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

Kaiapoi Kaiapoi is a town in the Waimakariri District of the Canterbury, New Zealand, 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 Waimak ...

North Canterbury Canterbury () 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 form was estab ...

, 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. 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 Mount Cook Village, officially Aoraki / Mount Cook, 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 Souther ...

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

Conrad Kain Conrad Kain (10 August 1883, Schwarzau im Gebirge, 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 mo ...

. 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 Mount Edgar Thomson is a mountain in the Canterbury Region of New Zealand. Description Mount Edgar Thomson is set in the Ben Ohau Range of the Southern Alps and is situated in the Canterbury Region of South Island. This peak is located south ...

. In 1916, aged 57, with Conrad Kain she became the second woman, after

Freda Du Faur Emmeline Freda Du Faur (16 September 188213 September 1935) was an Australian mountaineer, credited as the first woman to climb New Zealand's tallest mountain, Aoraki / Mount Cook. Du Faur was a leading amateur climber of her day. She was the f ...

, to traverse

Mount Cook Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, , is listed as . It is situated in the Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite ch ...

. She was photographed at the top of the peak by

, using her camera. Aged 68, she made her first ascent of the low peak of

Mount Rolleston Mount Rolleston (2,271 m) is a prominent peak in Arthur's Pass National Park in the South Island of New Zealand. It was named by the surveyor Arthur Dudley Dobson in 1864, who observed the peak while searching for a route through the South ...

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. The park is administered by the New Zealand Department of Co ...

. Aged 80, she travelled to Kashmir to visit

Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat () (; ), known locally as Diamer (), is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth and its summit is at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-a ...

References

1858 births 1944 deaths New Zealand mountain climbers People from Kaiapoi New Zealand female climbers Colony of New Zealand people {{NewZealand-bio-stub