We find out that the weather has cleared at Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, a fortunate occurrence, so we head out early to get there before it changes its mind.  The Park contains more than 140 peaks standing over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and 72 named glaciers, which cover 40 percent of the park’s 700 square kilometres (170,000 acres).
Our interest is in Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ at 12,316 feet consisting of three summits lying slightly south and east of the main divide, the Low Peak, Middle Peak and High Peak. The top of Mount cook is a solid ice pyramid that hugs the peaks and shoulders of the main mountain with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the west.

While being much smaller, MT Cook has a similar environment and gives off the awe inspiring and intimidating energy of the Himalayas. This mountain has been climbed by mountaineers from all over the world, including Sir Edmund Hillary, New Zealand’s premier and most well known alpinist. New Zealand produces a significant number of  mountianeers who climb Mt Everest because they can practice in the ice fields and glaciers in the Mt Cook area which allows them to train in conditions similar to those they will face in the Himalayas.

Sadly, like the Himalayas, Mount Cook takes a steady toll on those adventurers (mostly young) willing to risk life and limb in their contest with the summit. It even has its own memorial garden to honor the many who have died climbing its peaks.

We, being mere mortals, do not attempt to go anywhere near the summit of Mt cook being satisfied on our first day to walk for a few hours on Hooker Valley track.  The 3 mile hike takes you to the face of the Hooker glacier right under the low peak of MT Cook.  On the track there are two swinging bridges that cross and recross over the outflow of the hooker glacier, a roiling concrete colored mess of rushing water headed toward the flat open plains of the famed intermountain MacKenzie country.