Access road to West Coast's Fox Glacier destroyed by landslide

Saturday, 2 March 2019

Fox Glacier retreated by 300m between January 2014 and January 2015.

The access road to the West Coast's Fox Glacier has been destroyed by a major landslide – just two months after nearly $430,000 was spent fixing it up after a previous slip.

The main highway (State Highway 6) remains open, but the access road to the glacier was destroyed when heavy rain caused another landslide last week.

About 150 metres of the road completely washed away and another 150m was substantially damaged, the Department of Conservation (DOC) said in a statement.

The only road to Fox Glacier on the West Coast has been destroyed by a major landslide.

The road was closed in November and December last year after debris damaged the same section of road.

**READ MORE:

Heavy rain has caused a major landslide, which destroyed the newly-repaired Fox Glacier access road last week.

* Fox Glacier access road reopens two months after washout by ex-tropical Cyclone [Fehi

](https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/102697209/fox-glacier-access-road-reopens-two-months-after-washout-by-extropical-cyclone-fehi)* 200m washout closes access to Fox Glacier

Foot and road access to Fox Glacier is no longer available, but air access is not affected.

* Tourists rescued after night in cold near Fox Glacier

* Fox Glacier: activities around the township**

A section of the Fox Glacier access road was washed out on February 1, 2018, as ex-tropical cyclone Fehi hit the South Island's West Coast.

DOC said the landslide was the largest active in New Zealand currently and was aggravated by heavy rain events. There was no way to prevent it causing damage in the valley.

Nearly $430,000 was spent repairing the road, which reopened just before Christmas, but further heavy rain late last month caused more damage, preventing foot and vehicle access to the glacier. Air access to the glacier is not affected.

The road was also closed for two months early last year after ex-tropical Cyclone Fehi washed part of it away.

Westland mayor Bruce Smith said the landslide was 'a beauty' and Mills Creek, which ran alongside the access road, was a 'real problem'.

'It's got millions of tonnes of gravel and it's slowly moving down. It appears to me that that type of [road] access might not be able to continue.'

Authorities would have to consider alternatives, such as moving the car park closer to the state highway and putting in a walking track to the glacier.

Another possibility was diverting Mills Creek, but that would involve 'big bucks'.

'We've got to be sensible.'

He did not think the road closure would affect the area's tourism industry though, as most tourists visited the nearby Franz Josef Glacier.

'[This slip's] the type of problem we deal with on the Coast on a regular basis.'

DOC South Westland operations manager Wayne Costello said a decision on how to manage the access road would be made in the coming weeks.

'It's likely that a similar investment would be required to reinstate access at this point with no guarantee the work wouldn't be washed away in the next storm.

'Because of the active nature of the slip, the access road is in a precarious position at present – any repairs we do could be destroyed in the next heavy rain event.'

Costello said authorities may have to wait until conditions in the valley settled, which could take several years.

Decisions about the access road are made in consultation with the NZ Transport Agency and roading and geotechnical engineers, he said.