Mount Oates is located 115 kilometres (71 mi) northwest of Christchurch in Arthur's Pass National Park.

It is set along the Main Divide of the Southern Alps in the South Island.

[1] The mountain's toponym honours Lawrence Oates (1880–1912), a British army officer, and later an Antarctic explorer, who died from hypothermia during the ill-fated 1910–13 Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica.

[5] Prevailing westerly winds blow moist air from the Tasman Sea onto the mountains, where the air is forced upwards by the mountains (orographic lift), causing moisture to drop in the form of rain or snow.

The months of December through February offer the most favourable weather for viewing or climbing this peak.