New Zealand: Mount Cook National Park – A Quick Winter Adventure

This is going to be a fairly quick post because…well…because it was a short trip. After visiting Mount Cook several times during the summer, we decided that we wanted to see the National Park in the winter.

Mount Cook has always been our place to escape to when we want to be surrounded by giant mountains, glaciers, and lakes. Although where we live in the Wanaka is very mountainous and beautiful, it’s not quite the same. In Mount Cook, the mountains are right there, in your face, rising straight up from the valley floor all around you. They feel close enough to run up and touch, yet the peaks are so far in the distance that they seem untouchable.

So to get our required dose of mountains, we decided to head to Mount Cook at the beginning of August (it still seems crazy saying that August is winter) to see the difference that winter brings to the park. Along the way, however, we made a quick stop in Lindis Pass.

Lindis Pass:

We’ve driven over Lindis Pass many times before, but on this particular day it was a bit different than most. When we were crossing over the summit, we were surrounded by snow. Being from Canada, snow isn’t usually something that we get excited about, but after not stepping foot on snow for over a year, it was pretty special.

When we stopped at the summit, we got out of the car and walked around a bit, then decided to climb up a nearby hill to get some photos. It seems crazy, but the feeling of the snow crunching under my feet and the cold in my hands as I made a snowball were something that I hadn’t realized how much I missed.

After spending some time at the summit, we carried on to Mount Cook.

Winter in Mount Cook National Park:

We’ve been to Mount Cook a few times before, and every time during our drive in, it’s been rainy and cloudy. This time, however, it was finally clear and I realized during the drive in that some of the best views of the park are along the drive in.

You drive along the edge of the glacial-fed, vibrant blue waters of Lake Pukaki while the towering mountains at the head of the lake get closer and closer. The valley slowly closes in around you the further along you drive until it feels like you’re surrounded by the huge walls of a fortress.

Because the visibility has always been low on our drives into the park, I’ve never really wanted to stop to take photos along the way. But on this trip I stopped in at nearly every place that I could along the way. Peter’s lookout is the most well-known place to get views of the lake and the valley, but there are several other spots further into the park that are far more spectacular.

So the point that I’m making after all of this is that if you find yourself in Mount Cook and have some clear weather and a bit of extra time, make sure to slow down and soak in the views along the road. Keep an eye out for small gravel pull offs along the road as well and stop where ever you can to take some photos. 

• Tasman Lake:

Because we were visiting in early August, the days were quite short and it was beginning to get dark when we finally reached the Mount Cook village. Because of this, we decided to head straight to Tasman Lake to catch the sun setting before heading to the campsite to spend the night.

Tasman Lake is only a short drive from the village and when you arrive, there is a trail that soon splits in several directions. One way takes you up to a small rise above the lake where you get a view across it and toward the end of the lake where the glaciers sit.

The other way takes you to the foot of the lake where the river flows out to carry the water to Lake Pukaki in the distance. We decided to head to the mouth of the rivers so that we could get views across the entire length of the lake to the foot of the glaciers. The sun set wasn’t very incredible by any means, but it was cool to see the partially frozen lake with the sun slowly disappearing and its light slowly slipping up the length of the tall peaks.

Once the sun had set and the cold started to settle in, we left the lake and drove back to the village to set up camp.

• Hmmm…Maybe Not

But…to our surprise…the campground was closed for winter.

Of course we could have probably checked this before leaving Wanaka, and maybe we should have even known that it was going to be closed, but we didn’t do either. 

So with a quick discussion, plans were made, and we decided to head straight back to Wanaka for the night as it was only 6:00PM. We had originally planned to stay in Mount Cook overnight and then walk the Hooker Valley Track in the morning, but didn’t really want to find somewhere else to stay outside of the park and have to drive back in in the morning.

So with that, we turned around and headed straight back the way we had come. Of course, we stopped in the town of Twizel quick for some chocolate and chips for the road, but then it was straight back to Wanaka.

Even though our adventure was cut slightly short by our unpreparedness, it was still a great day out and we found ourselves some snow and were able to see some of Mount Cook in the winter. All around success I would say.