Mount Cook – Proper Alpine!

The weather, which had been overcast when we left Christchurch, improved steadily as we drove towards Mount Cook. The last 50km or so involves driving straight towards the mountain, alongside Lake Pukaki. Although Mt Cook is 'only' 3754m high, it towers above its neighbours and looked absolutely majestic with its glaciers, mantle of snow and a blue sky behind it. 

Approach to Mount Cook

The valley level here is about 700m so for the same height above sea level, the mountains look about 1000m higher than their counterparts in the European Alps. Climbing the Mt Cook itself was impossible; we had not made the necessary arrangements or brought the necessary gear. It it probably far too difficult for us anyway, even with a guide. Instead we called in at the DOC (Department of Conservation) visitor centre and picked up some walking guides. A number of the suggested walks seemed pretty dull and involved trudging for miles along glacial moraines. That's OK if you haven't done it before – maybe. Instead we chose to climb up to a ridge to the W of Mt Cook with the prospect of some grand views. Ian also had an ulterior motive.

The morning (Monday) dawned calm and sunny. We had set the alarm for 07:00 but as soon as we saw the weather, we realised that it should have been at least an hour earlier. Even so, we were away well before 09:00. The path up soon became a literal wooden staircase; DOC are very fond of these. I shall give my views on these elsewhere. We didn't count the steps but these must have been thousands. Just when we felt that we couldn't stand another step, they petered out to be replaced by a steep, rocky track. Aah, this was even worse! Soon though, we were missing even this, as the path reached sliding scree before finally reaching the ridge and a boulder field. The view at once made all the effort worthwhile as we were staring straight across the Mueller Glacier to a huge rockface beyond, which was itself hung with smaller glaciers.

Rock Face above the Mueller Glacier

The path continued to the Mueller Hut, which is at 1800m, and had been our target for day. We had both found the walk up pretty gruelling and we did not expect the walk down, in the heat of the afternoon, to be much easier. Maggie was therefore happy to let Ian go on a bit further on his own to climb Mt Olivier. This would have been a piece of cake when we were 30 years younger but now required some careful footwork as there were some big drops and loose rock. The attraction of the peak was that it was the first mountain that Ed Hillary had climbed but Ian could not believe that it had been his favourite peak, not for very long anyway!

Ian at the summit of Mt Olivier 

We met up again just below the scree section and continued on down together. There had been well over 1000m of ascent so it was a long way to go down and we were even pleased to reach the staircase section. As we trudged back, hot and thirsty after nine hours on the hill, we debated whether we should return to the hostel for a shower and a cup of tea (the sensible option) or call into a bar for a pint of cold beer (the attractive option). We decided to leave it to fate: if we passed a bar we would call in. Maggie's route took us past the Chamonix Bar and that was it: 'Two pints of Tui, please”.

Just in case you might think that we hadn't enjoyed the day, let's put things straight. The scenery was as impressive and beautiful as anything we have seen over here, the weather was glorious all day long, we saw Southern Eidelweiss (its Northern counterpart seems to be restricted to gift shops).

Southern Edelweiss

Mt Cook filled our camera lenses for most of the day. You don't get much better than that. The Tui tasted bloody good too.

Mount Cook

The following morning Maggie found that her feet had not completely recovered. We were moving on to Wanaka anyway so time was a bit short. The swankiest (and only real) hotel in Mount Cook Village is called the Hermitage. A few years ago it opened a new Sir Edmund Hillary Centre, which we were keen to see. The centre is very glitzy and offers various 3D and and 'planetarium' movies, which might have been interesting had they not put gimmickry at the top of their list of priorities. Fortunately they also offered a 'straight' film about the life of 'Sir Ed'. This contained some footage and stills that I had seen before and some that I had not. The narrative was provided mainly by Hillary himself but also by the (then) surviving members of the '53 Everest expedition. Maggie and I found the whole thing very moving.

Hillary's first words (to George Lowe) on returning from the summit are well known ('Well we knocked the bastard off!'). Perhaps less well known was Sir John Hunt's much later comment: 'We had hoped for something a little more spiritual or uplifting' It was said in a genuinely affectionate tone though.

Hillary was very frank about his harsh upbringing (his father had been traumatised by the First World War in a way that changed his personality) and the subsequent difficulties that this gave him in his personal life and, later, when bringing up his own children. He was at the same time driven and compassionate. He became world famous of course, the moment he reached the summit of Everest. I think that it was the way in which he dealt so sensitively with the issue of whether he or Sherpa Tenzing had been the first to reach the summit, which became a huge nationalist issue at the time, and, more importantly, that he spent much of the rest his his life trying to help the people of Nepal, that has raised him beyond the status of a hero or a superstar for so many people, and not just in New Zealand. The Kiwis are fortunate to have such a role model.

A note abut staircases on mountains

Erosion is a problem for all heavily-used mountain paths and perhaps the problem is exacerbated by the high rainfall in the Southern Alps. In our adult lifetimes many of the worn paths in the Lake District and Snowdonia have been re-made using large, roughly-dressed pieces of stone. DOC have not taken this route in NZ. From the earliest days, the tracks seemed to have been stabilised with large baulks of timber placed across the paths. As time has gone on, the aim seems to have evolved into providing substantial wooden staircases for every steep mountain path. Perhaps DOC have just been taking advantage of the skills of unemployed immigrant carpenters; there is little demand for staircases in New Zealand houses.

Another DOC staircase

On the most popular routes, DOC are now even providing hand rails. This fills me with misgivings because where there are hand rails, the mandatory 'Hold the Hand Rail' signs will surely follow. How long will it be I wonder before we see signs like:

'Did you know that many accidents in mountains are caused by slips, trips and falls? Ask yourself, “Do I really need to climb this mountain?” Why not watch the DVD instead?'

Ages I hope.