Aoraki/Mount Cook

Infobox Mountain
Name = Aoraki/Mount Cook
Photo = Aoraki-Mount Cook from Hooker Valley.jpg
Caption =
Elevation = convert|3754|m|ft|0
Location = South Island, flag|New Zealand
Range = Southern Alps
Prominence = convert|3754|m|ft|0
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
pushpin_map_caption = Location of Aoraki/Mount Cook in New Zealand
pushpin_mapsize =
coordinates_ref=
latd= 43|latm= 35|lats= 44.69|latNS=S
longd= 170|longm= 8|longs= 27.75|longEW=E
Coordinates = coord|43|35|44.69|S|170|8|27.75|E|type:mountain_region:NZ|display=inline,title
Topographic

First ascent = 1894 by Tom Fyfe, George Graham, Jack Clarke
Easiest route = glacier/snow/ice climb
Listing = 1 in New Zealand37 in world by prominence
Ultra

Aoraki/Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand.cite web
url=http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/PlaceProfile.aspx?id=35317
title=Aoraki/Mount Cook: Canterbury places to visit
accessdate=2007-05-08
author=
coauthors=
date=
publisher=Department of Conservation ] It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destinationcite web
url=http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/about-doc/role/policies-and-plans/aoraki-mount-cook-np-management-plan-1.pdf
title=Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park Management Plan 2004
accessdate=2007-05-09
author=
coauthors=
date=
publisher=Department of Conservation ] , it is also a favourite challenge for mountain climbers. Aoraki/Mt Cook consists of three summits lying slightly south and east of the main divide, the Low Peak, Middle Peak and High Peak, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the west.

Location

The mountain is in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. The park was formally declared in 1953, and in combination with Westland National Park is one of the United Nations World Heritage Parks. The park contains more than 140 peaks standing over 2,000 m (6,500 ft) and 72 named glaciers, which cover 40% of the park's 700 km² (173,000 acres).

The settlement of Mount Cook Village (also known as "The Hermitage") is a tourist centre and base camp for the mountain. It is 7 km from the end of the Tasman Glacier, 12 km south of Aoraki/Mount Cook's summit.

Naming and European discovery

"Aoraki" means "Cloud Piercer" in the Ngāi Tahu dialect of the Māori language. Historically, the Māori name has been spelt "Aorangi" in the "canonical" Māori form. cite web
url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/MaoriNewZealanders/NgaiTahu/2/ENZ-Resources/Standard/1/en
title=Ngāi Tahu - Aoraki - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
accessdate=2007-05-08
author=Te Maire Tau
coauthors=
date=2006-12-21
publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga ]

The first European known to see Aoraki/Mount Cook was Abel Tasman,cite web
url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/EuropeanDiscoveryOfNewZealand/2/en
title=European discovery of New Zealand - Abel Tasman - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
accessdate=2007-05-08
author=John Wilson
coauthors=
date=2006-12-21
publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage / Te Manatū Taonga ] on December 13, 1642 during his first Pacific voyage. The English name of "Mount Cook" was given by Captain John Lort Stokes to honour Captain James Cook who first surveyed and circumnavigated the islands of New Zealand in 1770. Captain Cook did not sight the mountain during his explorationcite web
url=http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8106
title=Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World
accessdate=2007-05-09
author=James Cook
coauthors=
date=1728-1779
publisher=
pages=Sunday, March 18, 1770 ] .

Following the settlement between Ngāi Tahu and the Crown in 1998, the name of the mountain was officially changed from Mount Cook to Aoraki/Mount Cook to incorporate its historic Māori name, Aorakicite web
url=http://www.executive.govt.nz/96-99/minister/graham/ngai-tahu/content/sec3.htm
title=NZ Government Executive Ngai Tahu Settlement
accessdate=2007-05-08
author=
coauthors=
date=
publisher=New Zealand Government Executive ] . As part of the settlement, a number of South Island placenames were amended to incorporate their original Māori name. Signifying the importance of Aoraki/Mount Cook, it is the only one of these names where the Māori name precedes the English. Under the settlement the Crown agreed to return title to Aoraki/Mount Cook to Ngāi Tahu, who then formally gifted it back to the nation.

Geology

The Southern Alps on the South Island are formed by tectonic uplifting and pressure as the Pacific and Australia-Indian plates collide along the island's western coast. The uplifting continues, raising Aoraki/Mount Cook an average of 7 mm (just over a quarter of an inch) each year. However, erosive forces are also powerful shapers of the mountains. The severe weather is due to the mountain's jutting into a trade wind pattern known as the Roaring Forties, which is characterized by powerful winds that run roughly around 45°S latitude, south of both Africa and Australia, so that the Southern Alps are the first obstacle the winds encounter after South America as they blow easterly across the Southern Ocean.

Aoraki/Mount Cook was 10 m (33 ft) higher until approximately 10 million cubic metres of rock and ice fell off the northern peak on 14 December 1991cite web
url= http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/NaturalHazardsAndDisasters/Landslides/2/ENZ-Resources/Standard/1/en
title=Mt Cook landslide
accessdate=2007-05-03
author=Michael J. Crozier
publisher=Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand ] cite web
url=http://tpo.tepapa.govt.nz/ViewTopicExhibitDetail.asp?ExhibitionID=0x000a4de2&ExhibitID=0x000a4ede&Language=English
title=Mount Aoraki (Mount Cook) rock avalanche
accessdate=2007-05-03
author=T. J. Chinn
coauthors=M. J. McSaveney
date=1992
publisher=Tai Awatea - Knowledge Net (More of Te Papa online) ] .

Climbing

First attempt

The first recorded European attempt on the summit was made by the Irishman Rev. W. S. Green and the Swiss hotelier Emil Boss and the Swiss mountain guide Ulrich Kaufman on 2 March 1882 [cite book
last = Green
first = Reverend William Spotswood
title = The High Alps of New Zealand, or A Trip to the Glaciers of The Antipodes with an Ascent of Mount Cook
year = 1883 ] . but it was subsequently established that they were 50 m short of the true summit.

First ascent

On 25 December 1894 New Zealanders Tom Fyfe, James (Jack) Clarke and George Graham, successfully reached the summit via the Hooker Valley and the north ridge. [Haynes, J. (1994) "Piercing the Clouds. Tom Fyffe: First to climb Mt Cook". Hazard Press, New Zealand, ISBN 0-908790-64-3.] Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen climbed the mountain solo very shortly afterwards from the Tasman Glacier side, via the ridge that now bears his name. Local guide George Bannister, a descendant of Te Koeti Turanga of Ngāi Tahu was the first Maori to successfully scale the peak in 1912. [ [http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/BushAndMountainRecreation/Mountaineering/4/en Mountaineering - Guided climbing - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand ] ]

It remains a challenging ascent, with frequent storms and very steep snow and ice climbing to reach the peak. Strictly speaking, it is a triple peak, with the north peak being the highest. A traverse of the three peaks was first accomplished in 1913 by Freda du Faur and guides Peter and Alex Graham. Three years earlier du Faur was the first woman to ascend Aoraki/Mount Cook.

Forests and glaciers

The average annual rainfall in the surrounding lowlands is around 7.6 m (300 inches). This very high rainfall leads to temperate rain forests in the coastal lowlands and a reliable source of snow in the mountains to keep the glaciers flowing. These include the Tasman and Murchison Glaciers to the east and the smaller Hooker and Mueller Glaciers to the south.

Area history

*1642 - Aoraki sighted by Abel Tasman - Māori knew it for centuries before this.
*1770 - Captain Cook named the Southern Alps
*1851 - Captain Stokes of the survey ship HMS "Acheron" gave the name Mt Cook to Aoraki.
*1884 - First Hermitage built under the direction of Frank Huddleson
*1894 - First ascent of Aoraki/Mount Cook, on Christmas Day, by Jack Clarke, Tom Fyfe and George Graham
*1910 - Freda du Faur became the first woman to climb Aoraki/Mount Cook
*1911 - The vital swing bridge is built in the Hooker Valley
*1913 - First ascents of the footstool and Mt Sefton made by Freda du Faur's climbing party
*1913 - Hermitage first ravaged by floods in January, then destroyed beyond repair by floods two months later
*1914 - First fatal accident, when three men caught in avalanche on Linda Glacier
*1914 - Second Hermitage opened, on different site
*1957 - Second Hermitage razed to the ground
*1959 - First school opens, Aoraki Mt Cook School
*1981 - Passenger flights begin by Mount Cook Airline, now part of Air New Zealand Link
*1982 - Mark Inglis trapped in Schrund
*1991 - Avalanche of 10 million cubic metres of snow and rock causes 10 metres to be lost off the top of Aoraki/Mount Cook
*1998 - The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act officially recognises the original name, renaming the mountain Aoraki/Mt Cook.

References

ee also

* List of mountains of New Zealand by height

External links

* [http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/PlaceProfile.aspx?id=38406 Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park homepage]
* [http://wikitravel.org/en/Aoraki_Mount_Cook_National_Park WikiTravel - Mt Cook National Park]