Maori name - Aoraki meaning Cloud Piercer

To Mueller Hut...
Aoraki/Mt Cook is the highest peak in New Zealand, located in the centre of New Zealand’s South Island. Being early March, we were blessed with warm sunny days and the route to Mueller Hut was clear. It completely snows over in winter, and avalanches become a real threat, so the track is generally only open mid November to late March. Whilst the hike is only 5.2kms each way, it is more than a 1000m climb with a large chunk of the track being a bit of a rock scramble marked by rock cairns and orange markers.

To start, you need to register your hike and if you want, book a spot in the Mueller Hut. We decided to freedom camp, and fairly easily found a spot a bit out of the way and out of view of the hut so we didn’t get in trouble from the hut warden. We were still able to grab some water and use the toilets at the hut, and lounge on the balcony post hike. We also locked up our more precious belongings in a nearby hostel for a small fee, even though we didn’t stay there. Pack enough water for the day, as the only water refill is when you get to the summit. We also took some beer and pasta; because we decided that carrying those extra kilos were worth it.

An early start is ideal, as there are too many lookout spots to count, so you want to be able to take your time. Each section of the track reveals more and more of the surrounding landscape, until you reach the top of Mueller Hut at 1800 meters, where there are 360-degree views of glaciers, peaks, vertical rock faces and ice cliffs. The first section is from the bottom car park and campsite to Sealy Tarns. This is called the Kea Point Track. This is the easier section of the track, though it is still steep, predominantly consisting of stairs (about 1800 of them). It leads to the Sealy Tarns track, which becomes even steeper, though the track is still well-defined and it zig-zags up to Sealy Tarns. There is a good place to stop and have a rest at the top of this section, and the views of Hooker Valley and Aoraki/Mt Cook can be seen from here. We had an incredible view of both the glacier run off and the peaks as well as the valley due to the day being super clear. It was also warm and this section got us nice and sweaty.

From Sealy Tarns to Mueller Hut you have to hike through alpine route rather than a maintained track. The track turned from tussock to a steep and rocky climb. Our pace slowed down significantly here, as every step had to be calculated. So it wasn’t as sweaty, but a little tedious. Once we navigated the rock field, the rocks turned to loose gravel and the last 50m of the climb was battling scree. However beyond the scree is a ridge where we stopped for lunch. The top of the ridge revealed views of the Muller Glacier and an incredible ice shelf. Another 20m following the orange markers and you reach the hut. There was snow when we got there, so we dug out a snow eski and cooled our kingfishers. I got scared of the Kias and we kicked around a rugby ball in the snow. We through snowballs and we watched far off avalanches from the hut balcony. We set up camp, cooked our pasta and explored the ridiculous perimeter of views the summit had to offer.

The night was stupidly windy and freezing so we rose pretty early, tried to pack up our stuff without loosing it all to the wind and took off back to base. The climb down is a bit rough on the knees, though at least we were no longer carrying beer and pasta. It was a pretty quick journey down and we descended in a couple of hours. The stairs at the end made my legs turn to jelly and it was really hard to walk on flat ground for about half an hour afterwards.
My advise would be to take your time and do this hike overnight, though you could easily do it in one day if you sped through. I would also advise packing heavy and taking a beer and a decent dinner as no one enjoys eating a protein bar for dinner.

By Rebecca Capp

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