Mt Cook

November 30th - Mt Cook Hooker Valley

Caught the Mt Cook connection, leaving Tekapo for a 2 night stay in Mt Cook Village. We passed by the big town of Twizel, built in the 1960’s for the workers & families of the hydroelectric dam system. In its day it had the largest school in the country with over 1000 kids, it now has less than 100 for all grades combined. We passed several times the canals & Lake Pukaki with its milky blue colour from the rock flour of the glacier run off. Once arriving in Mt Cook, after a quick tour ( & I do mean quick tour) of the 2 or 3 backpackers, information centre/department of conservation office, café/bar & Hermitage hotel that was it. Oh & it should be noted that the Hermitage hotel apparently goes for $585 a night. What a steal I have for my YHA dorm bunk bed .



This small village has 300 residents at its peak during summer (which is quickly setting in) but I am pretty sure I saw more than that in Japanese tourists today while doing my hike out the Hooker Valley. Yep, all decked out in parasols & some even with white gloves (I kid you not!) for this 4 hour walk on, at times, rocky uneven moraine. Whatever works. The Hooker Valley combined many different sceneries but all with spectacular mountains encompassing my every move. Mt Brunner, Mt Sefton, The Footstool, Cadogan Peak, De Faur Peak & Huddleston Glacier, Stocking Glacier, Mueller Glacier & ++ glacial moraine (old & new) from the receding glaciers. One of the most striking things to note was the loud, thunderous booming that actually made me stop in my tracks at first. Nope, not thunder. That would be the constant avalanches & snow & ice dropping from the mountains & glaciers. No wonder people get killed climbing! It felt like the earth was shaking & I would look up to see if I could anything moving but nope, but it sure sounds like it is coming my way  Along the way there were several swing bridges, definitely one of my favourite things & this time with the rushing Hooker River below with rapids & large boulders. One of my favourite plants along the way was the this spiky vibrant yellow plant (sometimes a more muted green when growing to its full maturity), called the spiky Spaniard (I kid you not!) that would grow in groups of 2 or 3. Very cool. Also the greatly anticipated Mt Cook Lily was abundant as I continued my trek onward to Mt Cook/Aoraki (maori meaning ‘piercing cloud’). How spoilt I was to have had a clear, sunny day to see the spectacular edges, peaks, snow buildups & overhangs of Mt Cook & the surrounding Mtns. It looked so crisp & clean & untouched. Mt Cook is 3764m, with Mt Tasman a close second but there are over 17 mountains in this range that are over 3000m. Crazy high! All I was doing was walking along the Valley floor, no summits for me! Mt Cook is often barely peaking through a cloud, but not this day clear……… & then as I was heading back it cooled off & the streaks of cloud rolled in. With a day’s wrap up back at the information centre (definitely the coolest one I have been in, you were so right, Dad!) I learned more about the mountains, the climbing of, the people who climbed them, the equipment (new & old), search & rescue, vegetation, mapping of the area, transportation (new & old) to the area, & how the region is now protected. Definitely thought provoking on how the climbing pioneers in the days of 1894 when the summit was first accomplished by several kiwis, what gear & lack of technology would truly have played a massive factor. Unfortunately, weather & mountain terrain still claim lives, as noted in the memorial books.

I do find it amazing though how it feels like you could just reach out & touch the mountains …………. Or even better just hop over them to the Tasman sea on the other side 

 

December 1st Mt Cook – Sealy Tarns

Today’s walk was an intense climbing hike. This 4 hour-ish hike had the same scenery as yesterday but from a whole new perspective. I left the hostel & walked on the flat moraine of the valley before starting my ascent up Sealy Tarns & eventually to Sealy Lake. The climb had my legs wanting to go a decent pace but my lungs saying hey wait a second, we are not getting enough oxygen….. which led to breaks & therefore photo stops along the way . But again what a gorgeous day, only small whimsical clouds to blow around Mt Sefton & Mt Cook. & today felt even closer to the thundering avalanches, definitely spotted one during my launch break at my summit spot.

My return descent was just as tricky, if not, being even more careful with sure footing, straight posture & skidding on my butt for parts of it along the rocks. I did not trust any rock, boarding or tree until I was confident of its placement, nothing like the cliffs & knowing just how high I was to put the falling off into perspective. (It perhaps didn’t help reading the death books the day before of people falling off or severely injuring themselves in the visitor centre!).

As I realized about a quarter of the way up, it was perhaps not the smartest to do alone, although I didn’t really feel alone with different people coming & going. But it could have made for a scary search & rescue if one needed to be taken out. No such worries on my day.



I even stopped out at Kea Point on the way back….. making for an energetic hiking day at Mt Cook in summer in New Zealand!

December 2nd Mt Cook return to Lake Tekapo

Today I spent exploring the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre. If you do not know of this man, He is the first man to summit Mt Everest back in 1954. He is just a little bit of a hero/god to the people of New Zealand. He passed away in 2007, at the age of 88 but his legend will live on for not only being the first man to summit Mt Everest but for spending so much time in & around the Mt Cook/Aoraki National Park for a great deal of his training. His face is also on the 5 dollar bill. The centre at the Hermitage Hotel included info on the hotel, the pioneering day of the hotel, the first climbers, gear used in the early times & showed movies, a 3D one with scenic flight through the mountains & a life & times of Sir Edmund Hillary. The geek in me always loves that stuff. Then it was back to Lake Tekapo for a night (& really do we need more pictures of Lake Tekapo, I think not  :)) before heading on to Christchurch ……. But not before white water rafting along the Rangitata Gorge!!