The Conquest of Mount Cook and Other Climbs by Freda Du Faur

Recently Radio New Zealand featured a reading of a NZETC text The Conquest of Mount Cook and Other Climbs by Freda Du Faur. If you missed the programme and would like to listen to it you can do so on the Radio New Zealand Website.


Freda Du Faur was the first women to successfully climb Mt. Cook in 1910. She also climbed several other peaks of over 3000 metres in the Southern Alps. Du Faur was known for her strong determination, high level of fitness and climbing skill. She also experienced criticism for being an unmarried women climbing with men. While Du Faur was born in Australia and lived most of her life there she is celebrated for her climbing feats here in New Zealand. Du Faur Peak in the South Island is also named after her.

Du Faur's 1915 account of her time mountaineering in the Southern Alps can be accessed in full here.

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