COOK, MOUNT

mountain, the highest in New Zealand, in the Southern Alps, west-central South Island. Surrounded by 22 peaks exceeding 10,000 feet (3,000 metres), the permanently snow-clad mountain rises to 12,316 feet (3,754 metres); a landslide in 1991 decreased the height of the peak by some 30 feet (10 metres). Mount Cook is flanked by the Hooker Glacier to the west and Tasman Glacier to the east. Sighted in 1642 by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, it was known as Aoraki (also spelled Aorangi; from the Maori for cloud piercer) before being renamed for Captain James Cook (1851). First climbed in 1894, the mountain is the central feature of Mount Cook National Park, 210 miles (338 km) southwest of Christchurch.