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Exploring Aoraki

The Queen of the Southern Alps

By Trotternama

May 5^th, 2020

It was an eight-seater Cessna. The take-off from Tekapo airport had been smooth from a runway which was in a lush green field in the middle of nowhere. Seconds later we were soaring above the turquoise blue waters of Lake Tekapo on way to Mount Cook, (New Zealand's highest peak) or Aoraki as they call it in Maori.

I had never seen this ephemeral shade of turquoise anywhere in the world. Lush green fields rolled below us as the Cessna laboured for altitude. Fifteen minutes of flight time and we could see Mount Cook towering in the distance. Gimbal in hand, I was by a window seat, drinking in the scenery that unfolded in front of my eyes.

Soon we were over the Tasman saddle, and I could see rivulets of water snaking down the moraine, an indescribable canvas of riches for the landscape photographer. Every time the aircraft would bank a bit, the whole valley would open up below and cellphone cameras inside the plane would go into overdrive.

By now, we were at about 10,000 feet and climbing steadily. Massive monoliths of ice staggered in front of us as the magnificent Tasman Glacier came into view along with the Murchison Glacier - an endless expanse of solid icy cover spreading over 28 kilometres.

Upfront we could see the snow-crested peak of Mount Cook gleaming in the sun.

It was at this moment that I felt a little bit of turbulence. It started with a simple jerk and a slight tremble, but soon enough strong gales trapped within the channel were whipping the starboard, causing the aircraft to veer in trajectory heavily. Turbulence in an A380 is one thing. On a Cessna 172 ski plane with eight people and Mount Cook below, it is an entirely different experience. The tiny little plane started wobbling about dangerously and you could see its wing tips shuddering, pushed out of its elements like a kite in gust of wind.

While all 8 of us were in different variations of white-knuckled fear, our pilot seemed to be in jolly good spirits. "Hang in folks. You are completely safe. Just some breeze outside. It's gonna roll a bit, but as soon as we bank and turn to get on the other side of the mountain we will be facing the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers, and things will be calm again."

By this time all my fearless voyager bravado had vanished, and I was questioning all the life decisions, that had led me to this moment. When a Cessna drops 500 feet on top of Mount Cook buffeted by winds, you change your take on life infinitesimally. 12,000 feet in the air and I was almost wishing for my cubicle on Sussex street and my couch at St Leonard's.

Well as things would stand, our pilot was right. He seemed to be unaffected by all of this. He could very well have been twirling his beard with a beer in hand, calmly enjoying the sights and sounds as we clutched our Hail Mary's. In about five minutes he expertly banked and turned the flight, and now we were on the eastern side of Mount Cook. The turbulence disappeared, and below us, we could see the white expanse of the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers.

Feeling a lot better and calmer, we could now focus on the scenery below. The gleaming blue waters of the Tasman Sea, as well as the Hooker, Ball and Hochtsetter glaciers, passed by in relative ease, and soon we were on our way back to Tekapo, framed by the gorgeous Lake Pukaki.

In 60 minutes we had seen Mount Cook, the Tasman, Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers as well as the Leibig dome – in short, all the significant peaks and glaciers of the Southern Alps (what they call the Grand Traverse in New Zealand).

It was time to get on the ground to explore some glaciers.

Aoraki (Mount Cook) village

Landing in Tekapo airport, the plan was to drive down to Mount Cook Village, stay the night there and then in the morning leave early to do a long" ish" trek which would cover Hooker Valley, Mueller Hut and finally get up close and personal with the Tasman Glacier Lake.

Now, there are many ways to see Mount Aoraki and go glacier hiking, but a popular route that some seasoned hikers and explorers suggest is the following

Start early from Mount Cook Village, and make the Hooker Valley Trail
In the afternoon extend the Sealy Tarns route and go all the way to the Mueller Hut (this is a tough trek)
Stay the night at Mueller Hut (buy tickets in advance)
Wake up early to catch the sunrise from Mueller Hut
Return to Mount Cook Village
Rest and have breakfast
Drive down the Tasman Valley road and explore the Tasman Lake

*Note : You can't go via Mueller's Hut to get to Tasman Lake. There is a road to Tasman valley from Mount Cook village whereby you can drive all the way, park your car and then walk to the lakefront.

There is another way to experience the Tasman Glacier, where you take a flight from Mount Cook airport and land on top of the glacier. It's a bit expensive, but doable and not a bad idea at all if you are up for it.

Aoraki Village is located within Aoraki National Park on SH 80 and is about 15 kilometres away from the base of Mount Cook. As you enter the valley from the highway, you see this long winding road nestled in the middle of towering alpine ranges, with grand vistas all around and you feel you are somewhere in Middle Earth. The village has no permanent settlement of locals, with the nearest town being Twizel, about 60 kilometres away. Depending on your itinerary you can take the road to the Tasman lake, but most people stop by at Aoraki village to do one of the following

Visit, the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre ( which was created for Alpine training in the Southern Alps)
Stay at The Hermitage – which is a bit of a posh hotel/spa famous with international tourists
Set up caravans and tents at the White Horse Hill camping ground which is located about 2 kilometres outside the village, connected via a walking track

It is from the White Hose Hill camping ground that you start your treks towards Hooker Valley, Sealy Tarns, Mueller Hut and the Tasman Glacier.

Sealy Tarns, Hooker Valley and Mueller Hut

Three very iconic and different trails. The Sealy Tarns trail extends into the Mueller Hut while the Hooker Valley trail is a relatively flat trek all the way to the Hooker Lake which is fed by the Hooker iceberg. All three trails start from the White Horse Hill camping ground with the Sealy Tarns and Mueller Hut trails bifurcating at the Kea Point Walk.

If you plan to do both Hooker Valley and Mueller Hut in a day (with an overnight stay at Mueller Hut), then the best option is to start early at dawn. It is a 10 kilometer flat trek up and down from White Horse Hill to Hooker Lake, so the best idea is to complete the entire Hooker valley trek and on the way back, turn at Kea Point and start towards Mueller Hut crossing Sealy Tarns Lake on the way.

The Alpine Hut, in memory of fallen alpinists

It would take about three to four hours to complete the Hooker valley trek (to and fro), so if you start at 7 am, you can be back at Kea Point by about 11, take some rest and get started for Sealy Tarns.

Pack some food, and layer up. Weather changes are sudden and rapid here and within minutes, blazing sunshine can give way to wind chill and rain.

Hooker Valley Trek

This honestly is an easy trek, albeit a very picturesque one. Starting from the White Horse Hill camping ground, you cross the alpine hut (in memory of fallen alpine climbers) and cross three bridges over the Hooker River on your way to the beautiful iceberg encrusted Hooker Lake. On the way, you catch sight of the Mueller Lake, the Mueller Glacier and Mount Sefton amidst some swampy moraine trekking by the banks of the Hooker River. North of Stocking Stream after you cross the Upper Hooker Bridge, there is a short track that leads you to a lookout point with picnic tables and beautiful views of the Hooker Lake.

The best thing is to stroll along the way taking enough time to stop, and absorb as much of the natural beauty as possible amidst rugged alpine landscape dotted with shrubs and alpine flora. The observation point over the Hooker Bridge has beautiful views of the Mueller Lake and Mueller Glacier and one can see avalanche rockfalls deposited from Mount Sefton into the Muller Glacier. From there you have two more bridges to cross with a long walk along the banks of the blueish grey Hooker River filled with iceberg chunk and debris.

This part of the hike is truly enjoyable.

These mountain ranges can make you feel a bit insignificant and lost. Walking on rocky moraines with iceberg deposits and bits of snow, you feel the beauty of desolation all around. The only sound you can hear is of the sound of gravel and cold winds sweeping through the valley. There is this eerie sensation that you are in the middle of nowhere, a million miles away from home. You look up and you see fierce mountain ranges bearing upon you in regal pride and grandeur. You hear the sounds of icebergs breaking, and avalanches cascading near the mountain tops and you realise, that nature in its true elements can be damn near unforgivable.

It makes you realise that when it comes down to basic instincts, the choices that really matter to us are incredibly simple.

The views of the Hooker Lake are spectacular. It takes about 90 minutes to get to this point, and once there, you can take up any of the picnic tables at the lookout point, and just sit in silence for some time letting it all sink in. It allows you this sense of fulfilment that is hard to experience in our daily grind of downtown commute and paying bills.

Sealy Tarns – The Stairway to Heaven

This is where the trek gets a bit more complicated. Sealy Tarns is a climb over 2000 steps where you gain about 600 m in elevation in about 2 hours. It is not technical, so you can pace yourself, but for those who are not big fans of climbing stairs, they can run out of breath pretty easily.

So start early, go slow and constantly pace yourself without pushing to the limits right from the get go. There is no shame in stopping. From Kea Point it's a short walk from where the steps start, and from there it is just a long, endless climb.

They even remind you once you have completed 1000 steps !

The trick is to stop before you feel out of breath, give it a few minutes, drink some water and keep going at an even pace. This is achievable, because there is no technicality involved in the climb beyond the ability to climb stairs. In winter, ice and snow would make Sealy Tarns an incredibly difficult trek to navigate without crampons and experience, but in summer it is more about managing your breath and not over exerting yourself.

All the pain and effort is worth it though at the end of these 2000 odd steps. The Sealy Tarns Lake is a freshwater lake, and the reflected views of Mount Aoraki on its waters are worth a visit any day. The track is also far more beautiful than the Hooker Valley track with tons of alpine flowers blooming in the summer.

It is not a stretch of imagination to understand why Sealy Tarns trek is dubbed as the "Stairway to Heaven". It is this incredible splendour of watching an astonishing array of ice-covered mountains all around it, with unobstructed views into the Mueller Glacier as well the entire Hooker Valley track from the lookout point.

There are tons of picnic tables at Sealy Tarns, and the recommendation would be to take a good rest here and eat before you embark on the third and final part of your excursion. The trek to Mueller Hut – which is a technical and challenging climb.

At least that's what I did. I took a straight hour to rest, had a quick nap on the bench, recharged, refuelled and did absolutely nothing.

On the way to Mueller Hut

This part of the trek is hard—no sugar coating. The recommendation would be to have hiking poles with you because it will make life easier. However, if you don't, you can still survive, but basically, you will be scrambling over boulders and slippery rocks for a fair bit of the journey.

What is non-negotiable are functional, sturdy rock climbing boots.

There are two demanding sectors to navigate. A set of boulders and a stretch of slippery rocks before you can make it to the flat ridge which looks up to Mount Sefton. From there the landscape changes and becomes flat, but there are still some more boulders to scramble over before you can get a clear shot at getting to Mueller Hut.

The stretch of small slippery rocks before the ridge is the most difficult part and honestly speaking there is no shame if you have to crawl on all fours to keep your balance and a secure foothold. It won't be anything remotely close to cool alpine climbing, mostly, more of scrambling, but with a little bit of effort, patience and time it is doable.

From the ridge though, it's much more relaxed and about 30 minutes of walking to the Mueller Hut, which is this red coloured rectangular hut amidst barren boulders in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Completely self-equipped and inaugurated by none other than Sir Edmund Hillary, it is a popular stop for professional alpinists and casual tourists alike, who want to absorb the Mount Cook experience.

Tickets get booked out pretty fast, so book in advance.

Sitting on the porch of the Mueller Hut, you literally hear the mountains come to life with the constant sounds of avalanches or of icebergs breaking in the distance. A bit desolate, a bit scary, but every bit incredible.

Night here, is nothing short of surreal . Being part of the Mackenzie Region, this is New Zealand's (and the Southern Hemisphere's) best location to see the Milky Way as well as vivid star trails. With rarified air though, tiredness comes fast and sleep feels like a welcome bliss in the bunk beds of Mueller Hut.

In summer, dawn breaks early and it's a perfect moment to catch one of the most beautiful sunrises you will ever see in your lifetime. The sun's rays reflecting off the peak of Mount Cook. The recommendation thereby is a quick breakfast, followed by a few sunrise snaps and then an easier return journey back to Mount Cook Village.

The return journey takes roughly half the time, so in about a couple of hours, you should be back from where it all started.

From there it is a drive to the Tasman Lake.

Tasman lake in the forefront of Mount Cook

Tasman Glacier and Blue Lakes

The drive through Tasman valley is fairly straight-forward.

From the car park there is a short walk which leads towards the Tasman and the Blue lakes, where one can indulge in a couple of activities; a boat ride on the Tasman Lake, or just hike around the glacier, soak in the views and experience this incredible glacial lake on top of the world.

I hadn't booked tickets for the boat ride, so I had to make do with a hike along the glacier and the Blue Lakes.

Sparkling emerald waters with azure blue reflections of Mount Cook welcome you as they usher you into this magical world. All around you can see big chunks of crystallised icebergs floating in the water. It is like a scene come to life from a National Geographic documentary. For me this walk was the best walk of my entire Mount Cook trip. I did both tracks; the one that led to the glacial lake and the other which led to the Tasman River from the Blue Lakes.

However: The Blue Lake isn't blue and had this steely grey / muddy colour from the iceberg deposits while the Tasman Lake, on the other hand, is an explosion in turquoise in prussian blue.

Words will fail to do justice to the views on hand. Suffice to say, seeing such massive chunks of icebergs that close and touching some of them will be an experience that will stay with you for a long time, but what really will stand out is how beautiful our planet truly is. How lucky we all are to have got an opportunity to experience it.

That's what I love about travelling. The more you do it, the more you realise how small and insignificant your own little problems are. You get to see different perspectives, different realities and different versions of the truth. You meet people. You break biases. You open your mind to listen to other thoughts.

You realise there is a lot you don't know and that there is always another way.

Sure our world has problems and challenges. Challenges of poverty and equality, of race and gender and geopolitics but up in these mountains, everything pales into insignificance.