Mt. Cook is is is by far one
of the great highlights of the South Island and New Zealand in general.
You can't miss Mount Cook, with its jagged edges, angry looking glaciers
and height tower it above the nearby mountains. The beauty of this area
is that you can experience to a small extent, what the Himalayas look
like from only an elevation of about 500 meters. On clear days this
entire area is spectacular. Note that Mt. Cook is only about 30 miles
from the ocean - so there are enough storms and cloudy days in this
area.
As you drive towards Mt. Cook you will definitely pass by the beautiful
glacial colored Lake Pukaki. At one point along the 80 road, you will
come to a lookout of the lake with Mt. Cook framing one end of the lake
in the background. You can merely pull into the large gravel pullout,
lean out of the car and take a photo or even get out of the car for a
few minutes to enjoy the quiet and the scenery. However, I highly
recommend (on a fairly clear day if you have one), to get out of the car
and hike down the backside of this viewpoint onto a little used trail
that leads down to the shores of Lake Pukaki.
Thumbnails: click on each photo for a much larger image
The shore of this lake on a clear day is a great place to take pictures
- Mt. Cook clearly is in the background and the color of the lake is
fantastic. You can even swim in the lake if you don't mind the cold
water. When the sun is shining on a summer day, you can lay right on the
small pebbles next to the water's edge and soak in the rays.
Continuing driving down 80 towards Mt. Cook you drive through beautiful
scenery. Eventually you will arrive at the Mt. Cook Village - this is
the main lodging/gathering point for the park. Its situated on the west
side of the Hooker Valley and as a consequence sees itself in shadows
earlier in the evening the the other side of the valley. Mt Cook at
press time had no banking options. Regarding cooking your own food, you
should definitely stock up on veggies and other food items before coming
to the Mt. cook Village, as prices are high and you really won't find
much in the way of items to purchase for cooking.
There are several lodging options here - the Hermitage is by far the
most famous and luxurious hotel in this "village". It dates back to 1884
but has been destroyed several times since its original construction due
to flooding and fires. Even if you are not staying here, check out the
gift shop, bar, or buy a snack upstairs and chill out on the deck with
the excellent views of Mt. Cook. There are two restaurants in the
Hermitage - the Alpine Restaurant and the Panorama Room - both not
cheap, but serve good food. The Panorama Room is appropriately named.
For more information about the
Other lodging options include the much cheaper Mt. Cook YHA - this is a
very good hostel - and like most hostels/accommodation located at one of
New Zealand's highlight areas, this one needs to be reserved well in
advance as its quite booked during the summer season.
About 1/2 km from the hostel and located towards the center of the
village is the shared "cooking hut" - this is a well constructed V style
building in which you can do your cooking - there is one electrical
outlet that is used often to connect to a water boiler - and there are
several tables inside the building. Its hard to find free electrical
sources in the village if you are not staying in one of the hotels - so
when this one is not being used for cooking purposes its good for
plugging in a camera or any other electrical item you may need to
recharge.
The back of the building contains 24/7 free showers and bathrooms.
However, note that the showers are only free if you use the cold water.
If you want hot water you have to pay 50cents - as of printing, the
slots for the coins for these showers only accepted the 50cent coins.
Please also note that the water from the shower is quite cold and will
really wake you up if you lack the 50cent coins! One lady was overheard
screaming at the top of her lungs coming out with obscene laced
profanities. Those in the actual hut rushed out the door to the back of
the hut wondering if someone was being hurt or otherwise needed help! We
are glad there were no children nearby when she was taking her shower.
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Sir Edmund Hilary is a God in
New Zealand, but especially in the Mt. Cook region. He and a
party of climbers climbed Mt. Cook successfully in 1948. There
is a bronze statue of him with his ice ax in front of the
Hermitage. Sir Edmund is on all the Five Dollar New Zealand
paper bills. |
There is a summer lecture circuit in which climbers or guides or other
travelers are scheduled to give talks and slide shows in the village.
Sir Edmund was scheduled to give a talk 3 weeks after the author was
here. This would be for certain, one very well attended event.
I highly recommend eating at the fairly new cozy atmosphere Old
Mountaineers Cafe Bar & Restaurant located below the Hermitage. This was
dedicated and opened by Sir Edmund Hilary and there is a plaque in front
of this restaurant for your reading pleasure. This restaurant is made of
pine, is quite casual and has a really relaxed nice atmosphere. There is
a really neat side room that contains a pool table and two coin operated
high speed Internet Access stations. Pay the $1 and you get a game of
pool. This restaurant is one of the hubs in the village for meeting
fellow climbers, hikers, travelers etc. At night, many locals who live
or work in the village hang out over a glass of wine or a beer. The food
here is excellent - a little pricey but well worth the price. For more
information and pricing visit:
www.mtcook.com/restaurant.html
There are some excellent hiking trails in the area. One note about
hiking is if its in the summer and the sun is out, be sure to wear a
good suntan lotion. Its very easy to get burnt here in the strong
sunlight. One neat hike leads off from Hooker Valley Road - which is the
main valley located near the Mt. Cook Village area. The Hooker Valley
Road leads off of the main 80 road about 1/2 km outside of the village.
Its a dirt road that leads to a parking lot/campground. The campground
here is called the White Horse hill Camping area - this is a basic
camping ground, one of the cheapest you will find in New Zealand - only
a couple of dollars per person per night. Running water and toilets are
provided, but no showers - you would have to use the showers in the back
of the Shared Cooking hut back in the Mt. Cook Village.
Day use parking is just outside the campground parking. The Hooker
Valley trail/track leads from the parking lot and winds past the Alpine
Memorial. Take a moment to stop here as this is a stone memorial with
bronze plaques affixed to its 4 sides, dedicated to all climbers who
have died on the Mt. Cook's slopes.
After you pass the Alpine Memorial its about 30 minutes or so to the
first metal swing bridge. One your left you will have fantastic views of
jagged glaciers and big chunks of ice in a small brownish lake. Continue
walking and maybe another 30 to 40 minutes you will cross another swing
bridge. Walk another 10 minutes and Mt Cook herself will totally
dominate the skyline in front of you. These are some of the best easily
accessible close-up photos of Mt. Cook. Continue walking and you will be
next to a small stream which at some point you will cross it and end up
at a small hut. If you look up you can almost imagine if the glacier on
the side of the closest mountain came down, its debris might reach this
hut. Depending on the glacier conditions, you may not want to spent a
lot of time here. If you continue further up the trail you will
eventually get to Hooker Lake which lies at the base of Hooker Glacier.
It is not recommended to continue past the lake.
Another neat set of hikes is at the end of Tasman Valley road. This
valley leads in another direction from Hooker valley. Again, you can
access this road from the main 80 road. The turnoff to Tasman Valley
road is located just several clicks of Kilometer outside of Mt. Cook
village (about 2k's). It can be a dusty dirt road in the summer - soon
after turning onto this road you will cross the Hooker River via a one
lane bridge. Keep driving along this dirt road for maybe another 10-15
minutes until you come to the parking lot at the end of the road near a
small hut and stream. From here you can start your hike to a variety of
places.
One of the hikes you can take is to the lookout over Tasman Glacier.
This is one of the ugliest glaciers you will see as its almost
completely covered with rocks, earth and other debris - up to a meter
thick on its surface. There are a few places where the ice has broken
away where you will see the ice walls. Its impressive in that its quite
extensive as it spreads across and covers a very large deep valley. If
you rough it you can actually hike out on the ridge near this overlook
and hike down to the glacier - even though there are no signs warning
against this at the time of printing, its probably not a wise move. The
author took the liberty of climbing down to the glacier based upon
previous experiences on and around a glacier. Photo below taken on the
actual glacier on top of all the glacial debris.
Another hike is off of a small trail that leads off of the main trail to
the Tasman glacier overlook (mentioned above) is a trail that leads to
several small lakes (Blue Lakes). The name of these lakes is nice, but
they aren't exactly blue! One of them is really shallow and may be
almost dry when you see it - but several are swimable. The first one you
come to is probably the best for swimming as its more sandy/muddy
instead of rocky, but there is less privacy here. If you continue on a
little bit longer you will get to another lake. There is a little shade
near these lakes, but most of the shrubs are quite low growing. Its best
to bring a towel to lay down upon as the grassy areas near this like
most likely will contain small thorny plants which make a very rough bed
if you don't have some protection.
Also check out the Alpine Guides shop, just up from the Group cooking
Hut. They have guided climbs in the summer months and in the winter they
offer ski trips and ski mountaineering. For the adventurous, they offer
a glacier heli ski trip. For more information visit:
www.alpineguides.co.nz
The ultimate Mt. Cook informational website is this:
www.mount-cook.com
Another local trekking site is Alpine Recreation:
www.alpinerecreation.com |
