Jon-o is the perfect mountaineering guide, moving from rock to rock with his arms folded and a sheer drop on one side, carefree with perfect balance!

He has quite the sense of humour and was good company as well as a confidence-building guide. His culinary skills are superb, managing to produce exceptionally interesting food out of nowhere - especially impressive as I am vegetarian and he is not.

We tackled the Ball Pass Crossing, which included an interesting, picturesque ascent to the magnificent Caroline Hut, and a long, occasionally challenging descent on a slightly different route to the normal one. This route avoided a long, less enjoyable scree descent and included one particularly challenging area for which there was the option of being roped up.

Caroline Hut is a magical place, wonderful to just hang out or use as a base to explore the area.

Despite the challenges, I really enjoyed this trip which fulfilled a personal ambition of climbing close to Mt Cook, so it was well worth it. This is just about as close to Mt Cook as you can get, without actually climbing it.

I had read a review suggesting not to look down, but had ignored it as being from a less experienced climber. They were absolutely right! Just don't look down!

Reviewed over 3 years ago and experienced in February 2018