Gary Ian Ball (died October 1993) was a New Zealand

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

who summited

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

twice, in 1990 and 1992.

Climbs

Ball was a New Zealand Antarctic Division field guide and instructor in survival training at

Scott Base Scott Base is a New Zealand Antarctic research station at Pram Point on Ross Island near Mount Erebus in New Zealand's Ross Dependency territorial claim. It was named in honour of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, RN, leader of two British expedit ...

in 1976–77 and a field guide in northern Victoria Land for the GANOVEX expedition in 1979–80. He also climbed

Aoraki Aoraki / Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. Its height, as of 2014, is listed as . It sits in the Southern Alps, the mountain range that runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite ...

(Mt Cook) 26 times, at that time a record. In 1989 Gary Ball tried unsuccessfully to climb Mount Everest. In 1990 Gary Ball summited Mount Everest with

Peter Hillary Peter Edmund Hillary (born 26 December 1954) is a New Zealand mountaineer, philanthropist and writer. He is the son of adventurer Sir Edmund Hillary, who, along with mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, completed the first successful ascent of Mount Ev ...

and

Rob Hall Robert Edwin Hall (14 January 1961 – 11 May 1996) was a New Zealand mountaineer. He was the head guide of a 1996 Mount Everest expedition during which he, a fellow guide, and two clients died. A best-selling account of the expedition was g ...

. They made a call from the summit to a New Zealand television station for an on-air talk during prime time. On return to New Zealand they appeared in parades and gained corporate sponsorships for additional climbs. With Hall, Ball climbed the

Seven Summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...

in seven months in 1990. Together, Ball and Hall founded Adventure Consultants in 1991, and were among the pioneers of guided tours of Mount Everest. Hall and Ball had climbed 16 mountains together and were celebrities in New Zealand for their climbing exploits. In 1990, Ball was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. In 1992, Ball also attempted K2 but was struck down by a pulmonary embolism. He was rescued from 8300 metres altitude over the course of several days initially by

and later by a team including Dan Mazur, Scott Fischer,

Ed Viesturs Edmund Viesturs (born June 22, 1959) is a high-altitude mountaineer, corporate speaker, and well known author in the mountain climbing community. He is the only American to have climbed all 14 of the world's eight-thousander mountain peaks, and o ...

, Neal Beidleman and Jon Pratt.

Death

Ball died in October 1993 after coming down with

high-altitude pulmonary edema High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is a life-threatening form of non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema that occurs in otherwise healthy people at altitudes typically above . However, cases have also been reported between in more vulnerable subjects. ...

(HAPE) while climbing Himalayan mountain

Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country (Nepal). It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapurna I () is ...

with Hall. Hall buried Ball's body in a crevasse on the mountain, and it was rediscovered ten years later. In 2004 his family members planned a trip to re-bury the body.

Legacy

Ball Glacier is a long

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

Victoria Land Victoria Land is a region in eastern Antarctica which fronts the western side of the Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf, extending southward from about 70°30'S to 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Antarctic Plateau. I ...

, Antarctica named by the

New Zealand Geographic Board The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) was established by the New Zealand Geographic Board Act 1946, which has since been replaced by the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008. Althoug ...

after Ball. Ball climbed Mount Lister with an Italian field party in 1976–77, and camped on this glacier; he was field assistant with R.H. Findlay’s

New Zealand Antarctic Research Program The New Zealand Antarctic Research Programme (NZARP) was a research program that operated a permanent research facility in Antarctica from 1959 to 1996. It was created by the Geophysics Division of New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Indust ...

party to this area, 1980–81. Ball Peak is a mountain named by the New Zealand Geographic Board after Ball. This was related to his time as a New Zealand Antarctic Division field guide and instructor in survival training at

in 1976–77 and as a field guide in northern Victoria Land for the GANOVEX expedition in 1979–80. Ball peak is a mountain tall at the head of

Loftus Glacier Loftus Glacier () is a valley glacier between Mount Weyant and Mount McLennan, which flows north to join Newall Glacier in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names in 1964 for Chief Journalist Leo G. ...

in the

Asgard Range The Asgard Range is a mountain range in Victoria Land, Antarctica. It divides Wright Valley from Taylor Glacier and Taylor Valley, and was named by the Victoria University of Wellington Antarctic Expedition (1958–59) after Asgard, the home o ...

, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It stands in proximity to

Mount Hall Mount Hall () is a rock peak, high, standing southwest of Mount Daniel, surmounting the snow-covered, tabular mountain block which forms the south end of Lillie Range, in the foothills of the Prince Olav Mountains, Antarctica. It was discover ...

and Harris Peak, with which this naming is associated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Gary Year of birth missing 1993 deaths Mountaineering deaths New Zealand summiters of Mount Everest