Cultural Experiences in West Papua

Dani tribesmen brought out their relatives to meet our expedition in September of 2005.

Conditions Improving For Upcoming Carstensz Climb

As disappointed as we were to postpone our March 20th Carstensz Expedition; we feel that we made the safe and prudent decision. Events in Papua in the days preceding March 20th were extremely volatile and protests in the port city of Jayapura left five dead. Fears of reprisals and an unwillingness on the part of local authorities to ensure that they would validate our climbing permits conspired to leave us no other choice.

We have been monitoring the situation closely and reports from our contacts on the island lead us to believe that things have settled down enough for us to consider attempting to reach the peak in early May.

Of note is a report that a group of three climbers did manage to reach and climb the mountain in late May; however they did so illegally, without permits. This disregard for the powers that be in Indonesia is a cavalier attitude that we do not support. Access to Carstensz is tenuous at best and adopting such a rogue attitude only hurts the rest of us who are working to create better, safer and easier access to the peak.

There is only one legal means of accessing Carstensz Pyramid and it is via helicopter with official permits validated by local authorities en route. Since the reopening of the mountain, there have only been three legally operated expeditions to the mountain led by North American guide services and Mountain Trip led all three.

We are moving forward with an expedition to the mountain in early May and will keep this blog updated as developments unfold. Please contact us if you would like more information.