Mount Aspiring / Tititea is

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 ...

's 23rd-highest mountain. It is the country's highest outside 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.

Description

Set within Otago's

Mount Aspiring National Park Mount Aspiring National Park is in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, north of Fiordland National Park, situated in Otago and Westland regions. The park forms part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. Geography Estab ...

, it has a height of .

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

named it ''Tititea'', after a chief of the Waitaha tribe, who were the first people to settle the South Island. It was named ''Aspiring'' in December 1857 by the Chief Surveyor for the

Otago Province The Otago Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The capital of the province was Dunedin. Southland Province split from Otago in 1861, but became part of the province again in 1870. Area a ...

John Turnbull Thomson John Turnbull Thomson (10 August 1821 – 16 October 1884) was a British civil engineer and artist who played an instrumental role in the development of the early infrastructure of nineteenth-century Singapore and New Zealand. He lived the last 2 ...

.Wises New Zealand Index, 7th Edition, 1979. p. 15. It is also often called 'the

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...

of the South,' for its pyramidal peak when seen from the Matukituki River. The first ascent was on 23 November 1909 by Major Bernard Head and guides Jack Clarke and Alec Graham. Head's party climbed to the summit ridge by the west face from the Bonar Glacier, a route not repeated until 1965. Mount Aspiring / Tititea sits slightly to the west of the main divide, 30 kilometres west of

Lake Wānaka Lake Wānaka is New Zealand's fourth-largest lake and the seat of the town of Wānaka in the Otago region. The lake is 278 meters above sea level, covers , and is more than deep. "Wānaka" is the South Island dialect pronunciation of , which ...

. It lies at the junction of three major glacial systems – the Bonar Glacier, which drains into the Waipara River, and the Volta and

Therma Glacier Therma or Thermē ( grc, Θέρμα, ) was a Greek city founded by Eretrians or Corinthians in late 7th century BC in ancient Mygdonia (which was later incorporated into Macedon), situated at the northeastern extremity of a great gulf of the Aege ...

s, which both drain into the Waiatoto River. The Waipara is a tributary of the

Arawhata River The Arawhata River (often spelt with the Ngāi Tahu Māori dialect spelling ''Arawata River'') is in the West Coast region of the South Island of New Zealand. The river has its headwaters in the Mount Aspiring National Park. It drains the we ...

, and both the Arawhata and Waitoto Rivers flow out to the west coast in between Haast and Jackson Bay.

Climbing

The most used route to Mount Aspiring is up the West Matukituki Valley, which is at the end of a 50-kilometre road from

Wānaka Wānaka () is a popular ski and summer resort town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. At the southern end of Lake Wānaka, it is at the start of the Clutha River/Mata-Au and is the gateway to Mount Aspiring National Park. ...

at Raspberry Flat. From here a network of huts provide staging points for climbers. The first is Mount Aspiring Hut, which is 8 kilometres (or approximately two hours' walk) from the end of the road. The next hut is an 8-12hr hike away that is mainly off trail. The trail only provides a route for the first half of the approach that winds through the flat valley floor. From the end of the trail one can either ascend the French Ridge and traverse the Bonar Glacier, or ascend Bevan Col to the Bonar Glacier. Both require good route finding skills and knowledge of rock climbing techniques and glacial travel. Many climbers opt to fly in via helicopter because of the gruelling approach. The mountain and park are popular with climbers and trampers, so has experienced a number of accidents and deaths.

References

External links

Prelude to Aspiring
A 1949 documentary by

Brian Brake John Brian Brake (27 June 1927 – 4 August 1988) was a photographer from New Zealand. Biography Born in Wellington, New Zealand, Brake was the adopted son of John Samuel Brake and his wife Jennie Brake (née Chiplin). He was raised initially at ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aspiring, Mount Mountains of Otago Mount Aspiring National Park Southern Alps Mountains of the West Coast, New Zealand Westland District

Description

Climbing

See also

References

External links