Ball’s Pyramid is an eroded remnant of a volcanic cone 400 miles east of Sydney, Australia. It is 1,844’ high while just 300’ wide and 980’ across, making it the tallest volcanic stack in the world. A record not soon to be broken I’ll reckon.
The pyramid is named after Royal Navy Lieutenant Henry Lidgbird Ball, who reported discovering it in 1788.
Ball’s Pyramid was first climbed in 1965 but climbing is now banned because ahhh, well rules, right? You don’t want to disturb a gigantic rock in the very definition of nowhere now do you?
Ball’s Pyramid supports the last known population of Lord Howe Island stick insect. Following the last sighting of the Lord Howe Island stick insect on Lord Howe Island (14 miles distant) in 1920, the species was presumed extinct. Some dead insects were found on Ball’s but attempts to find live specimens were unsuccessful until 2001 when a team of entomologists and conservationists landed on Ball’s Pyramid to chart its flora and fauna. Huge news in the very small giant insect community for sure.
Ok, maybe you aren’t permitted to climb it but you can fly it as this remarkably video shows. Make sure to watch it on high resolution. Note: the GoPro cameras were a thing when they were a thing but like the stick insects are not such a big thing anymore. The inventor of GoPro lives down the street from Buck’s Restaurant of Woodside, which was my jamb before the plague.
Oh, Ball’s…
