The garage-sized slabs of ice in the Fox River were dwarfed by the massive glacier that attracts more than 600,000 tourists a year.
Gargantuan-sized river rocks and heavy rain added to the desolate and gloomy atmosphere.
"There is not much worse than this scenario," Hokitika-based Department of Conservation media spokesman Ian Gill said.
Doc's barrier ropes and warning signs are usually placed about 40m from the toe of the glacier but yesterday they had been moved hundreds of metres away to the top of a rise above the river.
A Conservation officer had also been stationed part-way along the short walking track leading to the glacier to warn people not to go beyond the ropes.
Guided parties were still entering the danger zone under the watchful eye of their leaders but none was taken near where search and rescue volunteers were accompanying Ronnie Miranda, the dead men's father, and another male family member to the scene of the accident.
From the viewpoint, the safety-vested people at the glacier's toe were tiny dots in a daunting landscape.
The glacier ice is always moving, and Doc tries to make people aware of the danger and advocates self-responsibility. Nevertheless, high numbers reportedly ignore the warnings.
Even so, ice fall accidents have been rare, with one fatality in the early 1980s and another man injured in 2007.
Doc's Westland area manager Jo Macpherson said yesterday the accident was "incredibly unfortunate".
She was now reviewing hazard procedures at the glacier, something that happened each year and after incidents.
She was "confident" Doc's processes were robust.
The ice fall that killed the Miranda brothers was large but fell just 5m or 6m from the bottom of a 20m high ice face.
It was witnessed by several tourists, including the brothers' parents, Ronnie and Winnie Miranda.
However, the parents did not initially realise their only sons were underneath the ice fall.
Constable Paul Gurney, of Franz Josef, said yesterday the parents were devastated and did not want to talk to the media.
They were being supported at Fox Glacier by cousins from Auckland and had a large and extended family network in Australia and India, he said.
Police would wait until today to decide what to do to retrieve the body of Akshay.
It was too dangerous to go into the site yesterday.
