Mount Cook

glaciers

Today we are going to talk about the highest mountain located in New Zealand and which has a height of 3770 meters above sea level. Its about Mount Cook. It is a peak belonging to the New Zealand Alps that is composed of a series of mountains that cross the entire western coast of the south island of New Zealand. In addition to being a great tourist destination, it is a very popular area for the best mountaineers from around the world. It has been the external location of some very famous movie scenes such as Lord Of The Rings.

Therefore, we are going to dedicate this article to tell you everything you need to know about Mount Cook and its characteristics.

Key features

mount cook

It is located within the Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park. This park was inaugurated in 1954 and recognized as a World Heritage Site by Unesco. This park is home to more than 140 peaks over 2.000 meters high and about 72 glaciers that cover half of the entire territory. The entire territory of this park is 700 square kilometers.

Access to this area is usually done by the Mount Cook road. This road was manufactured in 2010 after a large-scale environmental impact study. All these New Zealand Alps were formed as a result of the tectonic pressure that caused the collision of the Pacific plate and the Australian Indo-Australian. These two tectonic plates had a convergent edge that corresponds to the entire western coastline of the island. The process of subduction of the tectonic plates continues reaching Mount Cook at an average of 7 mm per year. Although the speed of movement is negligible for humans, at a geological level it does have relevance

This entire area is hit by strong erosions that mold and shape the mountains. On Mount Cook we see severe weather due to the continuous action of powerful winds with western component called roaring winds. These winds blow along 45 degrees south latitude.

Climate of Mount Cook

mount cook peak

As we have mentioned before, this mountain has an adverse climate with somewhat extreme conditions. These extreme conditions are the most attractive for all mountaineers who want to overcome challenges. And it is that the ocean winds are known by the name of Roaring Forties and they cause a great Föhn effect in the area. Thanks to this effect, very high levels of rainfall are generated that are around 7.600 mm per year. Thanks to these high levels of rainfall, tropical forests can develop on the coast that are fed by glaciers.

Discovery of Mount Cook

Mountain climbing

This mount was discovered by Europeans. The main European must observe the was Abel Tasman on January 11, 1643. It happened during his primordial exploration of the Pacific and this name was placed on the mountain by Captain John Lort Stokes in 1851 to pay homage to Captain James Cook who was the first to explore for the first time most of the islands of New Zealand in the year 1771. Keep in mind that this man did not observe the mountain during his explorations.

Due to the mythological importance of the Aoraki Mount Cook was the first of those names formed where the Maori name follows English. One of the reasons why this mountain is well known is because of the demand for mountaineers from the beginning. The first European attempt to reach the top of Mount Cook was made by the Irish Reverend William S. Green, the Swiss hotelier Emil Boss and the Swiss mountain guide Ulrich Kaufmann in April 1883 by glaciers on March 2 of 1882 by the Tasman and Linda glaciers, Hugh Logan creator of the guide on Mount Cook thinks they stayed less than 50 meters from the top.

The first accident where a mountaineer died on this peak occurred in 1914 on February 22. On this occasion, 3 climbers were swept away by an avalanche from the Linda glacier.

Flora and fauna

As is to be expected in these types of places where environmental conditions are more adverse than the amount of flora and fauna. If we take into account that as we go up in altitude we decrease in levels of biodiversity, Mount Cook has most of the biodiversity below the limit of tree vegetation. And it is that the vegetation needs adequate environmental conditions to be able to develop and with it the fauna that the company.

As we tend at altitude, environmental conditions become more adverse and negative for the development of these living beings. The levels of solar radiation, temperature, low pressure levels, slope and geology of the terrain are less conducive to the development of vegetation. If the vegetation cannot develop first the level of the trophic chain that are the primary consumers or herbivorous animals. Obviously, without these primary consumers, secondary consumers and predators cannot survive. With stricter environmental conditions, the food chain cannot develop and there is less and less biodiversity.

For all this, most of the national park is above the limit of arboreal vegetation. The flora is mainly composed of alpine plants the Ranunculus Lyall, the largest Buttercup in the world, the great daisies, and various herbs. The species of birds found are the Kea and the Pipit, among others. You can also see the Tahr, red deer, and chamois.

The park is very popular with New Zealanders. Many people go there to hike, ski or hunt. The Department of Conservation manages the park.

As you can see, Mount Cook is a place with great tourist attraction since nature and the challenge for mountaineers is unmatched. I hope that with this information you can learn more about Mount Cook and its characteristics.


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