Hooker valley
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 7.67 mi
- Elevation gain
- 643 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 479 ft
- Max elevation
- 2,916 ft
- TrailRank
-
92
5
- Min elevation
- 2,364 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Moving time
- 2 hours 13 minutes
- Time
- 2 hours 40 minutes
- Coordinates
- 1998
- Uploaded
- February 2, 2018
- Recorded
- February 2018
near Mount Cook Village, Canterbury (New Zealand)
Viewed 4612 times, downloaded 138 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
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After a long trip by plane, we arrived in Christchurch, a city that suffered a devastating earthquake in 2012, of which it still shows very apparent remains. After an excellent dinner at the Carlton restaurant, we started the next morning our trip to the Mount Cook Village, which we arrived in the early afternoon after enduring heavy rain for most of the trip. After leaving the suitcases at the hotel, we start the afternoon march on the path of the Hooker Valley, whose entrance is very close to the Village. You can start the walk in the Village, at the beginning of the marked road, or in the parking lot at the end of this road. This last option saved us about 3 km., Which seemed good for us because it was still raining. We started the route on foot protected by the layers of water and soon after it stopped raining, and even the clouds opened up allowing us to appreciate the glaciers of the high areas and many of the mountains and details of the landscape that until then had gone unnoticed. .
The river came down with a lot of water and enormous strength, the skirts of the mountains showed a lot of temporary waterfalls, some of great height, and the bottom of the valley was almost flooded by many streams through which the water ran rapidly in search of the river main, almost reaching the height of some minor bridges. The path progressed to the edge of the river in good part of the route, crossing it on 4 occasions by hanging bridges of limited capacity, but excellent stability, and allowed to see clearly the lateral moraines of the glaciers that flow into Lake Hooker, from which the views The neighboring peaks are impressive when you have the good fortune that the clouds disappear if only for a moment. The return, quiet and without rain, gave time to see the monument to the victims of mountaineering in that area, and also to visit the neighboring center Hillary, whose statue can be seen outside of the center, in the Hermitage hotel complex.
This was the first of the walking routes we made on our trip to New Zealand. Possibly we were seized by the illusion of a trip that promised to be wonderful, and that it was without any doubt, but despite the rain and clouds that hampered or prevented the view of the heights, this seems to us one of the best excursions of our life. If you can, go do it, and do not miss the opportunity to do the neighboring route to the Tasman Glacier. You will not regret.
That afternoon it rained hard again, coinciding with a tropical cyclone, and during the night it snowed intensely (February 2, which is equivalent there to our August 2). The last photos are of the appearance that presented the next morning mountains that the previous day had no snow.
The river came down with a lot of water and enormous strength, the skirts of the mountains showed a lot of temporary waterfalls, some of great height, and the bottom of the valley was almost flooded by many streams through which the water ran rapidly in search of the river main, almost reaching the height of some minor bridges. The path progressed to the edge of the river in good part of the route, crossing it on 4 occasions by hanging bridges of limited capacity, but excellent stability, and allowed to see clearly the lateral moraines of the glaciers that flow into Lake Hooker, from which the views The neighboring peaks are impressive when you have the good fortune that the clouds disappear if only for a moment. The return, quiet and without rain, gave time to see the monument to the victims of mountaineering in that area, and also to visit the neighboring center Hillary, whose statue can be seen outside of the center, in the Hermitage hotel complex.
This was the first of the walking routes we made on our trip to New Zealand. Possibly we were seized by the illusion of a trip that promised to be wonderful, and that it was without any doubt, but despite the rain and clouds that hampered or prevented the view of the heights, this seems to us one of the best excursions of our life. If you can, go do it, and do not miss the opportunity to do the neighboring route to the Tasman Glacier. You will not regret.
That afternoon it rained hard again, coinciding with a tropical cyclone, and during the night it snowed intensely (February 2, which is equivalent there to our August 2). The last photos are of the appearance that presented the next morning mountains that the previous day had no snow.
Waypoints
Photo
2,513 ft
Comments (4)
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Primer sendero en Nueva Zelanda, lluvia pero muy bonito....subimos hasta ver el glaciar. Emotivo el monumento a los que murieron subiendo al Monte Cook y glaciares adyacentes. Visita al monumento a Hillary en el Hotel Hermitage. Día completo.
Fácil ruta, bajo una lluvia fina y buena temperatura.
Entorno de aguas bravas ,vista del Cook inmejorable.
Turismo japoneses .
Impresionante!
Espectacular ruta!