Ten minutes with the rotors off
A Tasman Glacier landing is the moment the flight stops being a flight. The machine circles a site, sets down on snow at somewhere between one and two thousand metres, the turbine winds down, and the noise stops completely. You get out. Most scenic flights over Aoraki include one, and this page says which, what the ten minutes are actually like, and how it differs from walking on the ice.
Quick answer
The short answer. Every scenic flight compared here lands. The cheapest is $210 for twenty-five minutes with about ten of them on the snow. One operator lands a ski plane rather than a helicopter, which is the only such landing in the country. None of them is the same thing as a heli hike, where you walk 2.5 km.
What the ten minutes are like
The landing itself is quick and unremarkable. A circuit of the site, a settle, the turbine running down, and then nothing. That is the part people describe afterwards — not the flight, the silence.
You step out onto packed snow. It is around freezing whatever the month, there is usually a light wind coming off the ice, and the glare is severe: fresh snow at fifteen hundred metres on a clear day will hurt your eyes within a couple of minutes without sunglasses.
You are asked to stay within a marked area near the machine, which is not fussiness. The névé has crevasses under snow bridges and only the pilot knows where the safe ground ends. Ten metres is plenty for the photograph anyway, because the subject is the Southern Alps behind you rather than the ground.
Then the turbine winds up, the noise comes back, and you are down in the valley inside ten minutes.
Before you book
The landing is the part most often cut, and the part people most want.
A pilot can fly a scenic circuit in conditions that will not allow a set-down. If the site is in cloud or the snow is unstable, some operators offer the flight without the landing at a reduced price. Decide in advance whether that is a flight you want.
There is no fixed pad. The site is chosen on the day from a handful of known areas, based on where the snow has settled. After a warm run in late summer the choice narrows.
This is a scenic flight, not a heli hike. You stay on packed snow within a few metres of the machine. Ordinary shoes are fine; ordinary shoes plus wet socks afterwards are also common, so bring something with a closed top.
One operator lands a ski-equipped fixed-wing aircraft on the snow and pairs it with a helicopter leg. It is the only ski-plane glacier landing in New Zealand and it is worth the extra on novelty alone.
It flexes with the schedule behind you. On a quiet afternoon a pilot with nothing waiting will happily let you stand there longer.
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Four ways to stand on the snow without walking anywhere, cheapest first.
★ 4.7 · 514 reviews
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Ten minutes beside the machine or ninety minutes walking? The two are less alike than the price suggests.
The Tasman Glacier heli hike→Common questions
Every flight compared on this site includes a landing, though not all of them land on the Tasman itself — some set down on a neighbouring snowfield at a similar altitude. Check the listing for the words snow landing or alpine landing.
About ten minutes, with the rotors shut down. It flexes with how many machines are waiting for the site, and on a quiet afternoon it is often longer.
Only within a marked area a few metres from the machine. The névé has crevasses under snow bridges and only the pilot knows where the safe ground ends. Walking properly on the glacier is a heli hike, which is a different product with crampons and a guide.
The twenty-five minute flight at $210, which carries 514 reviews at 4.7. It is the cheapest way to stand on snow up there at all.
Some operators fly the scenic circuit without it, sometimes at a reduced price, and some cancel and refund. Ask which policy applies before you book if the landing is the reason you are flying.
No, but bring a warm layer and closed shoes. It is around freezing at the landing site all year and there is usually a breeze off the ice. Sunglasses matter more than most people expect.
Go deeper
Six marked tracks from the village, with real DOC times and distances.
On the iceThe only walk on the longest glacier in New Zealand, and what the three hours contain.
The famous oneTen kilometres return, three swing bridges, a lake full of icebergs, and it is free.
The hard one2,200 steps and 600 metres of climb, and where the walking stops and mountaineering starts.
The free view300 steps to a viewpoint over a lake that did not exist in 1970.
PricesThree heli hikes priced against the flights and against the walks that cost nothing.
3-Hour Tasman Glacier Heli Hike
★ 4.9 · 646 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h