Aoraki / Mount Cook - Area History

Area History

• 1642 - Aoraki sighted by Abel Tasman
• 1770 - Captain Cook named the Southern Alps
• 1851 - Captain Stokes of the survey ship HMS Acheron gave the name Mt Cook to Aoraki
• 1884 - First Hermitage built under the direction of Frank Huddleson
• 1894 - First ascent of Aoraki/Mount Cook, on Christmas Day, by Jack Clarke, Tom Fyfe and George Graham
• 1910 - Freda du Faur became the first woman to climb Aoraki/Mount Cook
• 1911 - The vital swing bridge is built in the Hooker Valley
• 1913 - First ascents of the footstool and Mt Sefton made by Freda du Faur's climbing party
• 1913 - Hermitage first ravaged by floods in January, then destroyed beyond repair by floods two months later
• 1914 - First fatal accident, when three men caught in avalanche on Linda Glacier
• 1914 - Second Hermitage opened, on different site
• 1957 - Second Hermitage razed to the ground
• 1959 - First school opens, Aoraki Mt Cook School
• 1981 - Passenger flights begin by Mount Cook Airline, now part of Air New Zealand Link
• 1982 - Mark Inglis trapped in snow cave
• 1991 - Avalanche of 10 million cubic metres of snow and rock causes 10 metres to be lost off the top of Aoraki/Mount Cook
• 1998 - The Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act officially recognises the original name, renaming the mountain Aoraki/Mt Cook