Tasman Glacier Aoraki/Mount Cook, South Island, New Zealand
By Gary, Maree, Vida and Tim on 03-Jun-02. Waypoint GC5FEA

The keas have won, I'm not going to reinstate this geocache.
Don't let that be an excuse to stay away though, this area of NZ is like none-other. Enjoy!

This cache has been mauled by keas! There is currently no log-book or box at the location. Maintenance coming in March 2013.

Didnt expect to be fist one back after 6weeks. Found log book & bag looking worse for wear, looks like keas have destroyed cache? Will send log to owner once home in a week? Beyond repair, needs a replacement. Made a b line for cache after early day trip up & beyond Mueller Hut. Took a friend this time.

This is a form of a Did Not Find log - I wasn't even looking for it! I walked in to the hut for afternoon tea after plan A was foiled by weather. I had not checked for caches enroute. The attached image shows the new hut & toilet placed well away from the decaying cliff edge.

Me and my 9 year old son (who actually turned 9 on this day) did this walk, bit dodgy in places, but spectacular views.

TFTC

Ran and walked to GZ. Took 90mins to get here. Wonderful place. Taking a travel bug but two are missing.

Nice walk, quite long though. We couldn't continue anywhere from here since we don't have crampons. Spectacular views!

Thanks!

An absolutely amazing walk, great views and falcons! Didn't think it could get much better, but got the cache and got a fiance shortly after. A memorable spot.

Beautiful place, lovely views over the glacier, sweet cache, absolutely amazing day. TFTC!

... raining cats and dogs
... but a nice walk anyway

TFTC

Nice walk despite soaking rain!

after a hard but great tripp over the Ball pass and a night up there, the first in 2012!

TFTC
freeriderschmidi

What an awesome trek. Went from the main carpark on my mountain bike, jumped off with ~4.3k to go, and ran the rest of the way.

The track got harder and harder, with rough rocks, boulder hopping, short steep ascents, before opening up to a meadow with ~1k to go - loved all of it

Only thing was that I did it in heavy fog, so no views . Also there were no TBs, but I left one.

Because I am a showoff, took 60 mins to the cache, and 50 mins back (but I do a lot of this kind of thing).

TFTC

Originally we though, that we'd spend the night in this nice hut, but we were too fast and so we decided to go back to our car and stay in campsite. Nice cache with very low number of finds.

Thanks to 4WD was able to reach the location after 45mins walking. What a place indeed.

It was a hard way from the car park to the top. Sometimes there was no track at all. You could only jump and climb from rock to rock. I think the track is too dangerous with bad waether conditions. Anyway, on that day the sun was shining and I found it. Probably on the top the water container saved my life, because I forgot my water bottle. The view was awesome anyway and I'm very happy and proud that I found this cache! *TFTC*

Started off from the main car park a little after 6am. This cache has been on the must do list for a very long time so is great to be logging. Didn't realize that the glacier would be covered in all the rocks.

A definitely great cache. It was a sunny day with marvellous views over the glacier and the riverbed. TFTC MacBanger

[This was one of the most challenging caches we have attempted. We managed to drive our AWD car to S43 40.670 E170 10.177, about 6.2 km (straight line) from the cache. The road was pretty rough, and at that point we decided not to continue, although a 2WD car (rental!) had gone a little further. With a proper 4WD vehicle you could go to Swierders' parking coordinates, but certainly no further. Although there has obviously been a good track from there to the cache in the past, sections of this have been wiped out by avalanches, and there are several sections where the new "track" has been marked across these by orange signs on waratahs, and small rock cairns built on large rocks (see photos). There is no way you could mountain bike to the cache now. It took us an hour and 45 minutes from our parking spot to the cache area, and we were greatly relieved to find the cache quickly and easily at the published coordinates, although the hint is no longer applicable and needs to be updated - we suggest ] under large rock. [TFTC

+ / - Christmas Tree geocoin]

[This entry was edited by W.E.K.A. on Tuesday, February 09, 2010 at 1:48:57 PM.]

We are on a NZ-tour from the Netherlands.
At about 2 pm we arrived at the parking place, not intended to go to the cache. But because we were already at this location we wanted to try it. At this day we were 35 years merried and had to be back in time for diner in the Hermitage. Therefore we set the turn-time at 4:00 pm. The progress with the 4wd was about 10 km/h because my wife didn't wanted to be shaken too much. We could drive more than the mentioned 4 km. At about 2.6 km before the cache (straight line/distance) we parked our car, because we found out that this is the position were you can easely turn your car (at position S 43 38.827 E 170 10.955). A few honderds of meters the path becomes very small, while walking over a side moraine (see picture). At a straight distance of 1.2 km the terrain becomes very rough: you have to find your own path over loose laying boulders from mark sign to the following sign. At that point my wife gave up and I proceeded alone with the agreement to turn back at 4 pm. At 4 pm I was at a straight distance of 600 meter from the cache. The terrain became again very rough and I expexted that it should take me an halve hour (1 hour forth and back) to reach the cache. Furthermore it isn't sure that the cache is still there. Therefore I gave up en returned.
But it was still a great experience.
Thanks a lot.

Definitely one of the most impressive cache hunts we did in NZ.
And definitely one of the most wet ones. Weather looked not too bad when we started but it started to drizzle quite soon and ended with us being soaked in wet. Okay, you should put on your rain gear when it starts to rain instead of waiting until you are wet already.

Nevertheless a very impressive walk. The atmosphere is probably even more interesting in bad weather ...

The Hut (or shelter) is gone, there is only a toilet with built-in emergency radio.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for bringing me up there! It was a beautyfull day, with almost no clouds. What a nice spot!!!

** Coordinates Changed From **
S 43° 37.474 E 170° 11.521
Distance From Old: 330.4 feet
Coords changed from S43 37.474, E170 11.521 to S43 37.451 E170 11.453.

Many thanks Taxchick for moving the cache

Beautiful calm day for the walk. Found Cache and moved it to a point well away from Moraine wall. Should be well protected and away from likely avalanche paths. New co-ords: S43 37.451, E170 11.453.

This message was issued by the Department of Conservation yesterday. It is recommended that the next visitor should move the cache, as it is at risk of dropping over the edge into the Tasman Glacier. The cache is located not far from Ball Shelter.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Issued: 29th April 2008
Important notice to visitors
Hut closure
Ball Shelter
The following hut is closed until further notice.
· Ball Shelter in the Tasman Valley is closed due to its proximity to the moraine wall.
At its present location Ball Shelter is at risk should the moraine further slump or collapse.
The Department plans to move the hut back to the toe of the hill this autumn. Recent Geotech advice is that the new location will be out of any avalanche path and should be safe for the next 20 years.
The decision to close the shelter has not been taken lightly by the Department. After aerial and ground inspections and consultation with Geotech professionals, the risk was considered high enough to close the hut.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Many thanks frenchm. I concur - could the next finder please relocate the cache nearby to a new position, then send me the new coordinates. When relocating, please be mindful of areas prone to avalanches and locations accessible to kea (They'll destroy it if they can see it), while still being further back from the moraine wall.

sorry we forgot to log the geo coin - now know what to do - thanks for the coin - its travelling well

Found without descriptors. Great site and long walk - but worth it. Saw a NZ Falcon on way out - magic. Have contacted Raptor Society re siting. Some muggles in Ball Shelter but could not see what we were doing - just looked like we were having a bite.

Placed "Green Pirahna" geo coin in and a rubber glove - took out toy-on-trike. TFTC

The mountain climber of the family got this one on the way down the Tasman Glacier after a successful climb of Mt Hamilton. TNLN

On a beautiful day, drove to within 4km of cache. Could have gone further, but track gets even rougher over landslide terrain. Onto track proper, path has been diverted from on top of the moraine wall, due to collapse, and now consists of extensive boulder hopping and following orange track markers and rock cairns. Took about 1.25 hrs from car to get to cache site, which is nice and open on the plateau with view up and down the valley. Muggles camping, but not near cache site. In very good condition, an excellent hide. Took Jean-Luc A travel bug to move on. Should never have been put in such an inaccessible place. Dropped off white facecloth. Thanks for the opportunity to visiting such a nice place. Well worth the effort. Thanks!

Beautiful spot!

Have been here so many times before, I would have never guessed about the cache...

Took TB Kiala, Left TB Jean-Luc A, SL. TFTC

A pretty easy one after a quick walk. Took us 2 hrs to get there and about 2.5 to get back to the car (our Starlet is NOT 4WD). Great view from the cache. Droped of a TB

Glorious Christmas Day. Staying at the Hermitage but would love to stay at the hut one day. Hot weather. Interesting cloud formations. Glacier awesome. Cache contents: water pistol and postcard, McDonalds toy and brass hooks.

This Cache looked like it need a visit and we have been intending to come up here for years, so a good excuse.

The weather was pretty dodgy for a start but the rain backed off ahead of us and we had a lovely day up there. We parked just this side of the big rock and it took a bit over an hour of pleasant walking to get there.
Thanks for the nicest cache we have been to so far.

TNLN, but Nelly TB visited

cheers,
S.T.

Dropped off the virtual TB Squeegee the Virtual Travel Bug.

Greetings there! seemed like this cache hasn't been visited for a while. We postponed our trip to De La Beche so instead we did a day trip to the shelter. Found the cache, no worries. Spectacular views! Cheers.

Wow- what a spectacular location!
Thanks for giving us a reason to go up there.
We also drove up the 4WD track, and apparently continued the 'New Years' theme that seems to go with this cache.
That slippery slope on the way up is certainly daunting.
-Bungy cord +McDonalds car toy.
Gary, Liz, Oli, Owen,& Jill & Peter from Kendall in England.

Congratulations Kiwitony! It's taken a while, but I'm exceptionally pleased that someone's found my favourite cache! Actually - just talking to Swanny here at work, he tells me he's found it during the holidays too, but hasn't quite logged it yet! Talk about strange, we also picked up an Israeli Tramper on the way up in the 4WD!

So pleased you enjoyed your visit - the whole area is just so unbelievably spectacular ...

I hope you took some pics - I'd love to see them on this page if so ...

Great day. No problems with 4WD section but Tee declined to descend the bank so the rest was completed by Em only. Great views and well worth while.
Thanks. No swap made.

[last edit: 1/6/2003 2:15:30 AM PST]

[last edit: 1/8/2003 1:46:23 AM PST]

Well, this was a mission, came from Lake Benmore for this one, it was hot but we had a 4WD so the walk wasn't too far. Sharpened the pencil, left Queenstown postcard and took a water pistol. Thanks Tim for the great outing.

An excellent way to start the year. The drive in up the 4WD road and the walk in were a continual high - the place is so raw, so powerful and so vast. Left Birdlings Flat (on Pacific Coast, just south of Christchuch) that morning at the ocean, walking on lovely rounded stones and ended up at a vast ice glacier surrounded with shattered, sharp angular rock. A land of contrasting terrain. All the time you can hear rock falls tumbling down - they sound like they are across the valley but of course there's no point looking as by the time the sound reaches you, the fall is over. Picked up 2 trampers from Israel who said that the heat was similar to home but far more burning here. They were interested in geocaching and intend to take it up when home. The 4WD road ends 2.6km from the cache. There's plenty of passing / turning areas on the way up. The walk is easy with sturdy footwear but that 10m drop is not too flash. Well done getting the bike in. Found it easily and am delighted to be the first. Took the fart whistle and left bungy cord.

For me this will long be the ultimate cache site. My grateful thanks.

[This entry was edited by kiwitonita on Friday, December 03, 2004 at 10:56:59 PM.]