Aoraki / Mount Cook is New Zealand's highest mountain at 3,724 m, measured by a University of Otago team in 2013. It rises in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park in the central South Island, at the end of State Highway 80. Climbing it takes alpine skills, but the Hooker Valley Track reaches a lake below it.
Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, at 3,724 m. It stands on the Main Divide of the Southern Alps in the middle of the South Island, inside Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. The only road in is State Highway 80, which runs along Lake Pukaki and stops at Aoraki/Mount Cook Village, a small cluster of hotels, lodges and a DOC visitor centre.
Most visitors never touch the mountain. They look at it. The classic way is the Hooker Valley Track, a gravel path of about 5 km each way that ends at Hooker Lake with Aoraki straight ahead. DOC says to allow 3 to 4 hours return.
The mountain stands on the Main Divide, the line that separates rivers flowing east to Canterbury from those flowing to the West Coast. On the eastern side are the Hooker and Tasman valleys and the Mackenzie Basin lakes. On the western side are the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, but no road crosses the range between the two. Driving from the village to Fox Glacier means going round through Haast Pass.
From Christchurch the drive takes about 4.5 hours according to DOC, and from Queenstown about 3.5 hours. Both routes have their own pages: Christchurch to Mount Cook and Queenstown to Mount Cook. DOC warns that snow can limit access between June and September. If you would rather not drive, a small-group day tour from Queenstown stops at Lake Pukaki and then gives you about three hours to walk the Hooker Valley Track; it and other options are on our tours page.
The figure has changed twice in living memory.
| Height | When | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 3,764 m | 19th-century survey, official until 1991 | The accepted height for about a hundred years |
| 3,754 m | After 14 December 1991 | A rock avalanche fell from the East Face; a photogrammetry survey put the summit about 10 m lower |
| 3,724 m | Measured 23 November 2013, announced January 2014 | A University of Otago-led team climbed with GPS. The ice cap on the summit had thinned since the collapse |
So the mountain is 40 m lower than the old textbook figure, and 30 m lower than the 1991 estimate. Some older pages, including NZHistory’s first-ascent page, still show 3,764 m. DOC uses 3,724 m.
The name Aoraki belongs to an ancestor. In the account published by Ngāi Tahu, the South Island’s main iwi (tribe), Aoraki and his brothers brought their waka down from the heavens to visit Papatūānuku, the earth mother. On the way back Aoraki recited a karakia wrongly. The waka fell into the sea and capsized, and the brothers climbed onto the upturned hull. There they turned to stone and became the high peaks of the Southern Alps, with Aoraki the tallest. This is why Ngāi Tahu call the South Island Te Waka o Aoraki.
A 2022 DOC blog names the brothers as the sons of Rakinui, the Sky Father: Rarakiroa became Horo-kōau (Mount Tasman), Rakirua became Mount Teichelmann, and Rakiroa became Mount Dampier. DOC’s park page tells a slightly different version, in which the waka is stranded on a reef and the south wind freezes the brothers. Tellings vary, and Ngāi Tahu’s own material is the place to read them in full.
To Ngāi Tahu, DOC writes, Aoraki “represents the most sacred of ancestors”. DOC asks visitors to take their rubbish out of the park, and climbers to carry out human waste where there is no toilet, because leaving waste is unacceptable to Ngāi Tahu: the waters that flow from Aoraki are sacred.
You will often see Aoraki translated as “Cloud Piercer”. That is a popular reading of the word parts ao (cloud) and raki (sky), not the meaning Ngāi Tahu give. A letter to the Hokitika Guardian was already disputing it in 1921.
James Cook did not name the mountain. Captain John Lort Stokes of HMS Acheron named it Mount Cook in 1851, while sailing down the West Coast, in honour of the navigator.
The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 renamed it Aoraki / Mount Cook. Under the settlement the Crown vested the title in Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, which gifted the mountain back to the nation, so it stays inside the national park. The settlement also gave the range its official dual name, Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana.
Not as a beginner. Adventure Consultants, one of the companies that guides the peak, only accepts returning clients who meet set requirements: at least 14 days on crampons in the past two years, experience of long alpine days, and enough fitness to climb 1,000 vertical metres with an 8 kg pack in 3.5 hours or less. Clients fly to the Grand Plateau, and the price covers a 6-day period.
If you want height without ropes, the Mueller Hut route climbs about 1,000 m from the village. DOC says that in summer it needs moderate tramping experience, and in winter mountaineering skills.
| Walk | Distance and time | Climb | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hooker Valley Track | About 5 km one way; 3 to 4 h return (DOC) | Gentle | Three swing bridges, Hooker Lake at the end |
| Kea Point Track | About 3 km | 180 m | Deck over Mueller Lake facing Mount Sefton |
| Sealy Tarns Track | 3 to 4 h return | 600 m, about 2,200 steps | Steep, no shelter |
| Mueller Hut Route | About 4 h up, 3 h down | About 1,000 m | Alpine route; hut bookings needed 2 Nov 2026 to 2 May 2027 |
| Tasman Glacier View Track | About 15 min one way | 300+ steps | View over Tasman Lake; see Tasman Glacier |
Checked November 2026 against DOC track pages.
Glaciers cover about 40 percent of the park. DOC says the Tasman Glacier, New Zealand’s longest, is clearly visible from the highway at the park entrance; its park page gives the length as 23 km. If you would rather see the summit from the air, Mount Cook scenic flights compares the plane and helicopter options.
For walkers, yes. The Hooker Valley, Kea Point, Sealy Tarns and Mueller Hut tracks all start in or next to the village, so you can be on the Hooker Valley path at first light, before the crowds, and still have the evening for Kea Point. DOC says White Horse Hill car park can run out of spaces between 10 am and 4 pm from November to March.
Know what you are getting. DOC lists a day shelter with toilets and coin showers, the visitor centre, a petrol station and a few places to eat. There is no supermarket. The Hermitage says the nearest shop is in Twizel, 66 km away, and the fuel pump takes cards only. At night the Hermitage runs a planetarium and telescopes, and the park is inside the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve. For rooms, camping and the Twizel and Glentanner options, see Mount Cook accommodation and White Horse Hill Campground. For a longer list of activities, see things to do in Mount Cook.
| Item | Cost or rule |
|---|---|
| Park entry | Free |
| White Horse Hill car park | NZ$2.50 per half hour, NZ$25 a day; first 20 min free; card only |
| White Horse Hill Campground | Adult NZ$20, child NZ$10 a night; book online |
| Mueller Hut | From NZ$50 to NZ$62 an adult a night, by season |
| Visitor centre (1 Larch Grove) | 8:30 am to 5 pm Oct to Apr; 8:30 am to 4:30 pm May to Sep |
| Drones | Recreational use not allowed anywhere in the park |
| Dogs | Not allowed |
Checked November 2026 (DOC).
The government plans a charge for international visitors at Aoraki/Mount Cook. A bill was introduced in May 2026 and has not passed, so there is no charge yet and no confirmed amount. Check DOC before you go. Separately, many overseas visitors (not Australians or Pacific Islands citizens) pay the NZ$100 International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy with their NZeTA or visa (Checked November 2026).
DOC also asks you not to feed kea, the alpine parrots. Human food can kill them.
12 hoursPickup included
A minibus day from Queenstown for up to 15 people that crosses Lindis Pass, stops at Lake Pukaki for the view of Aoraki, then gives you about three hours to walk the full Hooker Valley Track to Hooker Lake.
from$157
Check availability13 hoursPickup included
The most-reviewed Mount Cook day from Christchurch: a coach via Geraldine and the Church of the Good Shepherd at Tekapo to a Lake Pukaki stop and a walk to the Tasman Glacier and its iceberg lake, with lunch included.
from$145
Check availability3 hours
Fly from Mount Cook onto a remote part of the Tasman Glacier, New Zealand's longest, and spend up to two hours on the ice with a guide before the helicopter brings you back.
from$558
Check availability25 minutes
The cheapest helicopter time at Mount Cook: a short flight up the Tasman Valley and over a glacier lake to an alpine landing facing Aoraki, with commentary from the pilot.
from$196
Check availabilityPrices and ratings were taken from GetYourGuide and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
Aoraki / Mount Cook is in the central South Island of New Zealand, in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park on the Main Divide of the Southern Alps. The road in is State Highway 80, which leaves SH8 near Lake Pukaki and ends at Aoraki/Mount Cook Village. DOC puts the drive at about 4.5 hours from Christchurch and 3.5 hours from Queenstown.
It is 3,724 m. For about a century the accepted height was 3,764 m. On 14 December 1991 a huge rock avalanche fell from the East Face and took about 10 m off the top. The ice cap left on the summit then thinned for two decades, and a University of Otago GPS climb in November 2013 found it 30 m lower again.
No. Aoraki is a serious alpine climb with glaciers, crevasses, steep ice and fast weather changes. Guiding company Adventure Consultants only takes returning clients who have at least 14 days on crampons in the last two years and can climb 1,000 vertical metres with an 8 kg pack in 3.5 hours. Beginners can walk the Hooker Valley Track instead, which needs no climbing skills.
Yes, if you want to walk. The village sits at the start of the Hooker Valley, Kea Point, Sealy Tarns and Mueller Hut tracks, so staying there lets you start early and come back for a second walk in the evening. It is small, though. There is no supermarket, fuel is a card-only self-service pump, and the nearest full shops are in Twizel.
It is a Ngāi Tahu tradition rather than a legend in the fairy-tale sense. Aoraki and his brothers came down from the heavens in a waka (canoe). A karakia (prayer) went wrong, the waka capsized, and the brothers climbed onto its hull and turned to stone. They became the main peaks of the Southern Alps, with Aoraki the highest.
The Hooker Valley Track is a 10 km return walk, about 3 hours, from White Horse Hill car park near Aoraki/Mount Cook Village to Hooker Lake at the foot of Aoraki.
The highest mountain in New Zealand is Aoraki / Mount Cook, at 3,724 m.
The best things to do in Mount Cook are the Hooker Valley Track to Hooker Lake, the short climb to the Tasman Glacier view and the Blue Lakes, Kea Point, and a scenic flight with a glacier landing.
Stay in Aoraki/Mount Cook Village if you want to start the Hooker Valley Track early or arrive by bus.
Lake Pukaki is the largest lake in the Mackenzie Basin, a turquoise glacial lake with Aoraki/Mount Cook at its head.
New Zealand's glaciers are in the Southern Alps.