Side Quest to Aoraki/Mount Cook!!!

Te Araroa Trail Days 26 - 29: December 29 - January 1

Aoraki/Mount Cook is the number one tourist destination in New Zealand and after one year of being in this country, we still hadn’t been. Thanks to our great planning, we decided to stop by during the busiest time of the year.

While waiting for a ride into the park, we spotted a raggedy man attempting to hitch in the opposite direction. He looked like he’d spent too much time in the sun and bush, and also had really strong legs. The recipe for a TA walker. “Hey are you a walker?!” He ran across the highway to come say hi. Turns out he was from Healdsburg. Biggest group of Sonoma County folk in the Southern Hemisphere.

Our ride into the park was from glacier guide Pancho, who knew every mountain, every rock, and every pebble of the park. He showered us in stories and gave us loads of tips.

It was instantly clear as to why the park attracts so many visitors. Streaks of sunshine melted into the turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki. Godly mountains shot into the sky above, glaciers blanketing their rocky faces. Waterfalls cascaded into the valley floor.

Pancho dropped us at the campground with some beers. We knew the weather was supposed to take a turn for the worst, but we’d spent many rainy nights in the tent and weren’t too concerned. But Mount Cook hits different. The wind picked up immediately, blasting in from all sides. We re-staked our poor shelter about nine times, but eventually the violent winds prevailed over our feeble hiking poles turned tent poles. We had an emergency relocation at 1am.

Thankfully there was a campground cooking shelter with some benches to sleep on. Safe at last.

The next morning we found ourselves in somewhat of a pickle. The weather was supposed to get even worse. We had no accommodation booked, it was New Years weekend, and our tent was a no go. But we didn’t want to leave Mount Cook!

Maddie jokingly suggested that we sleep in Mueller Hut. Mueller is arguably the most popular hut in all of New Zealand. It gets booked out six months in advance for peak season, aka right now.

But she checked anyways and there was one bunk available! Immediate booking. Anna can fend for herself. Problem solved.

We passed through the visitors center on our way out and told the ranger about our Mueller plan. He handed us a printed weather forecast.

“The weather is supposed to get really bad in the next couple hours and get even worse tomorrow. Take a LONG hard look at that, and come back and confidently tell me you’re willing to risk it.”

A big summer storm was on the way. And at this point, half the hut bookings over the next two days had dropped out.

We decided it was either try for Mueller and stay over New Years to wait out the weather, or spend two more nights sleeping on the ground at the campground’s cooking shelter. We booked the hut for both nights.

Turns out the biggest obstacle in getting to Mueller Hut is the Visitor Center. The hike took us under three hours and it was the first day all trail where our feet stayed dry.

However, it’s important to note that we are really glad that DOC takes weather concerns seriously. Mueller hut gets folks everyday who have never hiked in their life, let alone in alpine conditions. We’ve heard too many stories about overconfident and underprepared people that end badly.

The journey up was on a super highway. The trail was beautifully maintained and packed with day walkers. For good reason - the views were epic. Two opaque glacial lakes sit at the base of glorious Aoraki and his brothers. The mountains are covered in the biggest glaciers we’ve ever seen.

Eddie the hut warden greeted us upon arrival and we befriended him immediately. After watching Anna trying to cut her apple with her doll sized Swiss Army knife, Eddie gave us a set of cutlery each. Real forks!

He whisper offered to charge our power banks with his solar panel. We bonded over our lack of showers. Eddie’s used to dealing with people who have never slept in a sleeping bag before, not people excited to use a real fork, so we think he got a kick out of us.

We dropped off our packs and scrambled up the peak behind the hut, overlooking the most insane views of our entire life. We felt unstoppable without our packs, like mountain goats leaping from rock to rock.

That night everyone gathered around Eddie as he told stories about the legend of Aoraki.

The radio crackled for a nightly check in and weather report, forecasting winds up to 90kph and snow the next day. Happy we had planned a rest day.

All our hut mates left into the storm the next morning. Hopefully they didn’t get blown away. We spent our zero day in an empty hut, helping Eddie with chores, doing crosswords, and reading every magazine left on the shelf. Ice streaked the windows and snow gathered on the deck outside. Going to the outhouse was a mission through wiping winds and ice. We could see our breath from inside the hut. Summer in New Zealand! You never know what you’re gonna get.

The weather improved in the late afternoon and the hut filled with a New Years crew. A flock of Kea, the world’s only alpine parrot, came for a visit. They soared through the valley, shrieking and showing off their glowing orange underwings. Aoraki revealed himself behind the clouds in all his grandness, a dramatic closeout to 2023.