La Perouse, originally called Mount Stokes, is a mountain in New Zealand's
Southern Alps
The Southern Alps (; officially Southern Alps / Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) is a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand's South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the range's western side. The name "Southern ...
, rising to a height of .
Geography
La Perouse is located in the Southern Alps of the
South Island, four kilometres to the southwest
Aoraki / Mount Cook
Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, as of 2014, is listed as . It sits in the Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite ...
. Unlike Aoraki / Mount Cook, La Perouse sits on the South Island's
Main Divide, on the border between
Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park and
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Westland Tai Poutini National Park is a national park located on the western coast of New Zealand's South Island. Established in 1960 as Westland National Park to commemorate the centenary of the European settlement of Westland District, it ...
. On the northern side, the
La Perouse Glacier feeds the
Cook River that flows into the
Tasman Sea
The Tasman Sea ( Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer ...
.
Eponymy
It was originally named Mount Stokes after
John Lort Stokes
Admiral John Lort Stokes, RN (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885)Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stokes was born in 1811, citing a letter by fellow naval officer Crawford ...
, who was assistant surveyor during the
second voyage of HMS ''Beagle'' (1831–1836) and captain of the survey ship
HMS ''Acheron'' (1848–1851). Because of the prior naming of Mount Stokes in
Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
, the mountain was renamed La Perouse in honour of the French explorer
Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (also spelt comte de La Pérouse) whose expedition foundered on
Vanikoro
Vanikoro (sometimes wrongly named ''Vanikolo'') is an island in the Santa Cruz group, located to the Southeast of the main Santa Cruz group. It is part of the Temotu Province of the Solomon Islands.
The name ''Vanikoro'' is always used as thou ...
in the
Santa Cruz Islands
The Santa Cruz Islands are a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Temotu Province of the nation of Solomon Islands discovered by the Spaniards. They lie approximately 250 miles (400 km) to the southeast of the Solomon Islands ...
of the
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...
in 1788.
1948 rescue
La Perouse was the scene of the most arduous rescue in New Zealand's climbing history in 1948, where Ruth Adams was injured and had to be carried on a stretcher over the summit and through deep gorges to the
West Coast road. She was a member in a climbing party including
Harry Ayres,
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reache ...
and Mick Sullivan. The rescue was the first time that Hillary and fellow climber
Norman Hardie met; they started a lifelong friendship, with Hardie having been on the board of Edmund Hillary's Himalayan Trust for 22 years.
See also
*
List of mountains of New Zealand by height
The following are lists of mountains in New Zealand ordered by height. Names, heights, topographic prominence and isolation, and coordinates were extracted from the official Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) Topo50 topographic maps at thin ...
References
External links
*http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/christchurch-life/740159/Man-of-the-mountains
*https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/the-forgotten-climb/
{{Westland landforms
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park
Mountains of Canterbury, New Zealand
Mountains of the West Coast, New Zealand
Three-thousanders