Mt Cook Hotels

Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, reaching a height of 3,754 metres. It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, 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. The mountain is in the Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, which was gazetted in 1953 and along with Westland National Park is one of the United Nations World Heritage Parks. The park contains more than 140 peaks standing over 2,000 metres and 72 named glaciers, which cover 40 percent of the park's 700 square kilometres. The settlement of Mount Cook Village is a tourist centre and base camp for the mountain. It is 7 km from the end of the Tasman Glacier and 12 km south of Aoraki/Mount Cook's summit. Aoraki/Mount Cook seen from the south, taken from a glider flying at 4,000 metres. Aoraki means "Cloud Piercer" in the Ngâi Tahu dialect of the Mâori language. Historically, the Mâori name has been spelt Aorangi in the "canonical" Mâori form. The first European known to see Aoraki/Mount Cook was Abel Tasman, 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 exploration. Following the settlement between Ngâi 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 Mâori name, Aoraki. As part of the settlement, a number of South Island placenames were amended to incorporate their original Mâori name. Signifying the importance of Aoraki/Mount Cook, it is the only one of these names where the Mâori name precedes the English. Under the settlement the Crown agreed to return title to Aoraki/Mount Cook to Ngâi Tahu, who then formally gifted it back to the nation.