Balloonist’s story of Mount Cook flight

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34047, 10 January 1976, Page 15

Balloonist’s story of Mount Cook flight

t.\ Z Press Association WELLINGTON. The Wellington balloonist, Squadron Leader K. Parsons, is "totally (relieved” at having made on Saturday the first balloon flight over .Mount Cook. He had been planning the flight since October, and was unsuccessful in his first' ■ attempt on December 30 when a completely unpredictable wind shift swung the balloon round “I thought Wellington was the windiest spot in New Zealand, but after this 1 am convinced Mount Cook is.” said Squadron Leader Parsons "Mount Cook is almost the fulcrum for the weather situation for the whole of New Zealand “Because of the inhospnability of the terrain, you have to be so right ”

Squadron Leader Parsons; sepnt in all six weeks at Mount Cook and on the West Coast, including 13 days m a hut near the Fox Glacier and doing a lot of reconnaissance flying in light aircraft, before picking a route “We had about five major routes we could choose from, he said. "The one we .chose, from south-west to north-east, was possibly the most dangerous, but all the 'others tended to indicate that we might miss the peak by a mile or so.” Accompanied bv a Swiss mountaineer. Mr R. Dennier. Squadron Leader Parsons went aloft from the Horace Walker plateau about 4 p.m. in an increasing light southwest wind "We needed a constant i airstream." he said "We could not afford to have a variable windstream We crossed Mount Look right over the middle peak, about 14.000 ft.

! "We got a bit of themtu actions. The balloon went up and down like a vo-yo. and I had to try to restore the normal flight path without going off course." The main problem came after the balloon went otc the top of the Tasman Satidh towards the West Coast and started to descend. "There was cloud lielou 5000 ft and we could not pick up any ground plan.” Squad iron Leader Parsons, said I’hey headed tor a moun tain ridge at the head of the Whataroa River “I hi became almost disastrous again." he said Ihe balloon came down <<i 500 ft a minute to hard land in snow among broken crevices — sOft from an ice tall and a 500011 precipice. The two men had to deflate the balloon fast “to stop being blown towards the edge."