“On a Mish” #86 A Mt Cook Must Do! Hooker Valley. Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park. 9.11.2014. Many Kiwi’s (people from New Zealand) spend their lives heading to other countries before exploring their own. Iconic locations such as Piopiotahi / Miford Sound and Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere / Franz Josef Glacier are full of foreigners instead of the people whose taxes go into the upkeep of the place! Therefore up until Covid most of the folks fascinated by the fantastic surroundings of Aoraki / Mt Cook Village / National Park. A visit to the spectacular alpine village is a must and when there you should always include a wander up the Hooker Valley Track, it will not disappoint on a sunny day…
Firstly, it’s a very easy walk all the way to the picturesque Hooker Glacier Lake, with only a couple of sections of stairs (take your time). Second, the views of Aoraki / Mt Cook’s south and western faces are incredible, if lucky enough to be there on a day without clouds of course. Third and final, you’re there so get into it! I was lucky enough to call the place my home for a summer and the serenity and splendour never faded. I would use the track as a good training run when living in the village and on windy, rainy, pre-storm, post-storm, basically any day with no glacier guiding scheduled. I decided on one mish to spice things up by following the Ball Pass Route instead of the well formed track to the lake, and I did this by sticking to the east side of the valley until under the west face of Mt Wakefield(2058m). From this point I headed directly up a large scree gully to some red rock bluffs at about the 1650m point. The views increased the higher I got and I would have kept going if I didn’t have to return to the village for a guided trip later that afternoon.
On the return journey back to the village I had the always impressive view of The Footstool(2764m) and Mt Sefton(3151m), often mistaken for Aoraki / Mt Cook, and the Tewaewae and Huddleston Glaciers. The jumble of giant ice blocks is constantly shedding huge chunks of glacier off in massive avalanches which echo throughout the valley like the beating of a mountain-sized drum. Along with the avalanches raining down off the glaciers during spring, there is also the sound of rockfall as the glacier moraine keeps shifting and collapsing as the glaciers move throughout the area. The place is alive and demands ever increasing respect the further you venture away from the lights and masses of people at the village and The Hermitage Hotel. So if new to the area I would recommend starting with the Hooker Valley Track, as that will not only satisfy but it will also inspire more adventures in one of New Zealand’s most attractive areas.
