Mount Cook Group was a New Zealand

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

and

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

operator founded on 2 April 1912 by Rodolph Lysaght Wigley. Originally a

road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...

business, the ''Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand'' became a public company in 1928. By 1930 Wigley had built it into the largest tourist organisation in New Zealand, and it was renamed ''Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Company'', the name adopted in the mid-1930s. In 1976 it became ''The Mount Cook Group Ltd''. The company was

split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enterta ...

in 1989 with various operations progressively sold off, with

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...

retaining the airline businesses. The company remained (on paper) until 17 June 2013 when it was amalgamated into Air New Zealand Associated Companies Limited, a holding company for Air New Zealand's various businesses (and current "owner" of

Mount Cook Airline Mount Cook Airline was a regional airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Formerly part of the Mount Cook Group and latterly a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, it operated scheduled services throughout the country under the Air New Zealand ...

Operations

Mount Cook Landlines

Rodolph Wigley's ''Mt. Cook Motor Car Service'' provided the first car transportation from Fairlie to the Hermitage in February 1906. The company owned four

Darracq A Darracq and Company Limited owned a French manufacturer of motor vehicles and aero engines in Suresnes, near Paris. The French enterprise, known at first as A. Darracq et Cie, was founded in 1896 by Alexandre Darracq after he sold his Gladi ...

40 and 60 hp service cars and carried

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

and passengers. The business collapsed in November 1907 but in 1912 Wigley restarted operations as the ''Mount Cook Motor Co. Ltd.'' By 1918, there was a weekly service car between Mt Cook and Queenstown over the

Lindis Pass Lindis Pass (elevation 971 m) is located in the South Island of New Zealand. A carpark at the top of the pass provides access to a viewpoint and two short trails to other viewing spots. Lindis Pass lies between the towns of Cromwell (78km, 55 mi ...

using

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

s. The company depot was in Fairlie.
Wigley - One Family on the Road to Tourism
' on

ancestry.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

website, viewed 2013-10-31 Rodolph Wigley's ''Mount Cook Motor Co'', later called ''Mount Cook Landlines'', provided inter-city and

sightseeing Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

services. Originally providing services to the

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 ...

region of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

, the company grew to take over many other New Zealand bus companies: ''H&H'' of Invercargill, ''Luxury Landlines'' and ''Hawkes Bay Motor Co'' of the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. In 1989 the Mount Cook Landline exchanged several routes with

Newmans Coach Lines Newmans Coach Lines was an Australian coach charter company with operations in Sydney and Cairns. History In 1987, the Sydney coach operations of Chester Coaches were purchased by New Zealand-based Newmans Coach Lines. Newmans also purchased ...

, the two companies each specialised to the South Island and North Island respectively. When in 1989

sold Mount Cook Group's non-airline assets to

Tourism Holdings Limited Tourism Holdings Limited usually called thl and formerly known as ''The Helicopter Line'' is a large New Zealand tourism company that has been listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange since 1986. The company began as a scenic helicopter flight ...

, the latter scrapped the coach route services and the ''Mount Cook'' brand.John McCrystal ''On the Buses in New Zealand: from charabancs to the coaches of today'', Grantham House, Wellington, 2007

Mount Cook Airline

In December 2019, Mount Cook Airline was merged into

and ceased operations.

Mount Cook Freightlines

''Mount Cook Freightlines'' was a

trucking Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of people. In many countries licensing requirements and safety regulations e ...

company which operated

linehaul ''Linehaul'' is a 1973 Australian television film about truckie Dave Morgan. It was a pilot for a series that was never made and an early vehicle for Jack Thompson.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1 ...

and rural freight services. It grew out of the general passenger/mail operation in 1925, and grew steadily a freight network around the South Island, and, later into the North Island. In its last few years it provided part of

's domestic cargo network. Mount Cook Freightlines was later purchased by F.W. McDowall Ltd.

Mount Cook Line Skifields

In 1921 Rodolph Wigley leased The Hermitage hotel from the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts and began expanding it, installing electricity and telegraph, catering for skaters and skiers and employing mountain guides. He introduced and developed

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

, mountain climbing and winter holidays. The company was the first to offer

package holiday A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...

s to tourists. In August 1923 Wigley and two guides became the first to climb Mt Cook in winter. The first

skifield A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In North ...

in New Zealand was developed on Ball Glacier in

Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand. Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, and the eponymous village lie within the park. The area was gazetted as a national park in October 1953 and consists ...

; the company opened another at Ohau.Wigley, Harry ''The Mount Cook Way: The first fifty years of the Mount Cook Company'' Auckland: Collins, 1979 Mount Cook Line Skifields developed and operated the Queenstown ski areas of

Coronet Peak Coronet Peak is a commercial skifield in Queenstown, New Zealand located seven kilometres west of Arrowtown, on the southern slopes of the 1,649-metre peak which shares its name. A popular ski resort in the Southern Hemisphere, Coronet Peak offe ...

and

The Remarkables The Remarkables ( mi, Kawarau) are a mountain range and skifield in Otago in the South Island of New Zealand. Located on the southeastern shore of Lake Wakatipu, the range lives up to its name by rising sharply to create a remarkable backdrop ...

, now owned by

NZSki Ltd NZSki Ltd, or nzski.com'manages three major New Zealand commercial ski fields; two in Queenstown, The Remarkables, New Zealand, The Remarkables and Coronet Peak, and Mt. Hutt nearer to Christchurch. The company is based in Queenstown. It was for ...

Mount Cook Ski Planes

The company developed

ski plane A bush airplane is a general aviation aircraft used to provide both scheduled and unscheduled passenger and flight services to remote, undeveloped areas, such as the Canadian north or bush, Alaskan tundra, the African bush, or savanna, Amazon rai ...

conversions of

Auster Auster Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1938 to 1961.Willis, issue 122, p.55 History The company began in 1938 at the Britannia Works, Thurmaston near Leicester, England, as Taylorcraft Aeroplanes (England) Limited, ma ...

aircraft in its own workshops at Fairlie, in South Canterbury. Now independently owned, Mount Cook Ski Planes operates

Cessna 185 The Cessna 185 Skywagon is a six-seat, single-engined, general aviation light aircraft manufactured by Cessna. It first flew as a prototype in July 1960, with the first production model completed in March 1961. The Cessna 185 is a high-wing ...

s and Pilatus Porters, and is the only company to land scenic flights on the

Tasman Glacier Haupapa / Tasman Glacier is the largest glacier in New Zealand, and one of several large glaciers which flow south and east towards the Mackenzie Basin from the Southern Alps in New Zealand's South Island. Geography At in length, Tasman Glacie ...

to this day.Mount Cook Ski Planes
company website, viewed 2013-13-13

Other holdings

The Mount Cook company at various times owned or established many other tourism and transport businesses in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

: *Parts of Fiordland Travel, now known as

Real Journeys RealNZ is a New Zealand tourism company based in Queenstown. The company offers a range of travel, cruises and excursions in Queenstown, Milford Sound / Piopiotahi, Te Anau, Fiordland and Stewart Island / Rakiura. It also operates two skifie ...

*Mutual Rental Cars, which became the New Zealand operation of

Avis Rent a Car System Avis Car Rental is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. Avis, Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental and Zipcar are all units of Avis Budget Group. Avis Budget Group operates the Avis brand in South Afric ...

* Ball Hut, a ski and

tramping Tramping may refer to: Travel *Hiking *Trekking *Tramping in New Zealand, a style of backpacking or hiking * Czech tramping, a Czech outdoors pastime Places * Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380, Saskatchewan, Canada ** Tramping Lake, Sas ...

hut in

*The Hermitage hotel at

Mount Cook Village Aoraki / Mount Cook, often referred to as Mount Cook Village, is located within New Zealand's Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park at the end of , only south of the summit of the country's highest mountain, also called Aoraki/Mount Cook, in the So ...

* Chateau Tongariro hotel in

Tongariro National Park Tongariro National Park (; ) is the oldest national park in New Zealand,Department of Conservation"Tongariro National Park: Features", retrieved 21 April 2013 located in the central North Island. It has been acknowledged by UNESCO as a World H ...

* Eichardt's Hotel, in Queenstown

References

{{reflist Travel and holiday companies of New Zealand 1912 establishments in New Zealand 2013 disestablishments in New Zealand