Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park
The spectacular 700-sq-km Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park, along with Fiordland, Aspir-
ing and Westland National Parks, is part of the Southwest New Zealand (Te Wahipoun-
amu) World Heritage Area, which extends from Westland's Cook River down to Fiord-
land. Fenced in by the Southern Alps and the Two Thumb, Liebig and Ben Ohau Ranges,
more than one-third of the park has a blanket of permanent snow and glacial ice.
Of the 23 NZ mountains over 3000m, 19 are in this park. The highest is mighty Aoraki/
Mt Cook - at 3724m it's the tallest peak in Australasia. Known to Maori as Aoraki (Cloud
Piercer), after an ancestral deity in Maori mythology, the mountain was given its English
name in 1851, in honour of explorer James Cook.
This region has always been the focus of climbing in NZ. On 2 March 1882 William
Spotswood Green and two Swiss alpinists failed to reach the summit of Cook after an epic
62-hour ascent. But two years later a trio of local climbers - Tom Fyfe, George Graham
and Jack Clarke - were spurred into action by the news that two well-known European
alpinists were coming to attempt Cook, and set off to climb it before the visitors. On
Christmas Day 1894 they ascended the Hooker Glacier and north ridge, a brilliant climb
in those days, and stood on the summit.
In 1913 Australian climber Freda du Faur became the first woman to reach the summit.
In 1948 Edmund Hillary's party climbed the south ridge; Hillary went on to become the
first to reach the summit of Mt Everest. Since then, most of the daunting face routes have
been climbed.
Among the region's many great peaks are Sefton, Tasman, Silberhorn, Malte Brun, La
Perouse, Hicks, De la Beche, Douglas and the Minarets. Many can be ascended from
Westland National Park, and there are climbers' huts on both sides of the divide.
Aoraki/Mt Cook is a wonderful sight, assuming there's no cloud in the way. Most visit-
ors arrive on tour buses, stop at the Hermitage hotel for photos, and then zoom off back
down SH80. Hang around to soak up this awesome peak and the surrounding landscape
and to try the excellent short walks. On the trails, look for the thar, a Himalayan goat; the
chamois, smaller and of lighter build than the thar, and originally hailing from Europe;
and red deer, also European. Summertime brings into bloom the Mt Cook lily, a large
mountain buttercup, and mountain daisies, gentians and edelweiss.
