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carstensz pyramid expedition 2009
Having departed the UK on the 5th September, team Adventure Peaks stood on the summit of Carstensz Pyramid on the 15 September.
Carstensz Pyramid comes in at 4884m and being the highest peak in Indonesia and Australasia makes it one of the so-called Seven Summits.
Our initial schedule was to trek for 6 days from Sugapa to Base Camp but due to active separatist movements we only managed to make it out of the village for 1.5km before coming to an abrupt stop. Returning to Nabire and after much negotiating we finally secured the use of a Bell 212 and flew direct from Nabire to Staging Zone 81 before finally touching down at Base Camp.
After only one day's acclimitisation, we headed for our intented route - The Original Route on the North Face. This was first climbed in 1962 by H Harrer et al.
"This route takes a line of weakness slanting left to right into a scree basin and then a gully system above, on the West Ridge; from here a long traverse leads to the summit." 800m AD (World Mountaineering)
After 5.5 hours of climbing immaculate limestone slabs, fixed ropes, one tyrolean traverse and a couple of annoying notches, the entire Adventure Peaks team stood on perhaps one of the hardest Seven Summits - and not because of the climbing.
For a full report on the Expedition click here.
For the unedited version click here.
For 'the best of' photos click here to get directed to the gallery and for a few video clips click here and here.