Mount Fox route: a gruelling climb with the best glacier views

The Mount Fox Route is a fantastic West Coast tramp for experienced and fit trampers, with fantastic views across to Fox Glacier.

Length: ~7.4km return with 1,200m elevation gain (& then descent)

Time taken: 8 hours return, we took 5 hours up, overnight stay, then 3 hours down the next day

Difficulty: difficult

Facilities: none. Some tarns above the treeline which we drank from with no issues.

– Important: the Mount Fox Route should not be underestimated. It’s straight up tree roots for 1200m elevation gain. You need to have adequate fitness and equipment to attempt it. Once above the treeline it can be very disorientating in poor weather and visibility. Navigation skills and equipment are also a must. –

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Why choose the Mount Fox route?

I’d had either Mount Fox or Alex Knob on my tramping to-do list for quite a while now! I wanted a trip with a campsite above the treeline, and beautiful views over one of the West Coast glaciers; Fox or Franz Joseph. But 2020 derailed those plans somewhat.

However skip ahead to 2021. My friend Penzy (from Southerly Storm photography) had a free weekend and was already in Wanaka. And miracle of miracles we had a relatively good forecast for the West Coast on our free weekend. It would have been rude not to take advantage of it!

I already had some apprehensions before starting this trip. Penzy had just come off the back of Coast to Coast, and was a lot more experienced tramper than myself. Meanwhile I had just come off the back of eating a lot of chocolate and had never really camped above the treeline before.

I was convinced I was going to be holding her back, and pushing myself too hard. But I really wanted to get to the top of Mount Fox, and the universe had aligned all the possible stars to get me there. All I had to do was keep putting one foot in front of the other. Simple, right?

* Insert condescending laughter from a much wiser Alice here *

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How to get to the Mount Fox Route trailhead

The trailhead for the Mount Fox Route is signposted off SH6. The small gravel carpark is 3km south of the Fox Glacier township by Thirsty Culvert. The trail starts on the other side of the road from the carpark with a large DOC sign.

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If you’re looking for other awesome hikes nearby then check out these trips:

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Up, up and more up – why am I doing this again??

Penzy and I arrived at the carpark for the Mount Fox route just after 10am. The first ten minutes of the route eased us in with relatively flat travel through the gorgeous West Coast rainforest and across dry (in dry weather) stream beds.

From then onwards I savoured any small amounts of flat ground I came across, like the rare species it had become. Soon after starting the climb I was drenched. I couldn’t tell if it was from the dewy leaves I was brushing through, or because I was sweating up a storm climbing up a steep slope in heavy rainforest air. Probably both. Definitely both.

The Mount Fox Route climbs steeply up the side of the mountain without much relief. Like most New Zealand tracks, it is marked with orange markers nailed to tree trunks. For the most part it is relatively easy to follow, however there are a few spots where it would be easy to lose your way if you weren’t paying careful attention.

Some parts of the route were just very steep; climbing up over slippery tree roots slick with dew and moisture. While at other points, it was ridiculously steep. At times, it felt like we were rock climbing up near vertical muddy banks, using tree roots as our ropes. It probably felt like that, because that was precisely what we were doing.

I didn’t quite realise how bad it was until we had to climb back down the next day – there were several parts where I had to down-climb backwards vertically for several metres, like on a climbing wall. Fun times with a pack on your back. (Type II fun for sure).

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Mount Fox

After much uphill and many rests, we eventually reached a well-defined ridge. At this point I thought the steep climb had finally got to me and caused me to start hallucinating – the trees surrounding us looked like they’d been picked right off the pages of a Dr Seuss story!

Penzy assured me they were just Dracophyllum / Neinei, a distinctive tree often found in subalpine conditions just below the natural tree-line. I’m sure I would have seen them before, but on this particular ridge it felt like they were the only thing growing! Their leaves covered the ground in a slippery brown carpet.

After 10 or so minutes climbing up through the Dr Seuss trees, we stumbled across what was marked as Mount Fox on the topomap. But it was all lies my friends!

All lies!

There was a trig, so I felt justified having another rest, and that my efforts (read: struggling up the side of a mountain sounding like I needed to see a respiratory specialist) were being recognised appropriately. But it wasn’t Mount Fox as marked on the topomap. On no, there was (of course) still more uphill to climb. 300m to be precise.

Normally there are views from the trig site over Fox Glacier village and out towards the sea, but cloud obscured anything we might have seen that day. (We did get much better views on the way back down the next day).

We continued up past the trig for another few hundred metres elevation gain. Two people passed us (which was two thirds of the people we’d see on the entire trip). They reported some views in between cloud that morning, but the cloud had come in since then so I didn’t get my hopes up.

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Mount Fox – for real this time

I soon became grateful for the cloud – it obscured not just lovely views, but also the not-so-lovely view of how far we had yet to climb. It was much easier convincing myself to put one foot in front of the other, when I could trick myself into thinking the top was just over the next rise.

I don’t really remember much of this part of the uphill. I was getting pretty tired. It all became a bit of a haze of steep uphill scrambles. After another 200m elevation gain from the trig (at around 1200m) we reached a flatter area with some lovely tarns and very loud frogs. I filled up my drink bottle and inwardly congratulated myself on how far we’d come.

Slightly prematurely it would turn out. We still had another 100m climb to go, although a little flatter for the most part (read: normal uphill at times, with crazy steep parts thrown in just to keep you on your toes).

The low, clingy cloud had turned to showers at this point and I was in a continual struggle over whether I would be less soaked wearing my rain jacket or not, considering I was still sweating up a storm. In the end, it was the building wind that made me pop it on for good. Penzy and I discussed in detail the merits of various meteorology sites. None of them came off very well.

After what seemed like a long time putting one foot in front of the other up steep slopes in grey clouds, we finally topped out at Mount Fox. For real this time – there was an official sign and everything. The views were laughable.

Penzy rushed off to find us a campsite, while I sat down at the Mount Fox sign, grateful for another rest, even if it was starting to really pour down.

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Our campsite

The visibility at this point was pretty poor; probably only 20-30m. I re-learnt the important lesson about how easy it is to become turned around in poor conditions. What I thought was the obvious continuation of the route along the ridge, was actually the completely wrong direction.

Luckily Penzy knew what she was doing and found us a lovely campsite out of the wind, along the correct ridgeline just below Pt 1345 or Mount Fox, near some small tarns. We’d wanted to camp further along the ridge towards Pt 1646 in a little saddle at about 1400m with some larger, marked tarns, but the weather and our (/my) exhaustion meant it was easier and safer to find a campsite where we could.

We quickly pitched the tent, trying to keep the rain off the groundsheet and tent as much as we could. We then spent the next few hours listening to rain hitting the fly. Penzy read her book (which I would highly recommend, since she’d borrowed it from me – A Man Called Ove) and I napped, exhausted.

After a few hours and several false starts, the rain eventually stopped and the sky started to slowly clear. Penzy and I left the confines of the tent, to a whole new world. The views of the tarns far below us (which is where I had originally thought the glacier would be, when I was turned around) were gorgeous. But the show stopper was definitely the views over across to Fox Glacier and the Southern Alps (including the beautiful Mt Tasman and the surprisingly unimpressive (from this angle) Aoraki / Mt Cook).

Penzy and I explored a small distance further up the ridgeline towards Pt 1646. Although the ridge between Mt Fox / Pt 1345 and the 1400m elevation mark looks relatively flat on a topomap, there were lots of little dips, mini ravines and holes. Very interesting landscape! Also, more lies from the topomap. I was starting to have trust issues.

While taking photos, the call of an elusive kea tantalised us. Penzy showed me her own amazingly convincing kea call. Her mimicry brought the kea (and eventually some of its other friends as well) down to meet us. Penzy and I discussed how human vocal cords could produce the new sounds the kea were making. That’s the kind of chat you get when you mix a surgeon and a speech language therapist.

Eventually it was time for dinner. We reluctantly turned our backs on the view, and walked back down to the tent. Penzy cooked us up a delicious home freeze-dried meal, while I supplied the birthday cake / muffin complete with a candle (Penzy’s birthday had been a few days prior).

We watched the sun dip low into the Tasman Sea, creating gorgeous shadows on the rigelines stretching towards infinity. Penzy hoped to show me the elusive green flash, which she’d seen once before on the West Coast, but low cloud obscured the horizon. It was still one of my favourite sunsets.

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And back down we go …

The next day, I hopped out of the tent just as the sun was rising, setting the Southern Alps on fire. The day was dawning without a cloud in the sky – the perfect weather we’d hoped for!

Penzy mumbled vaguely English-sounding words from inside her cocoon of a sleeping bag when I excitedly exclaimed about fire and mountains. I left her to it, and climbed back up to the ridge to sit and take in the glacier and mountains.

I’d had cell coverage (Spark / Skinny) for most of the way up when the Fox township was in view, but the campsite had none, hidden behind the ridge. I turned my phone back on once the sunrise had finished its show, to find a text from my husband. As of 6am New Zealand was back at COVID Alert Level 2. I wasn’t entirely surprised, based on what had been brewing in Auckland. But it was a stark reminder of the real world problems we escape from when tramping.

Penzy (no longer needing a translator) and I ate breakfast, packed up and were off without too much delay (other than many stops to take photos since the light over the glacier and mountains was gorgeous!). It was going to be a lengthy drive back to Invercargill!

It was a long way down, with many parts where I thought abseiling gear would have come in handy. But within three hours we had reached the carpark. We grabbed a bite to eat in nearby Fox, then it was home time.

The Mount Fox Route was one of the biggest elevation gains I’ve done. Taranaki Summit was definitely more of a climb, but I’m not sure if it was more challenging! I guess everything depends on how fit and prepared you are, and how much chocolate you’ve been eating prior … In any case, I’m proud of completing the Mount Fox Route. Thanks Penzy for your lovely supportive company and awesome photos!

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Safety

As always, please stay safe when you’re out exploring. Follow the Outdoor Safety Code:

1. Choose the right trip for you (read my article, talk to DOC, look at Topomaps, read other blogs!)
2. Understand the weather (as I mentioned above, it is very easy to get turned around in adverse conditions)
3. Pack warm clothes and extra food (check out my post on what to taking tramping here)
4. Share your plans and take ways to get help (have an emergency beacon on your person)
5. Take care of yourself and each other

If you’re not feeling super confident then you can always get in touch with me here on the blog or on my Instagram. Or take a look at my Tramping 101 series which includes this post about how to stay safe in the outdoors.

Stay safe and get outside!

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Where to next?

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