Mount Aspiring / Tititea - Misplaced Pages

Mountain in New Zealand

Mount Aspiring / Tititea

Highest point
Elevation	3,033 m (9,951 ft)
Prominence	2,475 m (8,120 ft)
Parent peak	Aoraki / Mount Cook
Isolation	130.8 km (81.3 mi) to Mount Sefton
Listing	Ultra 9th highest in New Zealand
Coordinates	44°23′S 168°43′E / 44.383°S 168.717°E / -44.383; 168.717
Naming
Native name	Tititea (Māori)
English translation	clear or shining peak
Geography
Mount Aspiring / Tititea
Country	New Zealand
Region	West Coast
District	Westland
Protected area	Mount Aspiring National Park
Parent range	Southern Alps
Climbing
First ascent	1909

Mount Aspiring / Tititea is New Zealand's 23rd-highest mountain. The peak's altitude of 3,033 metres (9,951 ft) makes it the country's highest outside the Aoraki / Mount Cook region.

Names

Māori named it Tititea, after a chief of the Waitaha iwi, 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, John Turnbull Thomson.

It is also often called "the Matterhorn of the South", for its pyramidal peak when seen from the Matukituki River.

The mountain's name was used for the surrounding Mount Aspiring National Park at its creation in 1964.

The mountain's official name was updated to Mount Aspiring / Tititea in 1998, by the Treaty Settlement Legislation Section 269 and Schedule 96 of the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998.

Location

Mount Aspiring / Tititea sits slightly to the west of the main divide, 30 kilometres west of Lake Wānaka. It lies at the junction of three major glacial systems – the Bonar Glacier, which drains into the Waipara River, and the Volta and Therma glaciers, which both drain into the Waiatoto River. The Waipara is a tributary of the Arawhata River, and both the Arawhata and Waitoto Rivers flow out to the West Coast in between Haast and Jackson Bay.

Climbing

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.

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 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

"Topographic map of Mount Aspiring / Tititea". opentopomap.org. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
"Place name detail: Mount Aspiring/Tititea". New Zealand Gazetteer. New Zealand Geographic Board. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
"The names of ancestors and places". Te Ara Encyclopedia.
^ Wises New Zealand Index, 7th Edition, 1979. p. 15.
Johnston, Martin (23 November 2009). "100 years since Mt Aspiring triumph". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
Logan, H. (1990) 'Great peaks of New Zealand', New Zealand Alpine Club, Wellington, and John McIndoe Limited, Dunedin, New Zealand, ISBN 0-86868-125-3.
"Why are so many people dying in Mount Aspiring National Park". Stuff (Fairfax). 8 January 2015.
"A lack of preparation makes for misadventures on Mt Aspiring". Stuff (Fairfax). 4 April 2018.
"Missing Australian climber found in good spirits on Mt Aspiring". Stuff (Fairfax). 2 August 2018.
"Australian climber Terry Harch an accident waiting to happen". Stuff (Fairfax). 9 August 2018.
"Climber grabbed at grass tufts before falling 100 metres to her death at Mt Aspiring national park". Stuff (Fairfax). 3 August 2018.

External links

Prelude to Aspiring A 1949 documentary by Brian Brake.

v t e Mount Aspiring National Park, New Zealand
Mountains	Mount Aspiring / Tititea Mount Brewster Mount Earnslaw Mount Franklin
Mountain ranges	Humboldt Mountains
Glaciers	Dart Glacier Olivine Ice Plateau Rob Roy Glacier Volta Glacier
Gorges and mountain passes	Gates of Haast Haast Pass
Rivers	Arawhata River Barrier River Bettne River Blue River Blue Duck River Bonar River Burke River Cascade River Dart River / Te Awa Whakatipu Donald River Drake River Fish River Forgotten River Haast River Joe River Kitchener River Makarora River Matukituki River Mueller River Ngatau River Okuru River Olivine River Pearson River Pyke River Red Pyke River Routeburn River Te Naihi River Turnbull River Waiatoto River Waipara River Whitbourn River Wilkin River Williamson River Wills River Young River
Waterfalls	Bridal Veil Falls Fantail Falls Roaring Billy Falls Thunder Creek Falls
Walking tracks	Cascade Saddle Track Rees and Dart Tracks Routeburn Track Routeburn Classic
Other	Haast-Hollyford road Lake Sylvan Pleasant Flat

v t e Landforms of Westland District, New Zealand
Alpine passes	Arthur's Pass Browning Pass / Nōti Raureka Copland Pass Haast Pass
Bays	Bruce Bay Jackson Bay
Canyons, gorges and waterfalls	Fantail Falls Gates of Haast Hokitika Gorge Otira Gorge Roaring Billy Falls Thunder Creek Falls
Glaciers	Agassiz Glacier Douglas Glacier Fox Glacier Franz Josef Glacier Garden of Eden Ice Plateau Olivine Ice Plateau Volta Glacier
Headlands	Abut Head Awarua Point Gillespies Point Knights Point
Islands	Open Bay Islands
Lakes and lagoons	Abel Lake Alpine Lake / Ata Puai Lake Ellery Lake Gault Lake Ianthe Lake Kaniere Lake Mahinapua Lake Mapourika Lake Matheson Lake Moeraki Ōkārito Lagoon Lake Paringa Saltwater Lagoon Lake Wahapo
Mountain ranges	Butler Range Southern Alps
Mountains	Mount Adams Aoraki / Mount Cook Mount Aspiring / Tititea Mount Brewster Mount Dampier Mount Graham Mount Haast Mount Hopkins La Perouse Lendenfeld Peak Mount Rolleston Mount Sefton Silberhorn Mount Tasman Mount Vancouver Mount Whitcombe
River flats	Pleasant Flat
Rivers	Adams River Arahura River Arawhata River Balfour River Barlow River Barn River Bettne River Big Wainihinihi River Burke River Butler River Callery River Cascade River Clarke River Clearwater River Cook River / Weheka Copland River Cropp River Deception River Donald River Douglas River Drake River Duncan River Edison River Fork River Fox River Gorge River Gunn River Haast River Hacket River Hall River Hapuka River Harman River Hinatua River Hokitika River Hope River Jackson River Jerry River Kaniere River Karangarua River Kokatahi River Lambert River Landsborough River Lord River Macfarlane River Mahitahi River Jacobs River Manakaiaua River Maori River Martyr River Mikonui River Moeraki River Morse River Mueller River Mungo River Ngatau River North Barlow River Ohinemaka River Ōhinetamatea River Ōkārito River Okuru River Ōmoeroa River Oneone River Otehake River Ōtira River Ōtoko River Paringa River Perth River Poerua River Rolleston River Rotokino River Ruera River Ship Creek Smoothwater River Smyth River Spoon River Stafford River Strauchon River Styx River Taipo River Taramakau River Te Naihi River Te Rahotaiepa River Toaroha River Tōtara River Totarakaitorea River Troyte River Tuke River Turnbull River Waiatoto River Waiho River Waikūkūpa River Waipara River Waita River Waitaha River Waitangitāhuna River Waitangiroto River Wanganui River Whakaikai River Whakapohai River Whataroa River Whitcombe River Wilkinson River Willberg River Williamson River Wills River

Categories:

Names

Location

Climbing

See also

References

External links