Carstensz Pyramid 2017

We arrived in Papua for climbing the mount of Pyramid Carstensz, hiking  through the jungle.... But because of a rebellion of the Papuans (extortion on the road.... in the truest sense of the word)) we returned to Timika. The helicopter took us to the base camp and WITHOUT acclimatization for 4:10 went up/came down from the mountain! A couple of free days, we used to visit Wamena to naked tribes.

For the first time in many years, the team of the 7 Summit Club used a helicopter to reach the base camp of the Pyramids of Сarstensz. Sorry a bit of the Papuans in the jungle, they are so bored without our tourists. Terrorists again lost their feeding, but they are not sorry. The mountain, as usual, did everything to make the climb memorable for a long time: fog, snow, streams of water ... all as  for grown-up!

SUMMIT!  

March 17, the night before the ascent I could not sleep. At first it was chill, after midnight the moon came out, illuminating everything around as in a daytime, in the morning it began to rain. But we decide to go on the route.

 March 18, 2017 at 4:30  it was a light breakfast and at 5:30 we leave for an assault. We walked calmly. During the day the weather changed rapidly, then the sun, then fog, then rain, then snow. By noon the whole team had successfully climbed to the top of the Carstensz Pyramid (4884 m)!

 First thing I called home, to my loved ones! I told my dear wife Olga that we had climbed and started the descent. Thanks to IEC Telecom Kazakhstan, satellite communications connect our family regardless of distances;)

 On the descent, we were in a thunderstorm and wet snow. We descended into the inner corners, along which streams flowed. Through wet, we went down to the base camp.

Everything is fine ;)

Ludmila Korobeshko: Early this morning, a helicopter flew in the Yellow Valley  for taking  us. So our the fast expedition to Pyramid Carstensz ends quickly, successfully and cheerfully.

P.S. Maksut Zhumayev is with us, but for some reason he is not in the photo again. Probably, he loads things in the helicopter.

  Alex Safonov, Dmitry Parpiev, Vasily Shakhnovsky, Valery Rozov, Lyudmila Korobeshko, helicopter pilots and a local guide ...

Ludmila Korobeshko:  The first night, today, March 18, we climbed to the top in 5 hours and 15 minutes. Then we descended in the pouring rain along the riverbeds. Now I know what canyoning is! We are waiting for the helicopter tomorrow.

Lyudmila Korobeshko, guide and director of the 7 Summits Club: Today we stood at 4.30. At 5.00 we were already at breakfast. All the night it was raining. But we hoped that by the time of our flight it will stop. However, this did not happen. Waited in stand-by mode until 13.00. Then we relaxed. Then we again gathered with strength and conducted classes on horizontal and vertical fixed ropes. Tomorrow we will rise again at 4.30 and try to fly to the base camp of Carstensz. We are stubborn!

This morning at 6:00 the main team came  to Timika. We quickly overloaded everything into a helicopter. There was a lot of  cargo, so the helicopter must became as easy as possible. When they took off the back door, I felt somehow uncomfortable. When we loaded into the salon, in the center of it we saw a big hole - also the consequences of relief. For 15 minutes, the pilots warmed up the screws. Finally, we took off. After 20 minutes, not far from the landing site, we got into a very dense fog. The altimeter showed 3800. I realized that there were a number of mounts about 5000. It became completely creepy. We sharply gained altitude to 5000. Then the sharp icing of the salon began. We were forced to return. The next attempt is scheduled for tomorrow.

Lyudmila Korobeshko, expedition guide and company director of the 7 Summits Club: Today, Monday, March 13, the expedition of the 7 Summits Club to Pyramid Carstensz begins. This is the most mysterious and hard-to-reach mountain from the 7 Summits project.

 This morning  the main part of the team and most of the expeditionary cargo depart from Geneva. In the plane there will also be a legend of world basejumping and baseclimbing Valery Rozov.

I personally already have halfway to the goal of our trip - the island of Papua New Guinea - specifically, I am in Hong Kong.

And one more participant of our expedition and a part-time star of world mountaineering, a man who made  no oxygen climb on all 14 eight-thousanders - Maksut Zhumayev - is already waiting for us on that island, in the town of Timika, where he arrived this morning.

The next day we all should meet in Timika and go straight to the foot of the Pyramid of Carstensz. We'll see how it goes. Follow our news!