A body stuck in ice on Fox Glacier for years was discovered this morning.
A tramper discovered the body near the Chancellor Hut, alongside the upper glacier, about 10.30am today.
Police said the body had been there for "some time".
A team was heading to the scene to retrieve the body, however were delayed a day due to unsafe weather conditions for flying.
Once the body is retrieved police will try to establish its identity and notify next of kin.
Glaciers Country tourism group chairman Rob Jewell was unaware of the discovery of the body.
"In fact, I have been here for 10 years and don't recall anyone going missing in that area," Mr Jewell said.
Both the Fox Glacier and its northern twin Franz Josef Glacier have given up bodies and debris in the past. In 2010, glacier guides found items discarded during renovations to the Chancellor Hut in the 1950s, emerging from the glacier terminal.
At the time guide Marius Bron discovered scraps of orange-painted corrugated iron, which were believed to be from the chimney repairs made 50 years earlier, having been thrown off the cliff on to the glacier below.
"It's not conclusive, but there's a chance that's it. It's right on the edge of the glacier, so there is a good bit of friction along the side it would have rumbled down," Mr Bron said.
- by Viv Logie
