Descending Ball Ridge with the impressive Caroline Face of Aoraki/Mt Cook at left. Photo: Peter Laurenson

Not quite having a Ball on a Kiwi classic

Off the Beaten Track

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Hazel Phillips

Hazel Phillips is an alpine adventurer and the author of Fire & Ice, Solo, and Great Hearts.

By Hazel Phillips

Ball Pass has long been touted as one of those once in a lifetime trips. For Hazel Phillips, it’s a oncer, full stop. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go.

If you continue with mountaineering, my snowcraft course instructor informed us, eventually you’d be skilled enough to attempt something like Ball Pass. I’d never heard of Ball Pass but it remained in my head long after the course finished, lingering as a one-day possibility. If I ever managed to become good enough. Eventually, I looked […]

About the author

Hazel Phillips

Hazel Phillips is an alpine adventurer and the author of Fire & Ice, Solo, and Great Hearts. A firm believer that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’, she’s passionate about representation in the outdoors. She is a self-confessed Ruapehu addict, and she’s never met a topo map she didn’t get along with.