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Ranking in 7summits list, either CP or K | : | 10 |
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Ranking in Carstensz Pyramid list | : | 0 |
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Ranking in Kosciuszko list | : | 10 |
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First name | : | Gary |
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Family name | : | Ball |
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Gender | : | male |
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Country of origin | : | New Zealand |
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Date of Birth | : | 1953-04-06 |
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Name of first summit | : | Everest |
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Date of climbing the first summit | : | 1990-05-10 |
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Name of final summit in Carstensz list | : | xxx |
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Date of final summit in Carstensz list | : | 0000-00-00 |
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Name of final summit in Kosciuszko list | : | Vinson |
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Date of final summit in Kosciuszko list | : | 1990-12-10 |
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Date of climbing Kilimanjaro | : | 1990-08-17 |
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Date of climbing Elbrus | : | 1990-08-08 |
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Date of climbing Aconcagua | : | 1990-11-21 |
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Date of climbing Denali | : | 1990-06-28 |
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Date of climbing Vinson | : | 1990-12-10 |
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Date of climbing Everest | : | 1990-05-10 |
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Date of climbing Carstensz Pyramid | : | 0000-00-00 |
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Date of climbing Kosciuszko | : | 1990-08-26 |
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Climbed Carstensz Pyramid? | : | No |
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Climbed Kosciuszko? | : | Yes |
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Total time including Carstensz Pyramid | : | xxx |
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Total time including Kosciuszko | : | 00y,214d |
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Age when finished with CP | : | xxx |
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Age when finished with K | : | 37y,248d |
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Website | : | http://www.adventureconsultants.co.nz/ |
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Additional Info | : | Books:
About Rob and Gary Ball: Hall & Ball : Kiwi Mountaineers from Mount Cook to Everest:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/093856742X/the7summitscom
Gary Ball, 6th april 1953 - 6th october 1993, died age 40.
Gary Ball was the climbing and business partner of Rob Hall, therefore much of the info is similar:
Adventure Consultants begins as the brain-child of best mates and climbing partners Rob Hall and Gary Ball in 1991. They’ve already ascended Everest the previous year with Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund. They’ve already bagged the “Seven Summits” in a record seven months, for which they received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. Now, looking for a new mountaineering challenge, they establish an office in Christchurch, becoming one of the first operations offering guided ascents of the world’s highest peaks. “They were pioneers in this new style of mountain guiding,” says Guy Cotter, one of the AC guides and now Director. “Till then it had hardly ever been done.”
Their price for guiding Everest is steep — initially $US35,000 per head — but the two men figure anyone serious about climbing in such an extreme environment will happily pay a premium for their expertise. Their formula is based on “a comfortable base camp, a quality menu, dedicated medical back-up, a communication system both on the mountain and by satellite to the world, Russian state-of-the-art aluminium/kevlar oxygen equipment, a realistic acclimatisation schedule and the all-important guide/Sherpa to client ratio,” according to climber-photographer Colin Monteath’s biography Hall And Ball: Kiwi Mountaineers.
It’s an immediate success. On May 12 1992, Hall, Ball and Guy Cotter — guiding in the Himalayas for the first time — steer six paying clients (another four don’t make it due to exhaustion) to the highest point on earth.
Hall and Ball run another expedition to Everest in 1993.
Gary Ball, bleeding from his sinuses, is forced to pull back.
On October 6, six months after his fortieth birthday, Gary Ball died of pulmonary edema at 6,500 meters (21,325 feet) on the Northeast Ridge of Dhaulagiri-the eighth-highest peak in the world. He was there with Rob Hall on a private expedition sandwiched into their busy schedule. It was the sixteenth major expedition the two had shared, and it wasn't the first time that Ball had suffered from the onset of acute mountain sickness. A previous epic on K2 had necessitated a fast withdrawal from the highest camp of the "savage peak" after breathing difficulties set in.
He died in Rob Hall's arms. Two days later, a devastated Hall lowered the body of his climbing partner and friend into a crevasse on the slopes of Dhaulagiri, using their best-loved climbing rope for the task. He wrote the following words in a later obituary:
"In his guiding career, which spanned twenty years, he enjoyed an unbroken safety record of which he was rightfully proud. Arguably his greatest guiding achievement was taking clients to the summit of Mount Everest. He believed that the whole Everest scene had become far too elite and he gained enormous satisfaction in being able to make this goal attainable for climbers of more modest skill."
Hall finished the obituary with this moving sentiment:
"Some people come into your life and leave footprints across your heart-and they never go away."
(see also Rob Hall's info)
* Gary Ball & Rob Hall climbed the 7summits in 7 months (minus 6 hours, for all you people who want to break the record), but that was counting Hall's second ascent of Mt Vinson |
