef Glacier have changed as of January 2012. I know if I were planning a trip to NZ to include a trip to the Fox or Franz Josef, I would want to have this information, particularly since I often go by info in guidebooks or on travel logs that may or may not have been updated.

This article states that because of Franz Josef Glacier retreating (and its consequences) climbers must take a helicopter ride to where they can begin their glacier climb, if they would like to don crampons and walk on the ice. When I did the climb in February 2011, it was still possible to walk across through the rainforest, across the gravelly glacier valley all the way to the base of the glacier, where we then donned crampons and climbed the lowest part of the glacier. The price was also a relatively low NZ$125.

Unless I have misunderstood the article, it seems this option is no longer available (I checked the Franz Josef Glacier Guides website as well). Thus, if travelers were hoping to climb on the ice of Franz Josef Glacier and avoid a helicopter ride, or perhaps keep costs down, they might plan on climbing Fox Glacier instead. This will require some preparation as there are not as many places to stay at Fox Glacier village as there are at Franz Josef Glacier village. In summer, the glacier trips also get booked up faster and many people plan for just one or two days at the glaciers, and do not have the flexibility to change their itineraries.

On a positive note, Franz Josef Glacier Guides does offer a more affordable "Ice Explorer" trip that includes both a short helicopter ride and a glacier ice walk. I don't think this was being offered when I went there last year. I have to say, my hike on Franz Josef Glacier was one of the most memorable things I have done here in New Zealand, and I am eager to walk on Franz Josef or Fox Glacier again.

As I said in my original posting, I do not know if this Franz Josef travel update has been posted here before, as I do not check this forum with the regularity or thoroughness of other Fodorites. If so, pardon my redundancy. I hope the above info will be of use to travelers to NZ.