Mount Cook
Mount Cook also known in the local Maori language as Aoraki or Aorangi is the highest mountain in New Zealand with a height of 3,724 metres (12,218 ft).
Geology
It is part of the Southern Alps Mountain Range and is flanked by the Hooker Glacier to the southwest and the Tasman Glacier to the east. The mountain has three peaks: The south peak being the lowest at 3,593m/11,788 ft., The middle peak at 3,717m/12,195 ft. and the North peak being the highest at 3,724m/12,218 ft. This is the height of the north peak after the landslide of December 1991 which took 30 meters off the top and also turned the summit into a knife-edge ridge.
History
The mountain was named by Captain John Lort Stokes in honour of Captain James Cook who travelled around the islands of New Zealand in 1770 however the first Europeans to see Mount Cook were probably members of Abel Tasman's crew.
Climbing
It was first climbed by Tom Fyre, George Graham and Jack Clarke. Mount Cook is a favourite destination for climbers and was used by Sir Edmund Hillary as training for his historic climb of Mount Everest.
Mount Cook Media
Aoraki / Mount Cook from above Franz Joseph Glacier
Aoraki / Mount Cook seen from the south, taken from 4,000 metres (13,123 ft)
Aoraki / Mount Cook from Landsat 7
Aoraki / Mount Cook as seen from the end of the Hooker Valley Track, with the Hooker Glacier's moraine lake in the foreground.
View of Aoraki / Mount Cook from the Tasman Lake south of the mountain
On Mt. Cook, New Zealand. 1977
Aoraki / Mount Cook at sunset from Hooker Valley
Aoraki peak from Mt Tasman summit NZ Mon 21 March 1983 wideangle
Aoraki peak from Mt Tasman summit NZ Mon 21 March 1983 closeup
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