Mt Foweraker
Sat 12 Sept 2015
This prominent mountain in Arthur's Pass National Park was recently named after Charles Foweraker, who was a senior lecturer in botany and forestry at University of Canterbury from 1914 to 1951.
We were fortunate that Bill’s vehicle could carry six passengers thanks to the “kiddie seat” in the back which Derek volunteered to occupy. Thanks to Derek we needed only one vehicle for a trip to the rail bridge near the Mt White road bridge. A 1½ km walk on the Waimakariri Rr flats got us to beech forest and another 1½ km up a steep beech forest spur that starts near Red Beech Stream. We had lunch at the bush-line then made our way past some awkward snowy crags before getting to the snow-field. The snow was mostly soft with some hard patches. As the slope steepened we put on crampons and headed for the NE-SW spur that leads to the peak. We got to the top for a leisurely afternoon tea while appreciating the snowy peaks all-round.
The snow decent was a joy and even the craggy bits were easier as we took a better route. The very narrow route down the beech forest spur was much easier to push through on the way down. We had a quick water stop at Red Beech Stream, walked the final flat section, then over the rail bridge 10 minutes ahead of a coal train. We had knocked the F k r off. We had climbed 1250m and walked 6¾km each way. 1804m Foweraker is definitely more accessible than the nearby 1938m Dome. We were: Gary Huish (esteemed leader), Derek Gane, Bill Templeton, Peter Umbers, John Robinson and Kerry Moore