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
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 "Souther ...
.
Being situated inside a
National Park
A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...
, it is not possible to own property in Mount Cook Village; however, because of the year-round operation of the hotel and motels, the village has a small permanent population of around 250.
All buildings and facilities operate on concessions and leases from the government. The village has no grocery stores apart from a small in-hotel convenience store. The nearest
supermarket
A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more lim ...
is away in
Twizel
Twizel () is the largest town in the Mackenzie District, in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand. The town was founded in 1968 to house construction workers on the Upper Waitaki Hydroelectric Scheme. Today, Twizel is a ...
, the closest town. There is a self-service
petrol
Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic c ...
pump behind the hotel complex; however, the fuel price reflects the remote location.
Mount Cook Village operates a small school with a roll as low as a dozen children, the only school in New Zealand inside a national park.
History
The first building at the location of Mount Cook Village was the second Hermitage hotel, built in 1913 and opened in 1914; however, that building burned to the ground in 1957 and was replaced in 1958 by what later became the current hotel.
The 1960s and 1970s saw significant extensions to the hotel and Mount Cook Village, including water mains, sewerage treatment, local streets, and the sealing of State Highway 80, which greatly improved access. A local fire brigade was established in