I spoke with Te Wera King, Upoko of Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua, who shared his perspective on Aoraki with me. ‘We don’t see him as a maunga, I don’t see him as an atua or god, I see him as a tupuna, as a force of nature.’
This article was written for the Federated Mountain Clubs of NZ (FMC) and published in the June 2018 issue of their Backcountry magazine. www.fmc.org.nz/join