A group of us decided to cross
Ball Pass as part of the club trip, leaving Dunedin early on the
Friday with the aim of camping that night in the Caroline Hut
vicinity and crossing over to the Hooker on the Saturday. So, come
9am on Friday, a party of eight departed Dunedin for Mt. Cook.
Clear skies all the way bode well weather-wise, and early afternoon
saw us signing in and checking conditions at DoC in Mt. Cook
Village. The forecast was for very strong winds around 1000m, not
quite so windy at 2000m (Ball Pass is 2121m) with a deterioration in
the weather during Saturday. To us that was good enough, hopefully
we would have crossed Ball Pass before the front came through.
As we had 4WD vehicles we
managed to drive to the very end of the Ball Road, just past Husky
Flat and about 1000m directly below Caroline Hut. Clear skies
afforded great views of the surrounding mountains and Tasman Glacier
as we headed off for Ball Shelter. Here we met two people who had
just crossed Ball Pass from the Hooker and they were very
enthusiastic about the crossing. By this stage it was about 4.30pm,
so we had about three and a half hours of useable light remaining –
better get going!
From Ball Shelter the route
heads further up the Tasman to a point where you head west and climb
up to Ball Ridge, rather than climbing the ridge from the corner
near Ball Glacier. Once on the ridge the route is very well defined
and is really just a scramble between rocks. Of course, you are
constantly rewarded by the view of the surrounding mountains,
including the Caroline Face and Mt. Cook high above the Ball
Glacier.
There are not too many spots on
the ridge where you can camp, funnily enough, but there is a great
spot near point 1824m that allowed us to pitch our two tent flies.
To some it may seem odd to be spending the night in a tent fly above
1800m, but this evening was perfect. In fact, bivvying out was even
better. We arrived at the campsite at dusk, and were very quickly
treated to a spectacular sunset over Lake Pukaki. We had had a
decent lunch in Twizel, and had planned a light dinner at this
campsite, requiring no cooking. We found that this worked very well
for us and saved time, weight and effort. We planned to be away at
first light if we could due to the forecast, so an early night was
had.
Saturday morning dawned clear in
the east, but there was significant cloud growth in the west. We
could see Ball Pass clearly in the distance, but Mt. Cook was now
shrouded in cloud, not to be seen again during the weekend. We
headed away in a weak sun towards Caroline Hut – from point 1824m
this is a rock scramble, with the size of the rocks increasing as we
got closer to the hut. As Caroline Hut is about the same height as
our campsite this section was more or less level.
After a quick chat with two
guides at Caroline Hut we headed onwards again towards the pass.
The weather was definitely changing for the worse but we judged we
would have enough time to cross the pass as long as we didn’t hang
around too long. The route from Caroline Hut takes a decidedly
steeper turn as the buttress directly behind the hut is climbed.
Looking back down gave some neat views of the hut with the grey
Tasman Glacier a kilometre below. After climbing the buttress and a
short sidle, the first of the snow was reached. Before too long we
were at the point where you drop down onto the top of the Ball
Glacier - time to put on the crampons for the traverse across the
top of the glacier and onto the pass. The snow/ice was certainly
very firm, and although not steep it was not somewhere you would
want to slip – the glacier seemed to go for miles. It was here it
started to rain. The route got a wee bit steeper as we approached
the pass, but very soon we were on the gravel scree and on Ball
Pass. Due to the weather the celebrations and antics we had planned
for the pass did not happen so after a couple of photos it was
downwards towards the Hooker.
The first part of the descent
was very steep, possibly the steepest of the trip, but was clear of
snow. Soon we were back on the snow, which again was hard but not
particularly steep. After skirting around the end of a fairly
significant crevasse we were off the snow. Rain was falling
steadily as we took off the crampons and headed to the ridge where
we would drop from to gain access to the Playing Field. We were
aware of the need to maintain as much height as possible on this
section, but we still ended up climbing - in fact one section here
was the most hair-raising of the trip. In hindsight, with better
conditions an easier route wouldn’t be hard to find.
Over the ridge and down to the
Playing Field was straight-forward enough, but a head for heights is
required in places, as well as sure footing. A quick bite at the
Playing Field sufficed for lunch before we headed down the steep gut
that leads to the Hooker. We went down in teams of two to reduce
the risk of dislodged rocks hitting someone below. After a couple
of tumbles in the gut we were safely on the Hooker valley floor.
We had planned to camp on the
alluvial fan at the foot of the gut, with Peter and Sue Stevenson
coming in to join us. The weather deterred us pretty smartly,
especially as we only had the two flies. A quick wander down the
Hooker saw us totally drenched in the increasing rain and at around
5pm we were at the shelter in the camping ground, where Pete and Sue
had the magical billy on. After changing and retrieving the
vehicles we decided that the weekend had been very successful,
nothing more would be achieved so we should go home, which we did,
arriving back in Dunedin around midnight.
The Ball Pass crossover is a
great trip and highly recommended. It is also a very
serious crossing and should
never be undertaken lightly. The club was very careful in the lead
up to this trip about what sort of ability people had to have to
participate in the crossing. It requires a good sense of
route-finding, as it is an unmarked route, and a head for heights as
well as experience in traveling steep, rough terrain is required.
Alpine and snowcraft skills are essential at any time of year. As
Chief Guide I would do nothing differently in the lead-up to a
future trip to Ball Pass.
The quote of the weekend
undoubtedly goes to George, who was quite pleased to back in Dunedin
in time to attend church on Sunday as ‘he had just been to hell and
back’. I’m not quite sure what he meant, as this was a particularly
satisfying trip!
Something that affected every
one of us was the triple fatality on Bass Pass 3 days later. It was
very hard for us to comprehend what had happened in an area that we
considered no more or no less dangerous that anywhere else on the
crossover. It certainly hit home quite hard the risk involved in
this crossing.
Thanks team for a great trip. A
special thanks to Pete and Sue for their support.
Antony P for Debbie Pettinger,
Ann and Chris Burton, George Kemmett (Ann’s Dad), Dave Chambers,
Barry Atkinson and Ralph Harvey.
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