Wards Pass

{{Use New Zealand English|date=April 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Infobox mountain pass

| name = Wards Pass

| photo =

| photo_caption = Wards Pass

| elevation_m = 1145

| elevation_ref =

| traversed = Molesworth-Hanmer Road
HVDC Inter-Island

| location = New Zealand

| range = Rachel Range

| coordinates = {{coord|-42.090423|173.192671|region:NZ_type:pass|display=inline,title|format=dms}}

| topo =

}}

Wards Pass, {{convert|1145|m|ft|disp=or}} above sea level, is an alpine pass in the Rachel Range of the Inland Kaikoura Ranges of New Zealand's northern South Island. It lies between the valleys of the upper Acheron and Awatere rivers and was discovered by the surveyor Joseph Ward and his brother-in-law, Cyrus Goulter, in March 1847.{{DNZB|Orr|Katherine W.|1w7|Ward, Joseph|19 October 2015}}{{cite web|title=Wards Pass|url=http://www.dangerousroads.org/australia-and-oceania/new-zealand/3700-wards-pass.html|publisher=Dangerousroads|accessdate=18 October 2015}}

The pass is on the Molesworth-Hanmer Road within Molesworth Station, {{convert|8|km|mi|0}} southwest of the station headquarters.

The HVDC Inter-Island line transverses the pass on its route between Benmore Dam and the Cook Strait cable terminal at Fighting Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.{{cite book | last= Reilly |first= Helen| title= Connecting the Country: New Zealand’s National Grid 1886 - 2007| location=Wellington| publisher= Steele Roberts| year=2008| isbn= 978-1-877448-40-9| page = 132}}