Mount Cook - Day 24 & 25

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This is the kind of scenery that belongs on those one word office posters that say "inspiration" or "perseverance". It's that good! Joking aside our jaws were dragging the entire time we were here. Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Everest, first began exploring his passion for mountain climbing here at Mt. Cook. There is a commerative statue of this most famous Kiwi (he's on the five dollar bill) in front the of the Hermitage Hotel.
We arrived in the Mt. Cook village in the afternoon around 2:30pm and immediately decided to hike the Hooker Valley Track. This just barely gave us enough time to get back by sunset but the weather looked "OK"... (Little disclaimer here - the summit of Mt. Cook is pretty elusive and many people spend a few days here without even a glance. Also, the weather here can change very quickly). On the hike we crossed two huge swing bridges and finally made our way to Hooker Lake at the base of Hooker Glacier. There were huge chunks of glacier floating in the ice cold water and we barely had time to appreciate the beauty before the sleet started pelting our faces. It pretty much rained the entire two hour hike back, so needless to say we were a little cold, wet, and weary.
The forecast for the next day was spotty but it turned out to be a clear afternoon and evening. We set off to hike up to the Sealy Tarns, a steep mountain hike, to hopefully get some views of Mt. Cook's summit. Basically the hike was as if we were on a stairmaster for about two hours... but the views were spectacular. When we reached the tarns (a tarn is a small mountain lake) we took in the scenery and were actually treated to a brief yet slightly cloud obstructed view of the summit. Needless to say the trip down the mountain was much faster. That night we headed up to the the bar at the Hermitage and had a few congragulatory beers and watched the sunset on the mountain. The next day was absolutely clear and we had perfect views of the summit. Too bad we had to catch a shuttle to Christchurch, though not without enjoing the view.

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