Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. Its height, , is listed as . It is situated in the
Southern Alps
The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand, New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The n ...
, the mountain range that runs the length of the
South Island
The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
. A popular tourist destination,
it is also a favourite challenge for
mountaineer
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...
s. Aoraki / Mount Cook consists of three summits: from south to north, the Low Peak (), the Middle Peak () and the High Peak. The summits lie slightly south and east of the main divide of the Southern Alps, with the
Tasman Glacier
Tasman Glacier (officially Haupapa / Tasman Glacier) is the largest glacier in New Zealand, and one of several large glaciers which flow south and east towards the Mackenzie Basin from the Southern Alps in New Zealand's South Island.
Geography ...
to the east and the
Hooker Glacier to the southwest.
Mount Cook is ranked 10th in the world by
topographic isolation
The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum geographical distance, horizontal distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and is ...
.
Location
The mountain is in the
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park is a national park located in the Canterbury Region in the central-west of the South Island of New Zealand. It was established in October 1953 and takes its name from the highest mountain in New Zealand, Aora ...
, in the
Canterbury Region
Canterbury () is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of
The region in its current form was estab ...
. The park was established in 1953 and along with
Westland Tai Poutini National Park,
Mount Aspiring National Park and
Fiordland National Park
Fiordland National Park is a national park in the south-west corner of South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest of the 13 National parks of New Zealand, national parks in New Zealand, with an area covering , and a major part of the Te W� ...
forms one of the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
s. The park contains more than 140 peaks standing over and 72 named
glacier
A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...
s, which cover 40 percent of its .
The peak is located at the northern end of the
Mount Cook Range, where it meets with the main spine of the Main Divide, forming a massif between the Hooker Valley to the southwest and the Tasman Valley east of the mountain. These two valleys provide the closest easily accessible view points of Aoraki / Mount Cook. A lookout point at the end of the
Hooker Valley Track located only from the peak has views of the entire mountainside.
The settlement of
Mount Cook Village
Mount Cook Village, officially Aoraki / Mount Cook, is located within New Zealand's Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park at the end of , only south of the summit of the country's highest mountain, also called Aoraki / Mount Cook, in the Souther ...
, also referred to as "Aoraki / Mount Cook", is a tourist centre and base camp for the mountain. It is from the end of the Tasman Glacier and south of Aoraki / Mount Cook's summit.
On clear days, Aoraki / Mount Cook is visible from the West Coast as far north as Greymouth, some away, and from most of State Highway 80 along
Lake Pukaki
Lake Pukaki () is the largest of three roughly parallel alpine lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin on New Zealand's South Island. The others are Lakes Tekapo and Ōhau. All three lakes were formed when the ...
and State Highway 6 south of Lake Pukaki. The near horizontal ridge connecting the mountain's three summits forms a distinctive blocky shape when viewed from an eastern or western direction.
Another popular view point is from
Lake Matheson
Lake Matheson () is a small glacial lake in South West Coast Region, Westland, New Zealand, near the township of Fox Glacier (town), Fox Glacier. It was a traditional food-gathering place for local Māori people, Māori. An easy walking track ci ...
on the West Coast, described as the "view of views", where on calm days, the peaks of Aoraki / Mount Cook and Mt Tasman are reflected in Lake Matheson.
Local climate
Aoraki / Mount Cook receives substantial
orographic precipitation throughout the year, as breezy, moisture-laden westerly winds dominate all year-round, bringing rainclouds from the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman, who in 1642 wa ...
with them.

Annual precipitation around the mountain ranges varies greatly as the local climate is dominated by the eastward movement of depressions and anticyclones from across the Tasman Sea. The Aoraki / Mount Cook massif is a major obstacle to the prevailing westerly winds as they push depressions and associated cold fronts of moist air from the subtropics in the northwest against the mountain range. As the air rises towards the peaks, it expands and cools, and forms clouds. Rain and snowfall are often heaviest around the level and can last for several days if the front is slow-moving.
As a result of the local weather patterns, the western slopes of Aoraki / Mount Cook can receive well over
of annual precipitation, whereas the nearby Mount Cook Village, only south of the mountain, receives of rain or snowfall.
While the weather on the eastern side of the mountain is generally better, rain or snow can quickly become widespread on that side as well if the wind turns to the south or southeast. This brings with it a rapid drop in temperature and poor visibility,
adding to the difficult climbing conditions on Aoraki / Mount Cook.
Temperatures at the mountain's base in the Hooker Valley around range from to , and generally fall just over 1 °C (1.8 °F) for every of altitude.
From about and higher, semi-permanent snow and ice fields exist during winter. Winter and spring are usually less settled than summer and autumn. Anticyclones often bring days of settled weather in summer, or clear cold conditions in winter with severe frost.
Naming and European discovery

In the traditions of the
Ngāi Tahu
Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...
iwi an early name for the South Island is ' ('Aoraki's Canoe'). In the past many believed it meant "Cloud Piercer", a romantic rendering of the name's components: ' (world, daytime, cloud, etc.) and ' or ' (day, sky, weather, etc.).
Historically, the
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
name has been spelt ', using the northern dialect.
Aoraki / Mount Cook became known to Māori after their arrival in New Zealand some time around the 14th century CE. The first Europeans who may have seen Aoraki / Mount Cook were members of
Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch sea explorer, seafarer and exploration, explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first European to reach New ...
's crew, who saw a "large land uplifted high" (probably some part of the Southern Alps) while off the west coast of the South Island, just north of present-day Greymouth on 13 December 1642 during Tasman's first Pacific voyage. The English name of ''Mount Cook'' was given to the mountain in 1851 by Captain
John Lort Stokes
Admiral John Lort Stokes (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885) was a Royal Navy officer who served onboard for almost eighteen years.Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stok ...
to honour Captain
James Cook
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 176 ...
who surveyed and circumnavigated the islands of New Zealand in 1770. Captain Cook did not sight the mountain during his exploration.
Following the
settlement between Ngāi Tahu and the Crown in 1998, a number of South Island place names were amended to incorporate their Māori names by the
Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998
The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 is an act of parliament passed in New Zealand relating to Ngāi Tahu, the principal Māori (tribe) of the South Island. The act's purpose is to settle all of the tribe's claims under the Treaty of Wa ...
. The name of the mountain was officially changed from Mount Cook to Aoraki/Mount Cook to incorporate its historic Māori name.
It is the only one of these names where the Māori name precedes the English. Under the settlement the Crown agreed to return title of Aoraki / Mount Cook to Ngāi Tahu, who would then formally gift it back to the nation.
Neither transfer has yet occurred, and Ngāi Tahu can decide when this will happen.
Geology
The Southern Alps in the South Island were formed by
tectonic
Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons.
These processes ...
uplifting and pressure as the
Pacific
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
and
Indo-Australian Plates collided along the island's western coast. The uplifting continues, raising Aoraki / Mount Cook an average of each year. However, erosive forces are also powerful shapers of the mountains. The severe weather is due to the mountain's jutting into powerful westerly winds of the
Roaring Forties
The Roaring Forties are strong westerlies, westerly winds that occur in the Southern Hemisphere, generally between the latitudes of 40th parallel south, 40° and 50th parallel south, 50° south. The strong eastward air currents are caused by ...
which run around approximately 45°S latitude, south of both Africa and Australia. The Southern Alps are the first obstacle the winds encounter after South America, having moved east across the
Southern Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...
.
The height of Aoraki / Mount Cook was established in 1881 by G. J. Roberts (from the west side) and in 1889 by T. N. Brodrick (from the Canterbury side). Their measurements agreed closely at . The height was reduced by when approximately 12–14 million cubic metres of rock and ice fell off the northern peak on 14 December 1991.
[The landslide carried with it another 40 million cubic metres of rock and ice. The impact caused an earth quake of 3.9 on the Richter scale. 207 In search Of Ancient NZ.Campball and Hutching.GNS science/Penguin.2011.][
] Two decades of erosion of the ice cap exposed after this collapse reduced the height by another 30 m to 3,724 m,
Aoraki / Mount Cook lies in the centre of the distinctive
Alpine Fault, a 650 km long
active fault
An active fault is a fault that is likely to become the source of another earthquake sometime in the future. Geologists commonly consider faults to be active if there has been movement observed or evidence of seismic activity during the last 10,0 ...
in the Southern Alps. It is responsible for the uplift of Aoraki / Mount Cook and is believed to move every 100 to 300 years. It last moved in 1717.
Surrounding forests and glaciers
The average annual rainfall in the surrounding lowlands, in particular to the west, is around .
This very high rainfall leads to temperate
rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
s in these coastal lowlands and a reliable source of snow in the mountains to keep the glaciers flowing. These include the
Tasman Glacier
Tasman Glacier (officially Haupapa / Tasman Glacier) is the largest glacier in New Zealand, and one of several large glaciers which flow south and east towards the Mackenzie Basin from the Southern Alps in New Zealand's South Island.
Geography ...
to the east of the mountain and the smaller
Hooker Glacier immediately to its south.
The vegetation in the valleys to the east, in particular the Tasman Valley, is noticeably less lush than that on the western slopes of the mountain. Forest would normally grow to about 1,300 m in this area, but a lack of soil due to scree, rock falls and the effects of glaciation prevent this in most localities around the mountain.
Snow tussock and other alpine plants cling to as high as 1,900 m.
Above the snowline, only
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...
can be found amongst the rock, snowfields and ice that dominate the highest parts of Aoraki / Mount Cook.
Climbing history

The first recorded attempt on the summit was made by the Irishman Rev.
William S. Green, the Swiss hotelier Emil Boss, and the Swiss mountain guide
Ulrich Kaufmann on 2 March 1882 via the Tasman and Linda Glaciers. They came within a few feet of the top, as did the 1890 ascent attempt by Mannering and Dixon.
The first known ascent was on 25 December 1894, when New Zealanders
Tom Fyfe, John Michael (Jack) Clarke and George Graham reached the summit via the Hooker Valley and the north ridge. Despite an earlier failed attempt on 20 December, the local climbers were spurred on by their desire for the first ascent to be made by New Zealand mountaineers amid reports that the American mountaineer
Edward FitzGerald had his eye on the summit.
The party reached the summit at approximately 1:30pm after bounding up the last leg of the mountain full of excitement at reaching the top. The route they had successfully traversed was not repeated again until the 100th ascent over 60 years later in 1955.
Swiss guide
Matthias Zurbriggen of FitzGerald's party made the second ascent on 14 March 1895 from the Tasman Glacier side, via the ridge that now bears his name. This is credited as the first solo ascent, although Zurbriggen was accompanied part of the way up the ridge by J Adamson. After Zurbriggen's ascent it was another ten years before the mountain was climbed again. In February 1905 Jack Clarke with four others completed the third ascent following Zurbriggen's route. Clarke therefore became the first person to do a repeat ascent.
The first woman to ascend the mountain was Australian
Freda Du Faur on 3 December 1910. Local guide George Bannister, a nephew of another guide,
Butler Te Koeti of Ngāi Tahu, was the first
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
to successfully scale the peak in 1912.
A traverse of the three peaks was first accomplished in 1913 by Freda Du Faur and guides
Alec and Peter Graham. This 'grand traverse' was repeated in January 1916 by
Conrad Kain
Conrad Kain (10 August 1883, Schwarzau im Gebirge, Nasswald – 2 February 1934, Cranbrook, British Columbia) was an Austrian mountain guide who guided extensively in Europe, Canada, and New Zealand, and was responsible for the first ascents of mo ...
, guiding the 57-year-old
Jane Thomson, considered at the time "a marvellous feat unequalled for daring in the annals of the Southern Alps".
Sir Edmund Hillary made his first ascent in January 1948. In February 1948 with Ruth Adams, Harry Ayres and Mick Sullivan, Hillary made the first ascent of the South Ridge to the Low Peak. To celebrate the life of Hillary the South Ridge was renamed as Hillary Ridge in August 2011.
Aoraki / Mount Cook is a technically challenging mountain with a high level of glaciation. Its level of difficulty is often underestimated and can change dramatically depending on weather, snow and ice conditions. The climb crosses large crevasses, and involves risks of ice and rock falls, avalanches and rapidly changing weather conditions.
Since the early 20th century, around 80 people have died attempting to climb the mountain, making it New Zealand's deadliest peak. The climbing season traditionally runs from November to February, and hardly a season goes by without at least one fatality.
Māori history, legends and traditions

According to
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
legend, Aoraki was a young boy who, along with his three brothers, were the sons of
Rakinui, the Sky Father. On their voyage around the
Papatūānuku, the Earth Mother, their canoe became stranded on a reef and tilted. Aoraki and his brothers climbed onto the top side of their canoe. However, the south wind froze them and turned them to stone. Their canoe became the Te Waka o Aoraki, the
South Island
The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...
, and their prows, the
Marlborough Sounds
The Marlborough Sounds (Māori language, te reo Māori: ''Te Tauihu-o-te-Waka'') are an extensive network of ria, sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination ...
. Aoraki, the tallest, became the highest peak, and his brothers created the Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, the
Southern Alps
The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand, New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The n ...
.
[
]
Ngāi Tahu, the main iwi (tribe) of New Zealand's southern region, consider Aoraki as the most sacred of the ancestors that they had descended from. Aoraki brings the iwi with its sense of community and purpose, and remains the physical form of Aoraki and the link between the worlds of the supernatural and nature.
Timeline
* 1642 – Aoraki was possibly sighted by
Abel Tasman
Abel Janszoon Tasman (; 160310 October 1659) was a Dutch sea explorer, seafarer and exploration, explorer, best known for his voyages of 1642 and 1644 in the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was the first European to reach New ...
and crew members.
* 1770 – Captain Cook named the Southern Alps.
* 1851 – Captain
John Lort Stokes
Admiral John Lort Stokes (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885) was a Royal Navy officer who served onboard for almost eighteen years.Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stok ...
of the survey ship
HMS ''Acheron'' gave the name Mount Cook to Aoraki.
* 1894 – The first ascent of Mount Cook took place on Christmas Day, by
Jack Clarke,
Tom Fyfe and
George Graham.
* 1910 –
Freda du Faur became the first woman to climb Mount Cook.
* 1913 – The first ascents of the footstool and Mt Sefton were made by Freda du Faur's climbing party.
* 1914 – The first fatal accident occurred, when three men were caught in avalanche on Linda Glacier.
* 1975 – Four
Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial warfare, aerial military service, service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Perm ...
personnel were killed during a mountain survival training exercise near the Ball Pass, when they were buried alive by an avalanche.
* 1982 –
Mark Inglis was trapped in a
snow cave
A snow cave is a Shelter (building), shelter constructed from snow by certain animals in the wild, human mountaineering, mountain climbers, winter recreational enthusiasts, and winter survivalists. It has thermal properties similar to an igloo a ...
. During his rescue an RNZAF 3 Squadron
Bell UH-1H crashed on Mount Cook.
* 1982 – Geoff Wyatt and John Blennehasset achieved the first ski descent from the summit.
* 1991 – An avalanche of 10 million cubic metres of snow and rock caused 10 metres to be lost off the top of Mount Cook.
Two decades of erosion of the ice cap exposed after this collapse reduced the height by another 30 m to 3,724 m, as revealed by new GPS data from a University of Otago climbing expedition in November 2013.
* 1998 – The
Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act officially recognised the original name, renaming the mountain Aoraki / Mount Cook.
Gallery
File:Aoraki peak from Mt Tasman summit NZ Mon 21 March 1983 wideangle.jpg, Aoraki peak from Mt Tasman summit NZ Mon 21 March 1983 wideangle
File:Aoraki peak from Mt Tasman summit NZ Mon 21 March 1983 closeup.jpg, Aoraki peak from Mt Tasman summit NZ Mon 21 March 1983 closeup
See also
*
List of mountains of New Zealand by height
Notes
References
Further reading
* ''In Search of Ancient NZ''. Hamish Campbell and Gerard Hutching. GNS/Penguin. 2011. .
External links
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aoraki Mount Cook
Mountains of the Canterbury Region
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park
Extreme points of New Zealand
Highest points of countries
Sacred mountains of New Zealand
Three-thousanders of New Zealand