Carstensz Pyramid
![[Arrival at Carstensz, 13 kb]](/images/t/3647.jpg)
Arrival at Carstensz Photo: © Steve Bell
| Report Name | Carstensz Pyramid - 4 to 21 Jul '06 |
| Team Member | Report |
| Date added | 08-Aug-06 |
Expedition to Carstensz Pyramid – July 2006
‘The Snow Mountains of New Guinea, the mountains of the Stone Age...could not be booked...not only were we uncertain about reaching their summits but also uncertain that we would even reach their feet’
Peter Boardman, ‘Sacred Summits’, 1982
Earlier this year (2006), I noticed on the Jagged Globe website a flyer for further clients with an interest in an expedition to Carstensz Pyramid. It did sound like an adventurous and unusual expedition but the technical grading of the trip concerned me. Carstensz Pyramid is described as a rock climb of ‘moderate’ difficulty and as the most technically challenging of the seven continental summits. I had completed 3 weekend rock climbing courses over the last few years but living in one of the flattest areas of the United Kingdom, climbing is certainly not a sport in which I regularly participate. I made enquiries and I was reassured that a rock climbing course in North Wales for a week would likely be sufficient to prepare me for the expedition. I was also reassured that there was a ‘reasonable’ chance that the expedition might happen, with a departure date at the end of July. My enquiries about the gender of the other booked clients and expedition leader received the reply, ‘they are all men… but very nice men’.
Towards the end of June I received a call – there would be no pilots for the essential helicopter flight to Carstensz base camp in August and so the expedition would now leave the UK on the 4th of July. Miraculously, my work on call rota was reorganised, and I was still able to go. My rock climbing preparation, however, shrunk to two days. Four of us flew out together from London to Jakarta, where the full team met for the first time: Doug, Fredrick, Mike, and expedition leader Neal, in addition to myself. On booking this trip it had occurred to me that due to the role of Carstensz Pyramid as an elusive continental summit the team members might be a more serious mountaineering mix than on previous expeditions. My slight anxieties about spending the next couple of weeks with a collection of superfit, superexperienced climbers were not to be disappointed. Swedish Fred was as tall as they come, with a wealth of climbing experience behind him, and this trip was part of his mission to complete the ascents of the seven continental summits in the fastest time. Doug was also a man of stature and an exercise fanatic. Neal was a little shorter – but once I had witnessed the ease with which he moved an exceptionally heavy item, I realised that certainly when it came to physical strength my expedition leader was Superman. Mike spoke quietly and knowledgeably about climbing.
The first two days of our trip followed the expedition itinerary exactly… thereafter we never matched it again! On day three we left Jakarta to travel eastwards to Papua. This involved a series of flights with stops en route on the islands of Sulawesi and Biak. We arrived at our final destination of Wamena in the evening. It wasn’t long before we journeyed again for a few days of acclimatisation at Habema Lake. On our return to Wamena we found that our intended helicopter flight to Carstensz base camp was to be one day later than originally planned. We therefore used the following ‘spare’ day as an opportunity to visit the homes and villages of the Dani tribes people - personally I felt that this was one of the highlights of my visit to Indonesia. The Dani people were very friendly and inquisitive. They also seemed happy to have their photographs taken and much laughter was produced when they were shown their own images on digital camera.
We returned to sort out our kit for the helicopter transfer to base camp. The helicopter was not just going to be flying us to base camp but also an American led team of 4 climbers. Additionally, there was to be one local Indonesian guide (Frankie) who would work with both teams. This meant a total of 10 people for the flight with an allowed weight limit of 1200 kg. We all carefully pruned down our kit to the essential minimum.
The following morning we got up early and travelled to the airport. It was reassuring to see the Russian pilots take the weight limit seriously and weigh everything – this included a rather public demonstration of one’s own body weight! In the end, however, the misty weather did not clear and we had to wait until the next day before we were finally on our way to Carstensz base camp. Base camp was more attractive than I had anticipated, with immediate proximity to a couple of stunning blue lakes. Neal’s expedition report alludes to the amount of rain that subsequently fell and its impact on our schedule. Certainly by the time of my departure I had concluded that the rain on Carstensz made the West of Scotland, by comparison, look like a positive desert! Means by which to pass time in a tent are an advisable precaution and I was glad that I had brought a book and a selection of music on my iPod. A brief respite in the rain did allow us to practice technical skills for summit day – jumaring, abseiling, and negotiating anchor points – and I was certainly appreciative of this.
After a couple of days wait the time for our summit attempt finally arrived. This provided the usual female dilemma – what to wear? I elected for a waterproof layer from the start on the basis of good chance of rain at some point. Shoes? I was concerned that my feet might get cold higher up and therefore wore a pair of Scarpa Freneys (lightweight alpine boots with a rigid sole). I also carried rock shoes in my rucksack and I did try them out briefly at the start of the route – it was too cold to wear them for any length of time, and in any case I decided that the adequate footholds made them unnecessary. Jumaring up the fixed ropes at an altitude of 4,000 metres plus was physically demanding but I didn’t feel technically out of my depth on any of the route that lead up to the summit ridge. The last few pitches looked very steep from a distance, but in fact once I was on them I thought they provided some of the most enjoyable climbing of the whole route.
From the point of arrival onto the summit ridge to the actual summit of Carstensz is apparently a distance of only about 0.5 kilometres - but it takes time to traverse this distance due to the three gaps that need to be negotiated. The first gap is the largest and has a depth that I have seen variably reported as 12 – 20 metres! We abseiled down the near side of this gap, which wasn’t too scary. The far side, however, contains a significant overhang in its upper section – it was the ascent of this that was for me by far the most challenging section of the route. The guys jumared and used prussic loops to ascend this section with relative ease. However, I found attempting this technique for the first time ever at 4,500 metres difficult (despite masses of encouragement from Doug and Fred) and was very grateful for a top rope that Neal had sensibly placed on me. The subsequent gaps on the ridge were narrower and an easier traverse. They were, however, more ‘airy’ and exposed than the first gap, and a slip here would certainly have meant at least temporary suspension in mid air. Again, Neal set them up in such a way that I felt safe whilst I was traversing across. On descent the gaps were negotiated in the reverse direction, although they did seem a bit easier! Once off the summit ridge, the rest of the descent was mostly a series of abseils - so many that I was beginning to wonder if they would ever end! Finally, we reached the bottom of the route and completed the traverse to the next valley and base camp - the end of an exhausting but elating 16-hour summit day.
The helicopter was a welcome sight the next morning and an uneventful series of flights returned us to Jakarta in the early evening and to London the following day.
Final thoughts:
My journey to Carstensz Pyramid certainly fulfilled my hopes for an adventurous and unusual expedition. The climb itself was a technical challenge, which I had not faced on previous expeditions, but with some pre-trip and pre-summit preparation, and with the skilled assistance of a UK mountain leader, I was able to reach the summit without being unduly unnerved at any stage! My team mates also contributed to my summit success – they were unfailingly patient, encouraging and helpful – and I am indebted to Doug, Fred and Mike for this. Travel within Indonesia, and to Carstensz Pyramid, certainly involves last minute changes, frustrations and uncertainties but if you can survive this the rewards of the trip are enormous. Go if you can!
Janet Pickett, expedition member
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