We moved to the side of the track, rested on some cold rocks, and pulled our water bottles from the backpack. Stew and I had left the impressive Hooker Lake, complete with icebergs and iridescent blue water from the Hooker Glacier, a few kilometers behind us. Shadowing the valley, Aoraki (Mt Cook), looked imposing even in this low snowfall winter. The mild snow season meant that instead of crunching through a valley of snow on the South Island of New Zealand, we were enjoying a vista of tussock grasses, under a bright but cold sky.    “Whoa! Check that out!” Stew pointed to the snow-capped mountain in the distance. “What?”…