Ball Pass - Five cross in fine weather !

January 2006 - Garth London, Craig Robinson, Cat Robinson, Mike Courtney, Rachael Schmid, supported by Angie London.

Given the garbage weather that we were experiencing in the New Year at Takaka and a bad forecast, we called off the plans to head in to Pioneer and decided the weather was in the east so it was into the east that we headed.

Mt Cook was howling on our arrival but there was a window of opportunity, two days when we might be able to get something done, then hell was going to rain down on the area. With no rivers to cross and some good bail out options we made the call to do Ball Pass.

Monday morning saw us packing for a quick trip so all the unessentials and spare anythings were discarded. Thanks to Angie and the trusty Subaru Outback we were able to put 7 or 8 km of the Ball Pass road behind us and four o'clock saw us leaving Ball Shelter for a bivouac up on the ridge. The weather was superb with no wind and fantastic views of the Tasman and Ball Glaciers, Mt Cook and all the other peaks on that side. This was the second trip up the Ball Ridge for me and it was surprising to see how little snow was around. The basins below Caroline Hut, where on a previous trip we had donned crampons, were empty. Arriving at the Hut at 8:30pm and with no other occupants, we made the call to bivouac there. At least we would have an environmentally friendly toilet handy! A quick feed whilst watching a truly spectacular sun set and then it was into the bags for a short sleep.

At four in the morning and we were up for another feed and on our way by 5:30. The scramble up to the ridge was the typical scree and then some nice rock along the ridge took us to the Ball Glacier neve. The sun rose on another stunning day and arriving at the Pass at 7:00am the views opened up onto the Hooker Glacier, Mt Sefton, Footstool and over to the Annette Plateau. Descending into the Hooker we knew that the route finding could be a bit tricky and sure enough we ended up bluffed but a short ascent to the ledges, a quick traverse and we were on our way down to the Playing Fields and an early lunch at 10:30am. Looking back up to where we had descended the route was obvious, which is why DOC suggests that the Pass is done in the opposite direction.

After a leisurely 1 1/2 hour stop in hot sun watched by Kea, it was time to get cracking and so it was into the gut that drops to the Hooker moraine. The route is straight-forward but the 600m descent down boulders and scree sure takes its toll on the knees. Still much better to travel down this stuff than go up. A short stop at the bottom to fill up with water and it was off on the 2 ½ hour walk out down the moraine. We were at White Horse Hill by 4:00pm and off to Unwin to enjoy a well earned beer.

The next day it bucketed down at Unwin.

Approaching Ball Pass from the Ball Ridge.

Craig, Cat, Garth and Rachael looking back up the Tasman Valley.

Questions or problems? Please email the Webmaster