Aoraki / Mount Cook

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Aoraki / Mount Cook
Aoraki / Mount Cook from the Hooker Valley

Aoraki / Mount Cook from the Hooker Valley

height 3724  m
location Mackenzie District , Canterbury Region, South Island , New Zealand
Mountains New Zealand Alps
Notch height 3724 m ↓  sea ​​level
Coordinates 43 ° 35 '42 "  S , 170 ° 8' 32"  O Coordinates: 43 ° 35 '42 "  S , 170 ° 8' 32"  O
Aoraki / Mount Cook (New Zealand)
Aoraki / Mount Cook
Type Rock peaks
First ascent 1894 by Jack Clarke , Tom Fyfe and George Graham
particularities Highest mountain in New Zealand
View of Mount Cook from the southeast

View of Mount Cook from the southeast

The Aoraki / Mount Cook , often just Mount Cook , is part of the New Zealand Alps and the highest mountain in New Zealand .

geography

The 3724  m high Aoraki / Mount Cook is located around 35 km north of the glacial lake Lake Pukaki and around 34 km southeast of the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand, in the Mackenzie District of the Canterbury region . About 5 km east of the summit, the Haupapa / Tasman Glacier extends south and south of the mountain the Hooker Glacier .

The Aoraki / Mount Cook is part of the Mount Cook National Park , which was established in 1953 and with a size of 707 km² is home to 19 peaks over 3000  m . 40 percent of the park is glaciated . The 27 km long Hauptapa / Tasman Glacier is one of the most famous glaciers in the area .

history

The mountain is named after the British explorer James Cook . It got this name when the area was mapped by Captain Stokes in 1851 . He named the mountain after Captain Cook , who, together with the ship's crew, was the first European to circumnavigate the New Zealand islands and conquer them for Great Britain. The Maori expression Aorangi , or after Ngāi-Tahu dialect Aoraki , is the name of a person of the Ngāi-Tahu tribe. An early name for the South Island was " Aorakis Waka ". In the language dispute, which played a role in the naming of many New Zealand places, a compromise was reached to officially name the mountain " Aoraki / Mount Cook ".

View over the Haupapa / Tasman Glacier to Aoraki / Mount Cook (1889), drawing by Anton Paul Heilmann

The Aoraki / Mount Cook lost the early morning of 14 December 1991 ten meters in height, as 12 to 14 million cubic meters of ice and boulders in a landslide from the top slid across the ice to the east side of the valley to only in the icefield of Haupapa / Tasman Glacier stand still. The debris avalanche moved at an average speed of 200 km / h over a distance of 7.5 kilometers. It did no harm; a group of climbers preparing for the ascent was less than 300 meters away from the site at the time. The debris avalanche caused a quake measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale .

Through new measurements using GPS , scientists from the University of Otago determined in November 2013 that the height of the mountain was not 3754  m , as officially documented at the time , but 3724  m .

Ascents and deaths

The Alpine Memorial in Mount Cook National Park
  • 1882 - there was the first attempt at an ascent by two Swiss, but it was unsuccessful.
  • 1894 - On December 25th, three New Zealand climbers Jack Clarke , Tom Fyfe and George Graham made the ascent to the summit over the North Ridge .
  • 1895 - The Swiss Matthias Zurbriggen managed to climb the mountain for the first time alone.
  • 1910 - on December 3rd, the Australian Freda Du Faur was the first woman to climb.
  • 1912 - George Bannister was the first Māori to reach the summit.
  • 1913 - Freda Du Faur and mountain guides Peter and Alex Graham climbed the traverse of all three peaks.
  • 1916 - Conrad Kain's traverse was carried out again as a mountain guide for Mrs. Jane Thomson, who was 57 years old at the time .
  • 1948 - The future New Zealand national hero Edmund Hillary also climbed the mountain.

The Mount Cook National Park is the mountain area with the most mountaineering deaths in New Zealand. With the death of two Germans and one Australian in January 2015, the total number rose to 238, with around 60 climbers unable to be found and considered missing. The Alpine Memorial was erected in Mount Cook National Park to commemorate climbers who had died in an accident , with plaques for some of the victims on the base.

Important routes of ascent

The Aoraki / Mount Cook has already been climbed from all sides on well over twenty routes, the most important climbs today are:

  • Linda Glacier : The (lightest) "default route" leading from Haupapa / Tasman Glacier ( Plateau Hut , a self-catering cottage, ten hours from the small town of Aoraki / Mount Cook away) or by plane via the Linda Glacier on the Linda Shelf and the Summit Rocks on Summit (duration: at least three days). Depending on the weather, you should plan at least seven to ten days for this route. Difficulty : AD (French scale), rock up to III (UIAA), firn up to 45 °. Best Time (Weather): Late Summer (January / February)
  • Zurbriggen Ridge : Instead of climbing over the Linda Glacier directly (50–55 ° ice) to the Linda Shelf and from there on the normal route. Difficulty: AD +. Best time: November to January
  • East Ridge : Very long climb over the east ridge, usually with a bivouac. 45–50 ° ice, descent via Linda Glacier . Difficulty: D

First paramotor overflight

Overflight of Mount Cook by Gerhard Mayr

The first paramotor flight over the Aoraki / Mount Cook took place on January 16, 2008, when Gerhard Mayr from Constance flew over the mountain with a motorized paraglider . After approaching Fox Glacier , the flight over the mountain from west to east took place over a distance of more than 64 kilometers. The flight time was 2.02 hours at a top speed of 84 km / h. The equipment used was a paramotor, paraglider , harness, rescue parachute, navigation device, data logger and protective clothing.

Asteroid Aoraki

On May 28, 1991, the asteroid (3810) Aoraki was named after the mountain.

Web links

Commons : Aoraki / Mount Cook  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Topo250 maps . Land Information New Zealand , accessed August 5, 2016 .
  2. ^ Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park - Nature and conservation . Department of Conservation , accessed April 8, 2018 .
  3. ^ Te Maire Tau : Ngāi Tahu - Aoraki ( Mt Cook ) in the Southern Alps . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , March 1, 2017, accessed April 8, 2018 (English, with a photo of the mountain range).
  4. Michael J. Crozier : Landslide - Aoraki / Mt Cook landslide . In: Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , June 12, 2006, accessed April 8, 2018 (English, with a photo of the landslide).
  5. Jump up ↑ Mount - Aoraki ( Mount Cook ) rock avalanche . Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa , accessed April 8, 2018 .
  6. Otago - led study revises height of Aoraki / Mt Cook . University of Otago , January 16, 2014, accessed April 8, 2018 .
  7. a b c Aoraki - Cook - Routes Overview . SummitPost , accessed January 2, 2015 .
  8. Missing German mountaineers, presumably dead. In: Die Welt. Axel Springer SE, January 1, 2015, accessed on January 2, 2015 (English).
  9. Kurt Bayer: Climbers missing on Aoraki - Mt Cook may never be found . In: New Zealand Herald . NZME. Publishing , January 3, 2015, accessed January 3, 2015 .
  10. Gerry Mayr: Mt. Cook January 16, 2008 - Flight over Mt. Cook . In: travel diary. Gerry Mayr, 2008, accessed April 8, 2018 .
  11. German paraglider is the first to fly over Mount Cook . In: Spiegel. Spiegel Online GmbH, January 16, 2008, accessed on April 8, 2018 (English).
  12. (3810) Aoraki = 1985 DX. (PDF 348 kB) Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, USA , May 28, 1991, p. 306 , accessed on April 8, 2018 (English).