July 20, 2011 Jason was pretty excited last night when he called to say that the team had all reached Pinapa, safe and sound. The title of Heinrich Harrer’s famous story of the first ascent of Carstensz seems appropriate for this final dispatch for the Carstensz team. Mark, Jeff, Chris, Ted, Colin, Andrew, IMG guide […]
July 19, 2011 IMG guide Jason Edwards reports that yesterday the team put in over 12 miles of ups and downs crossing the plateau, which included 3 river crossings, 2700 feet of climbing, and 3000 feet of descent to their camp on the edge of the forest. Today they have two more river crossings, a […]
July 16, 2011 Jason Edwards reports that the Carstensz team have successfully made it back over New Zealand Pass, and are back on the plateau. The pass required 1700 feet of climbing, and they had to install ropes in several places of where the terrain was especially steep and slippery. Now, on the plateau, they […]
July 15, 2011 IMG guide Jason Edwards reports that the team had an excellent summit day, and they were 100% to the top with six IMG climbers, and three guides. Congrats to climbers Mark, Jeff, Chris, Ted, Colin, and Andrew and to Jason and our two Indonesian guides Steven and Joshua. The weather was excellent […]
July 14, 2011 Jason Edwards reports that the team has successfully reached base camp, after seven days of trekking. This is one more than the planned six days, and was due to an adjustment made at the request of the porters, who wanted to pull up short on the next-to-last day, so they could make […]
July 11, 2011 Jason Edwards reports that the team has been making good progress across the Plateau, which averages around 12,000 feet. The temps have dropped to below freezing at night, and the porters prefer to sleep in caves and build big fires when they can, rather than sleep in tents! There is a lot […]
July 10, 2011 Jason Edwards reports by sat phone that the team is doing well after surviving several very difficult and rugged days of traversing, river crossings, rock slabs, logs, and mud as they trekked through the forest. Now, they have climbed to over 12,000 feet up onto the plateau, a welcome change! The plateau […]
July 9, 2011 IMG senior guide Jason Edwards called on the sat phone to report that the team was doing well, and had reached 10,000 feet. The weather has been excellent, with clear skies, but they were still glad that they brought rubber boots for the trek, since there has been plenty of sloppy footing. […]
July 7, 2011 IMG senior guide Jason Edwards reports by sat phone that the team flew this morning from Timika in a Twin Otter for about 45 minutes to a small bush airstrip adjacent the Dani village of Ilaga. Then they hiked about an hour and a half to the guesthouse, where they are staying […]
July 6, 2011 View Larger Map Jason Edwards reports by sat phone that the Carstensz team arrived to Timika, on the south coast of Papua, after a long flight across Indonesia from Jakarta.  Today they have been working on checking in with the local authorities, getting their permits all squared away, and doing some further […]
