The Hike to Mueller Hut

Mueller Hut is one of those Must Do New Zealand things.

I found this to be one of the most challening and hardest Hikes I have done in this small Country.  It was even worth than Avalache Peak, in Arthus Pass. Somehow it was also one of the most rewarding hikes I have done. A complete sence of accomplishment. Some people do the whole Hike is five hours return, I took just five hours just going up. But why trying to go fast, when I don’t have to. It was physically  challening but also mentalty. Having to motivate yourself to continue. Climbing a total of more than 2200 stairs was only a part of it, the drizzle of Rain did not help. But let me start at the beginning, before I get to ahead of myself.

The day started of fine, it was very sunny and pretty beautiful.

I had a reservation for the Night at Mueller Hut and only left the Mount Cook Village at about 2:30pm. It was a nice Morning until I started the hike to Mueller Hut. Ever so slowly the Clouds started to roll in. First a Long sleeve shirt was fine, later a Rain Coat was a must.

The goal to get to the Hut was strong in my Mind. One of the few reasons that I continued on. I would like to believe that I probalby would not have completeted this track had I not that the Reservation at the Hut. I would have probably turned around about 1/3 of the way up.(Some Huts like the Mueller Hut, a bed had to be pre-booked, the local i-site will be able to give more information about this.)

Just then at a bad mental and physical meltdown, an amazing nature wonder happend, Sun and Rain make a Rainbow. Yes you heard right a Rainbow! (Am I the only person getting exited about a Rainbow? There where some girls ahead of me and I feelt like they didn’t stop at all.) I wanted to get a closer look of the amazing site so I climbed those stairs like a Mad-Woman and made it to an get lookout perfectly over the Valley. Most people take a picture hear with Mount Cook. He was History for me. I had not seen such a clear Rainbow in a long time, and especially not a full round half for that matter. I was pretty stoked!.

That is kinda how I felt in that very moment. A special Memory!

With many stops along the way, especially if there are more than 2200 Steps, that I thought would never end, I somehow made it all the way to the Top of the Stairs. But oh no the end was not near yet. Although I do believe if you could DIE from climbing Stairs I would have on this day. And guess what they are dubbed the “Stairway to Heaven”. How ironic I would rather refer to them as the “Stairs of Hell”. (But who would then want to do this track. They felt like they would never end. Up or down was the same feeling.

After the Stairs 600m incline, this was the stop for the Sealy Tarns track, the Mueller Hut continued a little ways more up only 400m more of incline. Now I was climbing over Rocks. Makes it a little easier as now I am able to take my own steps, and don’t have Steps that define the length of your Step.

It better to concentrate on the positive than the Negative, after all the glass will always be half full. Eventually I did get me to the Hut at around 8pm. Just as the Sun was about to set. I am cold, wet and Hungry. I though they would have a heater of some sort up in the Hut, but that was false Alarm. I just could not really warm up, so I bundled my self up in my Sleeping Bag, and had some Dinner, and even got semi warm at some point. From all that Hiking I was pretty tired, so I had an early Night.

One of the Reasons I really wanted to stay up at the top of Mueller Hut get a a clear view of the Nightsky. When it was raining all day long, my hopes quickly drained. However the weather changes so quickly in the Mountains that I did end up getting Lucky, and I went into the Night just before hitting the Hay. I attempted my first shot at some Astrophography. I failed pretty badly but, two turned out of about 20! That’s a pretty good start.

The Night felt short, although I did sleep 8 hours. I really wanted to get up and see the Sunrise, this meant getting up at 6am. To the Ridge of the Mountain which provided a pretty cool view of the Hooker Valley.Back to the Ridge took about 15 minutes to walk. But as the light was just coming up, I didn’t want to risk it, and took my chances stumbling in the dark and planned a little more time.

What an epic Sunrise, it was such a good feeling and such an epic way to start the morning.




After a long a strenuous walk down, with a view that was as nice as ever. With the view of the Hooker Valley the whole time. However I will admit that it was pretty hard. And at some point my Feet started to hurt and my legs felt like Jelly. Just in time for Lunch I made it back into the Village.

Now the Ultimate Question is, was this all worth it? Yes it most definatally was. I am by no means a fit person, if I can do this so can you. This was one of the Hikes I had really wanted to do in the Aoraki/ Mount Cook National Park. And am very glad I did, although it was a HUGE struggle and two days after doing the hike I still felt it in my legs. I even had a hard time bending my Knees, it Hurt so much.  But pretty much I Made it and that was the part that made it worth it!

So if you are up for some Muscle Pain, but an amazing View then this is something so well worth doing!

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