Mount Sefton Explained

Mount Sefton
Elevation M:3151[1]
Prominence M:1063
Map:New Zealand
Relief:1
Label Position:bottom
Listing:List of mountains of New Zealand by height
Location:South Island, New Zealand
Range:Southern Alps
Coordinates:-43.6822°N 170.0422°W
First Ascent:1894 by Edward FitzGerald

Mount Sefton (Māori: Maukatua) is a mountain in the Aroarokaehe Range[2] of the Southern Alps of New Zealand, just south of Aoraki / Mount Cook. To the south lies Mount Brunner, and to the north The Footstool, both more than shorter.

The mountain is prominently visible from Mount Cook Village in the Hooker Valley, with Tuckett Glacier flowing down the south-eastern side of the mountain and Mueller Glacier in the valley below it.[3] [4] With a height of, Mount Sefton is the 13th-highest peak in the Southern Alps, and the 4th-highest mountain in New Zealand when excluding peaks of little prominence that are closer than a kilometre to a higher peak.

The Douglas River (formerly known as the Twain River) begins on Mount Sefton.[3]

An early resident, Charles French Pemberton, named the area, whilst the geologist Julius von Haast named the mountain after William Sefton Moorhouse, the second Superintendent of Canterbury Province. The Māori name of the mountain is Maukatua, which translates as 'mountain of the gods'.

Edward FitzGerald, with Matthias Zurbriggen as his guide, completed the first recorded climb to the summit shortly after Christmas 1894.[5] [6]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Mount Sefton, Canterbury – NZ Topo Map. NZ Topo Map. Land Information New Zealand. 2016-08-25.
  2. News: The Timaru Herald. 3 Apr 2013. Matthew Littlewood. Dual names accepted in Aoraki-Mt Cook. 2016-08-25.
  3. Book: Harper, Arthur Paul . Pioneer Work in the Alps of New Zealand: A Record of the First Exploration of the Chief Glaciers and Ranges of the Southern Alps . 23 May 2015 . 1896 . . 16ff.
  4. Book: Reed, A. W. . Alexander Wyclif Reed

    . Alexander Wyclif Reed . Place Names of New Zealand . 2010 . Raupo . Rosedale, North Shore . 9780143204107 . Peter Dowling . 362.

  5. Book: Rose, John Holland. The Cambridge History of the British Empire. 23 May 2015. 1929. CUP Archive. 43ff.
  6. Web site: Wilson . John . Mountaineering - Aoraki/Mt Cook . . 5 December 2020.