Tasman Glacier Hike: Scenic Helicopter and Ice Walk

Embark on a Tasman Glacier Heli-Hike: Scenic flight, guided hike, and epic ice formations in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. Experience New Zealand’s longest glacier.

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (Te Wahipounamu) - Snow landing with the mighty Aoraki/Mount Cook before you.
  • Tasman Glacier - Aerial views of the Tasman Glacier Lake and the stunning Tasman Glacier itself before landing on the Tasman Glacier for your guided hike.
What's Included
  • Glacier Landing
  • 2 hour Guided Hike on Tasman Glacier
  • Waterproof Jackets & Trousers (if required)
  • Woolen socks
  • Crampons and quality Walking Boots
  • Walking Poles
  • Informative pilot commentary
  • Return Scenic Helicopter Flights
What's Not Included
  • Lunch
Additional Information

The Tasman Glacier is Aotearoa New Zealand’s longest glacier measuring at 27km long and as wide as 4km in places, so this is an experience of a lifetime to explore the ever changing ice formations that carved this wonderful landscape in the Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park. Your journey will begin with a scenic helicopter flight to the Tasman Glacier,…

Location
Mount Cook Airport
Mount Cook Road
Check in is 15 minutes before your chosen departure time. Please meet us at the Mount Cook Airport and head up the stairs where you will get checked in for your trip.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.7
(13 Ratings)
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1 star
Jonathan_l
Jul 11, 2024
A great and memorable tour - The awesome view and the knowledge of the guide gave us a great and memorable tour. We would recommend our friend to take up this tour in future.
Review provided by Viator
Boya_w
May 23, 2024
A must do at Mount Cook! - We totally enjoyed our trip. Our tour guide Maddie and pilot Greg were so nice, helpful and informative. It was a very special experience for me and my parents, and I’m proud they made it at the age of 68 & 74. Highly recommended. The view was absolutely stunning although a bit sad to see the glacier retreat due to global warming.
Review provided by Viator
Northstar04839366329
May 5, 2024
A must go experience in Mt Cook - Definitely worth it. The whole trip lasts about three hours. Went through three blue ice holes, lucky enough to be the first public group to one of the newly found blue hole by our professional lovely guides.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
K3547rfedb
Dec 29, 2023
Could not recommend this enough - words do not do it justice! - This was the best experience from our entire 3 week trip to New Zealand. Landing on the glacier and then hiking across it for a mile before being picked up by helicopter and flown back across the mountains was like nothing we had ever experienced before and there honestly aren't enough superlatives to describe how much we enjoyed it! Matt and Sam (our guides) were brilliant - super friendly, very knowledgeable and really went out of their way to ensure we had the best time possible on the trip. Could not recommend this enough!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Loren_c
Dec 11, 2023
Once in a lifetime - It was an amazing experience! We had a great time with our guides. Highly recommend a morning trip due to weather conditions!
Review provided by Viator
Winnie_l
Oct 14, 2023
Amazing and friendly guide - Awesome experience! Definitely 5 stars! Our guide Emma is helpful and friendly. She told us how the cave and the glacier shape were formed, and also helped us taking some great photos.
Review provided by Viator
Lecons
Aug 17, 2023
Breathtaking, like stepping onto another planet... - Always try to allow additional days around a Heli-hike to account for poor weather. Heli-hikes were cancelled in the days leading up to our departure, however we were fortunate with the weather on our day, beautiful blue skies, and low wind. There were 5 people in our group, plus our guide who was Andy. The helicopter portion was 9 minutes long and absolutely incredible. I had never been in a helicopter before and at every turn, I was in awe. Incredible views of the Tasman glacier, snowy capped mountains and Mt Cook! The landing was smooth and those first steps onto ice felt like from a movie set. After fitting our crampons and receiving a short lesson on how to use them efficiently, Andy was able to create a route based on the ability of the group. We slowly made our way across the glacier, stepping over crevasses, with Andy having no set path to traverse across the ice. Our first ice cave we visited was said to be the longest one that had been found in a long time, slowly getting bigger over time. We were given a generous amount of time to spend in here, taking pictures and walking through at our own pace. The second ice cave, whilst smaller, was a unique shape and had some chutes which I could climb into, making it exciting to explore. We spent 1 hour and 50 min on the ice and walked around 4km, very achievable for most people and could be more or less depending on the group. The helicopter back was also around 9 minutes and we got to ride in the front seat, where we were once again treated to breathtaking views. Andy was a good guide and explained quite in depth how glaciers were formed. We were not required to wear a harness and tether ourselves to one another so there was lots of freedom on the ice.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Marcusroyce
Jun 20, 2023
Best tour the entire trip, worth every dollar - This was the best tour of the entire trip. Scott was our guide and he was safe, clear, passionate and very helpful. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience exploring the glaciers, the Mulans, the heli ride, it was simply a breathtaking trip.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Tavia14999
Feb 14, 2023
Definitely worth doing - Really enjoyed our heli hike experience with Troy as a guide. We saw lots of cool things on the ice and the glacial water we collected tasted so pure and fresh it was great. Would have liked it to have more of a safety briefing of what to do on the ice if something happened. It was all fine but the health and safety briefing was all about getting on and off the helicopter and nothing about the equipment that Troy was carrying or if anything happened to him. Also some bigger sizes in coats would have been appreciated and water proof trousers people got very muddy and wet through the holes in the ice.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Coastal62803135638
Sep 28, 2024
Terrible customer service - Terrible customer service. We had booked a trip to New Zealand specifically to do the glacier helihike, we were scheduled for 9am and told to call and confirm from 8am which we did, we tried maybe 15 times before someone answered and told us to call back in 20 minutes, we headed to the airport anyway as we needed to be there 20 minutes ahead of time, at this time we received a call from someone to say it was cancelled, whilst I completely understand the need to cancel based on weather, the person who called us really needs education on customer service, we were understandably disappointed however he was completely disinterested and unsympathetic and just said nothing available until mid October, see you later basically. As this was the reason for our visit to New Zealand, we tried various other options. We went online and then booked a scenic flight with a snow landing for the following morning instead at 9.30, once again, we rang 1 hour ahead as instructed and received no answer. Finally received a call from someone to say the flight had never been confirmed so it wasn’t going ahead. I don’t understand why you would put available time slots for people to book if there is no flight…… Throughout our stay we tried very hard to get up on some kind of flight, we also spoke with the 2 other flight companies based at mt cook who were fantastic and helpful despite us not making it up in the end.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 11 guests
1 Adult
November 2024
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