July 19, 2011
Dani porters in the forest (Photo by Jim Walkley)
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 climb back up to over 12,500 feet to cross a ridge, then a big drop down to the first forest camp at 10,000 feet. Tomorrow will be a long forest day, and with a bit of luck they hope to reach the Dani village of Pinapa which is the first/last outpost of civilization.
The weather has been pretty good overall on the trip, but Jason says that the rain has finally caught up with them the last couple days and they have seen quite a bit of precipitation, which has made the river crossings more sporty.
Eric Simonson