Mt Hooker, Southwest New Zealand

This photo was taken on day 5 of an 9 day trip in Spring 1994 to the Hooker Wilderness area. The view is near the (slightly lower) West summit of Mt Hooker, looking North. The 2000m Otoko face drops away almost immediately into the Otoko valley below (the joys of grovelling down the Otoko were experienced over the next 2-3 days). The ridge was gained after a 2AM start from the Rock Bivy at Mark's Flat, some 1700m lower, to the south-east.

Mt Dechen lies to the right on the opposite side of the valley - its gently sloping glacier was regularly sending blocks of ice and avalanches crashing to the valley floor. The Mt Cook massif is central on the distant horizon (some 1000m+ higher) with Mt Tasman to its left and the pointy peak of Mt Sefton to its right, almost behind Dechen. Very cold Southerly winds and some dubious cooking the night before meant we didn't get to the high peak. Fresh avalanches on our decent made an early retreat seem sensible.



Overview of the Hooker wilderness area | Back to Jonathan's gallery
Copyright (c) 1996 Jonathan Carr