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.
The Dani village of Pinapa (Photo by Jim Walkley)
Mark, Jeff, Chris, Ted, Colin, Andrew, IMG guide Jason, and our Indonesian guides Steven and Joshua  have had a heck of an adventure. This afternoon they will have a final farewell meeting with their porters and then share a big dinner with them in the village. Then, early tomorrow they do the short hike to Ilaga, and hopefully catch the first of a string of flights that will take them back to friends and family, jobs, the internet, and all the things they have missed for the last couple weeks.
It has been a challenging trip for everyone, but they all pulled together and were a strong and competent team (everyone lost quite a bit of weight with 15 consecutive days of hard work, with little rest). Now they can all sit back, relax, and do some power eating.
Well done, team!!
Eric Simonson