Balloonist tries again to overfly Mt Cook

Balloonist Rick Walczak plans to make another attempt to be the first to fly over Mt Cook.

In April last year the Carterton adventurer attempted the feat, only to be turned back by the weather as he got to within 100m of the summit.

He and crewman Kenny Walker were the first to balloon to the top, they set a New Zealand balloon speed record of 72.8km/h in the process and they set a distance record of 60km. (Since then he's pushed that out to 70km).

"But people keep saying 'yes, but you didn't go over the top'," he said today

So at the end of this month or early in October, with the help of sponsor Eggs NZ, he will lift off from Franz Joseph Glacier -- the site may vary according to wind direction -- in a bid to finish the job.

Mr Walczak will fly alone -- Mr Walker has retired from ballooning -- with the extra space being devoted to fuel tanks to enable another endurance record attempt. The target distance is 80km.

Up to 25 people will be supporting the flight including a film crew who may be called on to provide live cover to an international news organisation with whom Mr Walczak is negotiating. That would be good publicity for New Zealand tourism, he says.

He has no illusions about the difficulty of the flight. After the first attempt he said it was difficult to judge distances "because everything is so big and it all looks closer because it's so huge".

The man, who admits to being scared of heights, said Mt Cook is very changeable.

Mt Cook is 3754m high.



- WAIRARAPA TIMES-AGE (MASTERTON)