Ball hut is situated in Mount Cook national park, even though it is one of the smallest huts I have ever seen, the journey to this hut was one that you should not miss as the opportunity to have a close up of the glacier from above, the trail is not advanced, but it is a bit tricky and I will reveal it bit by bit in this post, don’t wink because you may miss something important, LOL.
Coming back after an 8-hour hike to Mueller Hut at 1,800 meters, we packed our bags and headed to Ball hut, this time we dumped unnecessary stuff on the car to make room for tents and sleeping bags.
The trail starts at Tasman Glacier car park, the estimated time is 4 hours one way, but I was not the average one, so I gave it another 30 minutes. Since we left the car park at around 4 p.m, I kept my finger crossed.
The longest 4WD track.
This whole track is 9 km one way, but the 4WD (four-wheel drive) track takes up half of the journey, with the first 5 km of gravel road.
The track is mostly flat which was perfect for us as our legs really needed some stretching after climbing the stairs and steep slopes to Mueller hut.
Have you ever found something boring because it’s too easy?
I felt that way about the first part of this track, even though we could admire the change of scenery without getting out of breath, it got boring after a while.
Things only got stirred up when we saw the green wooden board that warn us about the avalanche risk. I remember there were two of them along the way.
Avalanche area — no stopping
Though I thought it was highly unlikely to happen, the warning on the board was enough to keep me moving.
Leaving the 4WD track, the path becomes smaller and gradually steeper.
As soon as we left this part, we found ourselves walking along the ridge, with the mountain on one side and the slip on the other.
Breathtaking Tasman lake.
We got a real close-up of the glaciers on Tasman lake, it was such an incredible landscape.
We could hear the sound of glaciers crumbling while walking along the track, one of my best experiences on the track. Looking down from the slip, we could spot some moving boats, but we couldn’t say for sure as it was so tiny. It turned out those were tours that take you on inflatable boats to see the glacier.
Do you notice the gray-brown layer on top of the glaciers?
Tasman lake has been formed by many ponds for decades, the color is the result of the dirt that was collected as the glaciers move. It is interesting to learn that what we see today could move away in the future. In fact, the glaciers have greatly reduced their sizes over a couple of decades due to climate change.
Now back to the track, I found the next part exciting when my hopping skills were put to the test. It felt like we tried to get past a rocky field by jumping from one stone to another.
Since this section, there is no clear route, but we had to follow the orange triangular stakes, the next section is also fragile and tough.
Some parts are narrow and exposed, this was also the part that my friend was struggling with as her shoes couldn’t grip.
Imagine you are in the middle of the scree, the stones are loose and a wrong step could be deadly, the path only fits one person at a time, and it is exposed and slippery, we had to move slowly and watch our steps as the other side is the slip, and that was the last place we wanted to be.
At first, I thought we were doomed since the night fell and we were running out of daylight — besides, we had fallen way behind with the schedule.
It was terrifying, but we finally made it safely through this section. I never felt so much alive after that part. Luckily, we overcome the most challenging one and move faster to make up for the lost time.
I was so thrilled sighting the hut that I wanted to cry, we made it after 4.5 hours with a bit of daylight left, LOL.
Since it is such a small hut with only 3 beds — they had been all occupied by the time we arrived.
My friend and I took a rest before pitching our tent, mostly because we needed to calm down after that incident, LOL.
We couldn’t ask for a better view than this, we camped in open grassland with mountain and snow-capped mountains on one side.
That night was a full moon, so we admired the moonlight after dinner, then played Uno with the light from the torch, and simply had fun.
So the moral of the story is a decent pair of hiking shoes goes a long way, especially when walking on terrain that you need to be comfortable on your feet.
Don’t be like us! LOL.
Update: Torrential rain in December of 2019 has caused a massive washout in some sections of the track. Please check with DOC for an update and more info before you go.
Stay safe and good luck!