March 20th Carstensz Climb is Postponed!

Local elections on the island of West Papua have resulted in conditions which we feel are unacceptable in which to run our scheduled expedition to Carstensz Pyramid. Just prior to leaving for Indonesia, we were informed that though we had already obtained our permits to climb the peak; local officials were reluctant to validate our permits en route to the mountain.

We are committed to running safe and successful expeditions. Our experience guiding on Carstensz over the last four years led us to conclude that, given the current situation in West Papua, the risks were simply too high to justify launching an expedition with such an uncertain outcome.

Our climbers were obviously disappointed, but respect our decision to postpone the expedition until August 21st. Our proven track record on the mountain since its re-opening last summer gives us a unique perspective from which to make these hard decisions. There are many variables at play in West Papua when the socio-political climate is calm and we did not want to travel all the way to the island and find ourselves unable to access the mountain safely and legally. In recent months, two expeditions have attempted to access the mountain using less than legitimate means and neither team made it to Base Camp.

Mountain Trip Guide Ryan Campbell on the hike in to Carstensz Pyramid.

An Unparalleled Record of Success!

Mountain Trip, a Colorado based mountain guiding service, succeeded on leading three expeditions to the elusive Carstensz Pyramid in 2005. We were the first U.S. based guide service to gain access to the mountain since its closure in 2002 and we have gotten more climbers to the summit than ANY guide service sice then!

On March 20, 2006, another team of climbers led by Mountain Trip owner Bill
Allen will attempt the mountain. Bill led our first expedition last year and is going back for his THIRD trip to the mountain! The group consists of Andre Bredenkamp and Mike Nixon from South Africa and Mark Luscher from the US. This is a wild and unpredictable expedition, so keep checking in to read about the latest updates from the team.