Mount Aspiring National Park

Mount Aspiring National Park is in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, north of Fiordland National Park, and between Otago and south Westland. The park forms part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site.GeographyIt was established in 1964 as New Zealand's tenth National Park. The park covers 3555km2 at the southern end of the Southern Alps, directly to the west of Lake Wanaka, and is popular for tramping, walking and mountaineering. Mount Aspiring / Tititea, elevation 3033m above sea level, is the mountain that gives the park its name. Other prominent peaks within the park include Mount Pollux, elevation 2542m, and Mount Brewster, elevation 2519m.The Haast Pass, one of the three principal road routes across the Southern Alps, is found in the north-eastern corner of the park.HistoryLandsborough Station addedIn April 2005 the Nature Heritage Fund purchased private land in the Landsborough River valley as an addition to the park.Milford Sound tunnel proposalIn 2006, the Milford Dart Company asked the Department of Conservation to amend the Mt Aspiring National Park Management Plan to allow an additional road within the park for a bus tunnel, the so-called Milford Tunnel, from the Routeburn Road to the Hollyford Valley to take tourists to Milford Sound. The tunnel would have established a connection via Glenorchy and would have significantly reduced the current return travel time from Queenstown to Milford Sound of 9 hours.