Aoraki

Perfect weather made for an amazing trip to Aoraki Mt. Cook National Park this past weekend. I went with three American exchange students: Allie from Williams, Danielle from Bowdoin, and Jess from the University of Vermont. That was okay because the park is overwhelmed with foreign tourists from all over the world, so we fit right in. We did the four hour drive on Saturday evening, stopping at the Oasis restaurant in Omarama, where we had a very romantic candelit dinner because it was Earth Hour. We arrived at White Horse Hill Campground at Aoraki Mt. Cook Village long after dark and I attempted to set up the tent I rented from Unipol, the University athletic club. I soon realized that the poles and fly we had didn't work with our tent--someone probably mixed up the poles and flies from two different tents--and my jury-rigging produced a very fragile shelter with a few inches of vertical space that was easily toppled by wind. It wasn't super cold, but the frequent intense gusts precluded us from sleeping in the open. Allie had a two-person tent for her and Danielle, and Jess and I ended up sleeping in the car.

We awoke before sunrise on Sunday and realized we were at the foot of New Zealand's tallest peaks. It was warm and sunny, although still very blustery. We hiked to Mueller Hut and beyond to Mt. Olivier, a four-hour trek to an altitude over 1900 meters. We were treated to stunning views of Aoraki, Mt. Sefton, and multiple glaciers as well as intense winds that nearly blew me over a couple times. At Mueller Hut the log book was full of entries from hikers from Japan, Israel, Germany, Sweden, the U.S., Argentina, Australia, and England.

Witnessing the great Aoraki with my own eyes was incredible. It is undoubtedly one of the world's most impressive and prominent mountains, with steep faces on all sides. The scenery in general was some of the most amazing I have ever seen.

Due to lack of tent, we decided to drive home Sunday night through dry grasslands in the rain shadow of the Southern Alps. We stopped at a campground on the way to dine on couscous with zucchini and carrots.