17-609: The Dart Glacier is an approximately six-kilometre-long (3.7 mi) glacier located in Mount Aspiring National Park , in the upper reaches of Otago , New Zealand. The glacier is the primary source of the Dart River / Te Awa Whakatipu , one of the main inflows of the nearby Lake Wakatipu before its water eventually joins the network of the Clutha River / Mata-Au some 80 kilometres (50 mi) to
34-514: A layer of gravel 10–15 metres (33–49 ft) in the Dart Valley, near where the glacier's terminus would have been in the late 19th century. The ice was estimated at 80 metres (260 ft) thick at the time of the study, though sinkholes on the surface indicated that the ice was decreasing in volume. While the upper Dart Valley and headwaters of Te Awa Whakatipu were a prominent source of Pounamu for early Māori , there are no oral records of
51-469: A south-easterly direction down a steep icefall. From here, the glacier turns again to the southwest, before quickly reaching its terminus and the start of the Dart River / Te Awa Whakatipu . Like the larger Haupapa / Tasman Glacier , the lower reaches of the Dart are covered in debris from past rockfalls on the surrounding mountains, obscuring the ice and giving it a grey colour. The topography and climate of
68-688: Is located in Wānaka on the Corner of Ardmore St and Ballentyne Rd. Popular tramping and hiking tracks in the park include: Landsborough River The Landsborough River is located in New Zealand 's South Island . A major tributary of the Haast River , it flows southwest, parallel with the Southern Alps , for 50 kilometres from its source five kilometres north of Mount Hopkins to meet
85-891: The Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site . Mount Aspiring National Park was established in 1964 as New Zealand's tenth national park . In April 2005 the Nature Heritage Fund purchased private land in the Landsborough River valley as an addition to the park. In 2006, the Milford Dart Company asked the Department of Conservation to amend the Mt Aspiring National Park Management Plan to allow an additional road within
102-476: The Dart Glacier from this early exploration. The first confirmed European sighting of the glacier came from Patrick Quirk Caples , a prospector exploring the area for gold during the 1860s. The glacier was further explored in the 1910s by Bernard Head , who led an expedition over the nearby Cascade Saddle before returning three years later to survey the upper Dart Valley. This expedition was the first to note
119-463: The Dart Glacier make it particularly responsive to changes in conditions. Since 1915, the glacier has retreated approximately 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi), with historical records from the time showing the glacier extending further down the Dart Valley, connecting with the Hesse and Marshall glaciers in the process. Fieldwork during the 1980s also discovered pockets of ice from the glacier buried beneath
136-645: The Haast 12 kilometres below the Haast Pass . In April 2005 the Nature Heritage Fund purchased private land in the Landsborough River valley to the south as an addition to the Mount Aspiring National Park . 43°59′S 169°29′E / 43.983°S 169.483°E / -43.983; 169.483 This article about a river in the West Coast Region of New Zealand is
153-774: The amendment to the Management Plan. The Conservation Authority considered the proposed road would not add to the use and enjoyment of Mount Aspiring National Park and that the adverse effects of construction and use of the road in the National Park would outweigh any benefits. The proposal gained approval in principle by the Department of Conservation in 2011, but was rejected by the Minister of Conservation , Nick Smith , in July 2013. Smith stated that "the proposal
170-614: The glacier below the icefall would have disappeared by the year 2000. Recent study of the Dart has involved sampling rocks from in front of the retreating glacier to determine exposure to cosmic rays . Mount Aspiring National Park Mount Aspiring National Park is in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, north of Fiordland National Park , situated in Otago and Westland regions. The park forms part of
187-622: The park for a bus tunnel, the so-called Milford Tunnel, from the Routeburn Road to the Hollyford Valley to take tourists to Milford Sound . The tunnel would have established a connection via Glenorchy and would have significantly reduced the current return travel time from Queenstown to Milford Sound of 9 hours. In December 2007, the New Zealand Conservation Authority declined to adopt
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#1732793705444204-421: The retreat of the glacier, which by the time of further studies in the 1970s had caused the Dart to retreat by more than 2 kilometres (1.2 mi). Researchers studying the glacier in the 1970s were based out of a small hut which had been helicoptered into the area to the support the study, and which was removed following its conclusion. This work claimed that, at the rate of retreat they observed, they claimed that
221-549: The southeast of the glacier's terminus. The Dart Glacier has a fairly typical morphology, including a clearly defined névé and a main trunk, separated by a small icefall. The névé is located in a basin at the eastern end of the Snowdrift Range, between Plunket Dome , Islington Dome and Mount Māori . From this, the Dart flows in a south-westerly direction for roughly 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) before narrowing to less than 400 metres (1,300 ft) and turning to flow in
238-439: The southern end of the Southern Alps , directly to the west of Lake Wānaka , and is popular for tramping , walking and mountaineering . Mount Aspiring / Tititea , elevation 3,033 metres (9,951 ft) above sea level, gives the park its name. Other prominent peaks within the park include Mount Pollux, elevation 2,542 metres (8,340 ft), and Mount Brewster , elevation 2,519 metres (8,264 ft). The Haast Pass , one of
255-469: The three principal road routes over the Southern Alps, crosses the north-eastern corner of the park. Mount Aspiring is still home to over 100 glaciers , that contributed to the formation of the valleys in the national park. U-shaped valleys with steep sides can be found throughout Mount Aspiring National Park, which was formed through glaciation in the region 16,000 –18,000 years ago during the Ōtira Ice Age . The Mount Aspiring National Park visitor centre
272-553: The western portions around the Red Hill Range, and the north eastern parts, could be removed from the park and mined. Prospectors here are particularly interested in carbonatite deposits including rare earth elements and tungsten . The Green Party warned that the park is one of New Zealand's main tourism drawcards, and that mining here could do significant damage to the country's image. Mount Aspiring National Park covers 3,562 square kilometres (1,375 sq mi) at
289-457: Was beyond what was appropriate for a World Heritage Area ." The managing director of the company behind the proposal stated that he was "disappointed of course. National trying to out-green the greens . Going skiing." In 2009 the National -led government of New Zealand indicated that Mount Aspiring National Park may be opened up to mining. Around 20% of the total area of the park, mainly in
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