Jane Thomson (18 May 1858 – 17 July 1944) was a notable New Zealand mountaineer. She was born in

Kaiapoi Kaiapoi is a town in the Waimakariri District of the Canterbury region, in the South Island of New Zealand. The town is located approximately 17 kilometres north of central Christchurch, close to the mouth of the Waimakariri River. It is con ...

North Canterbury Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current fo ...

, New Zealand in 1858. Her father was the farmer Donald Coutts, her mother Anne Mackay. She married the civil engineer John Thomson in 1879. Their only child died in 1904. In 1903 Constance Barnicoat, Ada Perkins and Jane Thomson became the first women to cross

Copland Pass The Copland Pass (el. ) is an alpine pass in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Known as Noti Hinetamatea by the indigenous Ngāi Tahu, the pass follows the route of the Makaawhio ancestor Hinetamatea and her sons Tātāwhākā and Marupeka. ...

. Whilst they were successful, their guide Jack Clarke declared the route "unfit for ladies". In 1915, while based for a summer holiday at the Hermitage,

Mount Cook Village Aoraki / Mount Cook, often referred to as Mount Cook Village, is located within New Zealand's Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park at the end of , only south of the summit of the country's highest mountain, also called Aoraki/Mount Cook, in the So ...

, she began a two-year climbing partnership with the Austrian guide

Conrad Kain Conrad Kain (10 August 1883, Nasswald – 2 February 1934, Cranbrook, British Columbia) was an Austrian mountain guide who guided extensively in Europe, Canada, and New Zealand, and was responsible for the first ascents of more than 60 routes in ...

. They ascended many peaks, including Maunga Ma, Mt Jeannette, Malte Brun, and two unnamed peaks. She named one of them in honour of her dead child, ''Mount Edgar Thomson''. In 1916, aged 57, with Conrad Kain she became the second woman, after Freda Du Faur, to traverse

Mount Cook Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

. Aged 68, she made her first ascent of the low peak of Mount Rolleston in

Arthur's Pass National Park Arthur's Pass National Park is located in the South Island of New Zealand and covers 1,185 km2 of mostly mountainous terrain. Adjacent to it lies Craigieburn Forest Park. History Arthurs Pass National Park was established in 19 ...

. Aged 80, she travelled to Kashmir to visit

Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat ( ur, ) (; ), known locally as Diamer () which means “king of the mountains”, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth, its summit at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in ...

References

1858 births 1944 deaths New Zealand mountain climbers People from Kaiapoi Female climbers {{NewZealand-bio-stub