July 6, 2011
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 repacking of the gear before going to the airport for a weigh in. At the weigh in, each member with all their gear was individually weighed, and also all the group food and equipment, in preparation for the bush flight tomorrow to the small village of Ilaga. Most of the inhabitants of Ilaga are of the Dani tribe, and it is from here that the team will hire its porter crew.
Eric Simonson