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

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

who summited

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

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 exp ...

in 1976–77 and a field guide in northern Victoria Land for the GANOVEX expedition in 1979–80. He also climbed Aoraki (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 and philanthropist. He is the son of Sir Edmund Hillary, who, along with mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, completed the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. When Peter H ...

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 ...

. They made a call from the summit to a New Zealand television station for an on-air talk during

prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

. 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 on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven. In January 2023, ''Climbing (magazine), Climbing'' said "Today, t ...

in seven months in 1990. Together, Ball and Hall founded

Adventure Consultants Adventure Consultants, formerly Hall and Ball Adventure Consultants, is a New Zealand-based adventure company that brings trekking and climbing groups to various locations. Founded by Rob Hall and Gary Ball in 1991, it helped pioneer the com ...

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 The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to 3,632 people. Background The New Zealand 1990 Com ...

. 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 Scott Eugene Fischer (December 24, 1955 – May 11, 1996) was an American mountaineer and mountain guide. He was renowned for ascending the world's highest mountains without supplemental oxygen. Fischer and Wally Berg were the first Americans ...

Ed Viesturs Edmund "Ed" Viesturs (; born June 22, 1959) is an American high-altitude mountaineer, corporate speaker, and well known author in the mountain climbing community. He was the first American to climb all 14 of the eight-thousander mountains, and th ...

, 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 . HAPE is a severe presentation of altitude sickness. Cases have also been rep ...

(HAPE) while climbing Himalayan mountain

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

with Hall. Rob 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 (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

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 78th parallel south, 78°00'S, and westward from the Ross Sea to the edge of the Ant ...

, Antarctica named by the

New Zealand Geographic Board The New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) is the authority over geographical and hydrographic names within New Zealand and its territorial waters. This includes the naming of small urban settlements, localities, mounta ...

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 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 The Newall Glacier () is a glacier in the east part of the Asgard Range of Victoria Land, It flows east between Mount Newall and Mount Weyant into the Wilson Piedmont Glacier. The Newall Glacier was mapped by the N.Z. Northern Survey Party o ...

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. It is south of the Olympus Range and north of the Quartermain Mountains and the Kukri Hills. Name The Asga ...

, Victoria Land, Antarctica. It stands in proximity to

Mount Hall The Lillie Range () in Antarctica extends northward from the Prince Olav Mountains (in the vicinity of Mount Fisher) to the Ross Ice Shelf. Mounts Hall, Daniel, Krebs and Mason are in the range. Naming The Lillie Range was named by the Souther ...

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 Sport deaths in Nepal Deaths on Dhaulagiri