I hoped that at this time I will be able to report that I am on top of Carstensz Pyramid (or Puncak Jaya) 4884m ⛰️, the highest peak in New Guinea / Indonesia 🇲🇨 and the whole Australia & Oceania - part of my Seven Summit journey that includes highest peaks of each of the world’s continents. I was very happy to take part in one of the first foreign expeditions to climb Carstensz since the mountain was closed to foreign climbers in August 2019 due to security concerns. Local tribes living in Papua are fighting for the independence of their island from Indonesia which sometimes results in kidnapping of foreign tourists 😱 I have spent the last 10 days in Timika - a small city in the middle of the rain forest 🌴🌲🌳 in Papua. We got our permits and were ready to go to the base camp ⛺️ with our gear packed but then the rollercoaster started: 1️⃣ A local climber died on heart attack while climbing and the mountain was closed to recover his body from the top 2️⃣ When the body was recovered to the base camp and later on to Timika, the local police opened investigation to understand the reasons behind climbers death which also involved the largest gold mine 🛠️ in the world located nearby called Grasberg - another complication factor 3️⃣ When the mountain was opened again we learnt that somebody was sabotaging our aviation transport company and we will not be able to hire a big Ka-32 helicopter 🚁 to get us to the base camp 4️⃣ Once we found another heli provider with smaller choppers there were issues with the weather since in this part of the world it is raining like hell 🌨️ and frequent delays are part of the game. Logistics also got quite complicated to get us all there safely on the same day. After all these back and forths our trip was canceled 🥲 Apparently somebody was sending us signals that the mountain is not ready to have us on top yet so we decided not to take further risks which already at this stage were quite high. As you can imagine this was a very difficult decision to take after all the time⌛️, efforts and money 💰invested in preparing this trip, but such is life - not everything is within your control and not everything is fully predictable 🤷♂️. But even failure like this is a good lesson which helps you to avoid certain mistakes in the future. Plus I am glad I had a chance to meet some interesting climbers from around the world that share the same passion. However, preserverance is key and I will continue pushing and fullfiling my dreams, so hopefully will have a chance to come again to Papua next year 💪 In the meantime I am planning to climb Aconcagua 6961m in January 2025 and Denali 6190m in May 2025 - hopefully both will go smoothly 😀 Now it is time to go back home, relax and unwind after all adventures in Indonesia!
Pawel, by far it was not a failure!! We have been thought and, later, kept learning to be risk takers. But it is also important to recognize, when to bounce back. Lots experiences ahead of you! Wish you GOOD LUCK.
No worries, good You are in the game! 6961 sounds crazy still!
Porażką by było umrzeć w drodze lub na szczycie 🙂 Gratuluję wsłuchania się w wielokrotne sygnały i odpuszczenia tematu 🙂