The weekend of April 8-10th I went with a group of friends to Mt Cook, where we climbed up to Ball Pass and Mt Pukaki, which rises above sea level 2222 metres. The first leg of the climb was done by all 9 of us in the group, but only Ferran, Jan, and I continued the climb up to Ball Pass around 3pm. This was the most exciting part of the journey, as we hiked across a Ball Glacier to reach our "campsite" on top of Ball Pass just as the sun dissapeared below the mountains. When we reached the pass, which was gorgeous, we pitched our tent on the flat snow surface and we slept in, by far, the sweetest place I have slept in my entire life. The following videos capture the experience of waking up on Ball Pass, and of our journey walking back down across Ball Glacier:
This picture was taken by Jan as a panoramic shot, and Ferran used photoshop to put the 7 images together. It is taken at the peak of Mt Pukaki, which we climbed the morning after our night to Ball Pass, and represented the climax of our journey from 800m to 2222m, a totaling a 1422 metre, or 4,665 foot climb. Many thanks to Jan and Ferran for putting this picture together, I think it is the coolest picture of all time:
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| Ferran and I atop Mt Pukaki Peak. The middle peak of Mont Cook stands in the background, and Tasman Glacier can be seen in the back right side below the shining sun. Cool beans. |
One of the coolest events of the weekend occured on our hike down to the car park. The way the track is set is allows for a 4WD car to power through 6km of walking if the car is able to handle the bumpy rock road and get over piles of stone and streams. As we descended, we met a NZ mountain guide and his father, who had been a guide for 50 years and was climbing to Ball Pass with his son (suddenly I did not feel so cocky about completing the climb). After a short talk, the man asked us if we could drive 4WD. Of course, we said yes, and the man asked us if we could do him a favor. The result was that he gave us his keys, and we drove his 4WD car (ferran drove, since it was manual) from the end of the rock road to the car park, so that him and his father would not have to walk all the way back to the car at the end of thier tramp (they were not going back in the same direction, but continued on to the end of the track, where they had a 2WD car parked to drive them back to the original car park). In return for our favor, we used the car to carry the packs of our mates back to the car park, as they were ahead of us, so they did not have to carry their packs the whole way. The deal worked out perfectly, but all of us were shocked that this man would trust a bunch of total strangers from around the world with his car! Only in NZ! While the backpacking/mountaineering culture is very trusting and friendly, I dont think any american (or spaniard or swede) would trust a bunch of strangers with his car. It was extremely refreshing to be part of an experience that illustrates that people can really trust in eachother, and it was great to see that there is still hope for humanity afterall!
This was truly an amazing weekend and we all felt so lucky to have had such beautiful weather throughout. Walking across the Ball Glacier was one of the coolest experiences of my life and it helped me to understand further the massive powers of nature. Climbing amongst gigantic glaciers and towering mountains helped all of us to realize that our puny human selves are really not the most powerful or important existences on earth. Thanks again for an amazing experience New Zealand.
Love to All,
Matthew
P.S.
Here is another panoramic photo that Ferran made, I am sitting at the top of the peak snacking on some peanuts and you can see the trail on the right side of the photo on the ridge. I should be paying him for these!
