Ball Pass - The Traditional Route
A 2-3 day mountaineering adventure crossing the Mount Cook Range
Extreme Hiking
- Distance
- 27 km
- Ascent
- 1.8 km
- Descent
- 1.7 km
Hiking in Mount Cook
New Zealands highest mountain and national park with a quirky village to base yourself for incredible high alpine hikes and tours and views of the country's glaciers
Go hiking in Mount Cook with curated guides of the best hikes across the region. With over 60 3D trail maps in FATMAP, you can easily discover and navigate the best trails in Mount Cook.
No matter what your next adventure has in store, you can find a guide on FATMAP to help you plan your next epic trip.
Get a top hiking trail recommendation in Mount Cook from one of our 8 guidebooks, or get inspired by the 60 local adventures uploaded by the FATMAP community. Start exploring now!
Hiking Routes in Mount Cook
Lake Tekapo Hut to Hut Trek - Falcon’s Nest to Lady Emily Hut
Adventurous multi-day trekking in the Lake Tekapo, Mackenzie High Country
Severe Hiking
- Distance
- 6.5 km
- Ascent
- 613 m
- Descent
- 594 m
Lake Tekapo Overnight Hike to Lady Emily Hut
An adventurous alpine hike in the Lake Tekapo, Mackenzie High Country
Difficult Hiking
- Distance
- 1.7 km
- Ascent
- 403 m
- Descent
- 3 m
Ball Pass - the modern route
An epic mountaineering adventure crossing 2 alpine passes and traversing the Mount Cook Range. Spectacular views of New Zealand's highest peaks.
Extreme Hiking
- Distance
- 7.9 km
- Ascent
- 633 m
- Descent
- 1.5 km
Ball Ridge - the modern route
Modern route to Ball Ridge and Ball Pass. Climbs up next to the Cove Stream Gorge, with nice views of waterfalls and the Tasman and Murchison Valleys. Crosses large sections of alpine scrub, scree and boulder fields, steep tussock slopes and snow fields.
Extreme Hiking
- Distance
- 3.8 km
- Ascent
- 1.2 km
- Descent
- 137 m
The Hooker Valley Track
Boasting stunning views of the Mueller Glacier, Hooker Lake and Aoraki/Mount Cook, the Hooker Valley Track is a justifiably popular hike on New Zealand's South Island.
Easy Hiking
- Distance
- 10 km
- Ascent
- 203 m
- Descent
- 202 m
Alex Knob Track
A challenging, but rewarding, track up to Alex Knob, with its stunning views over the Franz Josef Glacier.
Difficult Hiking
- Distance
- 15 km
- Ascent
- 1.1 km
- Descent
- 1.1 km
Hooker Valley Track
Hike to the Hooker Glacier Lake and enjoy stunning views of New Zealand’s highest peak Aoraki Mount Cook and the Southern Alps.
Easy Hiking
- Distance
- 5.2 km
- Ascent
- 160 m
- Descent
- 44 m
Copland Pass - the modern route
Copland / Fitzgerald Pass is a challenging alpine crossing of the Southern Alps from the Hooker Valley to the Copland Valley. It follows the Jubilee Route over Fitzgerald Pass which is the modern alternative to the historic Copland Pass route across the Main Divide.
Extreme Hiking
- Distance
- 39 km
- Ascent
- 1.9 km
- Descent
- 2.6 km
mount cook traverse
The reality is that Mt Cook is a much harder climb than most people anticipate. It is not as high as other peaks around the world, and doesn't have the issues of higher altitudes, but it more than makes up for it in technical difficulty, the length of the climb and the objective hazards. Expect a summit day starting close to midnight and lasting at least 15 hours and often longer, a long time to fend off fatigue and maintain focus for even experienced alpinists. Higher on the route, climbing involves up to 9 pitches of steep mixed climbing. Once on the summit ice cap the exposure of 3 vertical kilometers to the rugged west coast in one direction, and the entire 30km of the Tasman Glacier in the other, tugs at your feet. It is not a 'walk up' mountain - it requires alpine climbing techniques. More significantly, many areas of the normal route are exposed to avalanches and unstable ice cliffs, and house swallowing crevasses. In order to mitigate these hazards, guides need to be comfortable that their client can move quickly and securely on steep exposed alpine ground. In other words, Aoraki is unlikely to be your first NZ mountain. It is only guided on a 1:1 ratio and we only take clients who have done other climbs with us beforehand. On rare occasions we might guide someone who has a lot of previous comparable alpine experience as a first time client. So, if that hasn’t put you off, and perhaps even enthused you more, the second most common inquiry is what do I need to do to prepare for climbing Aoraki / Mount Cook? It is not a quick fix and requires a commitment to training and building experience. We recommend that clients work on their general mountaineering experience through climbing long routes on other significant peaks, and that they also target specific skills sets with specialist training. Check the flowchart out which shows a possible progression that could prepare you for a guided ascent of Aoraki / Mount Cook. It is of course not the only route, and may require a longer commitment to ensure you don’t just meet the minimum requirements but satisfy yourself and us that you are ready. It will still be a challenge and you will be pushed, but in the mountains it is always prudent to have some degree of reserve in the tank. Your guides along the way can assess your progress, suggest specific areas to work on, and give you a good indication of if, and when, you are ready. Even if Mount Cook is not your end goal and you just want to get out there climbing, it may give you some guidance on how to progress your experience. For many the allure of another significant peak is an attractive start to the progression, which is why Mount Aspiring is our most popular climb. For many it is a worthy goal in it’s own right but is also a vital step in gaining the required experience for further climbs. Mount Aspiring is an excellent and challenging climb, and it is much more in line with what people who are doing their first big New Zealand climb are looking for. The summit day takes between 12 and 14 hours return and unless a climber is very experienced with recent climbs of this length, it is about the limit of what most people can do safely. It is objectively safe (unlike Mount Cook) and the guide can look after your safety even if you are being pushed to your limit. It would be fair to say that the vast majority of people that climb Mt Aspiring are happy that they did not tackle something more difficult. Aesthetically Aspiring is very beautiful and a "horned" peak similar to The Matterhorn - the summit is very spectacular. For those without previous mountaineering experience we often recommend adding a few extra days to the trip to allow further training and skill development.
Extreme Hiking
- Distance
- 75 km
- Ascent
- 13 km
- Descent
- 13 km
mount cook grand travese
great test for fitness
Extreme Hiking
- Distance
- 53 km
- Ascent
- 6.4 km
- Descent
- 8 km
Chancellor Hut Route
Current Chancellor Hut Route
Easy Hiking
- Distance
- 2.7 km
- Ascent
- 16 m
- Descent
- 426 m