The park contains more than 140 peaks standing over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and 72 named glaciers, which cover 40 percent of its 700 square kilometres (170,000 acres).

A lookout point at the end of the Hooker Valley Track located only 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the peak has views of the entire mountainside.

The near horizontal ridge connecting the mountain's three summits forms a distinctive blocky shape when viewed from an eastern or western direction.

[8] Aoraki / Mount Cook receives substantial orographic precipitation throughout the year, as breezy, moisture-laden westerly winds dominate all year-round, bringing rainclouds from the Tasman Sea with them.

Annual precipitation around the mountain ranges varies greatly as the local climate is dominated by the eastward movement of depressions and anticyclones from across the Tasman Sea.

The Aoraki / Mount Cook massif is a major obstacle to the prevailing westerly winds as they push depressions and associated cold fronts of moist air from the subtropics in the northwest against the mountain range.

This brings with it a rapid drop in temperature and poor visibility,[9] adding to the difficult climbing conditions on Aoraki / Mount Cook.

Under the settlement the Crown agreed to return title of Aoraki / Mount Cook to Ngāi Tahu, who would then formally gift it back to the nation.

The severe weather is due to the mountain's jutting into powerful westerly winds of the Roaring Forties which run around approximately 45°S latitude, south of both Africa and Australia.

[9] This very high rainfall leads to temperate rainforests in these coastal lowlands and a reliable source of snow in the mountains to keep the glaciers flowing.

Forest would normally grow to about 1,300 m in this area, but a lack of soil due to scree, rock falls and the effects of glaciation prevent this in most localities around the mountain.

Snow tussock and other alpine plants cling to as high as 1,900 m. Above the snowline, only lichen can be found amongst the rock, snowfields and ice that dominate the highest parts of Aoraki / Mount Cook.

[28] The first known ascent was on 25 December 1894, when New Zealanders Tom Fyfe, John Michael (Jack) Clarke and George Graham reached the summit via the Hooker Valley and the north ridge.

[30] Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen of FitzGerald's party made the second ascent on 14 March 1895 from the Tasman Glacier side, via the ridge that now bears his name.

This 'grand traverse' was repeated in January 1916 by Conrad Kain, guiding the 57-year-old Jane Thomson, considered at the time "a marvellous feat unequalled for daring in the annals of the Southern Alps".

In February 1948 with Ruth Adams, Harry Ayres and Mick Sullivan, Hillary made the first ascent of the South Ridge to the Low Peak.

The climb crosses large crevasses, and involves risks of ice and rock falls, avalanches and rapidly changing weather conditions.

[39][40][41] Ngāi Tahu, the main iwi (tribe) of New Zealand's southern region, consider Aoraki as the most sacred of the ancestors that they had descended from.