Southern Alps – Kā Tiritiri-o-te-Moana
- The Southern Alps (Māori: Kā Tiritiri o te Moana) are a mountain range extending along much of the length of New Zealand’s South Island, reaching its greatest elevations near the island’s western side. The term “Southern Alps” generally refers to the entire range, although separate names are given to many of the smaller ranges that form part of it.
- The range includes the South Island’s Main Divide, which separates the water catchments of the more heavily populated eastern side of the island from those on the west coast.
- The Southern Alps run approximately 500km northeast to southwest. The tallest peak is Aoraki / Mount Cook, the highest point in New Zealand at 3,724 metres (12,218 ft) and there are sixteen other points in the range that exceed 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in height.
- The mountains are cut through with glacial valleys and lakes, the longest of which – the Tasman Glacier – is 23.5 kilometres (14.6 mi) in length.
- The Southern Alps were named by Captain Cook on 23 March 1770, who described their “prodigious height”. They had previously been noted by Abel Tasman in 1642, whose description of the South Island’s west coast is often translated as “a land uplifted high”.
- The climate is cold with snow and ice year-round at the highest points.
- The Southern Alps lie along a geological plate boundary, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, with the Pacific Plate to the southeast pushing westward and colliding with the northward-moving Indo-Australian Plate to the northwest
