Australia & Oceania - Page 2

Hello to everyone from the "Nepromakaemye" (Waterproof) group from Papua New Guinea. Yesterday, our entire huge team climbed to the top of the Giluwe volcano. The team's name fully justified itself. During two days of trekking and climbing, we never got caught in the rain. An unprecedented situation for Papua.

 Today we will get acquainted with local traditions in the village. And in the evening there will be a festive dinner and awards ceremony.

Group guides Valery Myasoedov and Olya Rumyantseva.

Hello everyone from Papua New Guinea! According to information received from our guides Olya Rumyantseva and Valery Myasoedov, the team has reached the base camp in full force. And is preparing to climb Giluwe tomorrow morning. They are starting at 4 am local time. By tomorrow evening, the members should already be at the lodge and be in touch.

Greetings from Papua New Guinea from the "Nepromokaemye" group! This is the name that came to our mind after two days without rain in an equatorial country. We hope that the ascent will also be unusual. That is, we wish for the same, without precipitation. The second day was active and informative. We visited a village of local residents, where we were received as dear guests and shown the best of Papuan traditions.

First, we were present at the laying of "mumu", a method of cooking meat and vegetables using hot stones and all sorts of herbs and leaves. A long process, the stones are heated for a long time and then about 10 layers of different greens and meat are laid. It simmers for about three hours. While the dish was being prepared, a local folklore group arranged a picturesque performance for us, which could only be seen in the Travelers' Club before. Locals also gathered, but probably more to look at us. They also gave us a tour of the village with a description of the life and customs of the villagers. The meat was delicious. Everyone appreciated it, it was a somewhat labor-intensive process, and like real art it requires time and effort.

We would like to note our communication with local children, the gifts and sweets we brought dissolved in the children's abyss in 5 minutes. It turns out that, having learned about our visit, a whole school came running to the village. There was enough for everyone. A busy day! Towards evening we moved to spend the night in a lodge, from where tomorrow we will move downhill to the base camp.

Guides Olga Rumyantseva and Valery Myasoedov.

Greetings from Papua New Guinea! Today, on the first day of the program of the largest group of the season on Giluwe-Wilhelm, almost all the participants arrived in Mount Hagen and settled in the best hotel in the town "Highlander". Almost, because one participant was unlucky, his flight from Port Moresby was cancelled at the last moment, we hope that tomorrow, in the first half of the day, he will join us. The hotel is, in fact, very convenient and comfortable and is reliably protected by a high fence and security from the "raids" of the locals.

After a short rest, those who wanted to went to the local shopping center, some to buy a snack, some SIM cards, some fruit. Under the supervision of our partners, you feel quite confident and completely safe. After lunch, the participants' equipment was checked, and in the evening there was a traditional briefing and dinner, which lasted for three hours. The ascent to Giluwe, in itself, is not difficult, but nevertheless, there are many nuances. For example, almost the entire way you have to go in rubber boots because of the marshy areas and high humidity. Tomorrow we are moving in the direction of Giluwe, we will spend the night higher up in Magic Lodge. The name of the group is in development, we will definitely announce it tomorrow. Guides Olga Rumyantseva and Valery Myasoedov.

Greetings from distant, hot equatorial Papua New Guinea! We are also cutting into the stormy flow of news from other regions of the world. We ask you to love and favor, the largest group of the season on Giluwe Volcano and Wilhelm Peak! The guides arrived in Mount Hagen yesterday and today checked the equipment, bought food, discussed the program with the local team and some nuances, the most important one, so that they do not forget to prepare "mumu" for the second day. And what it is, you will find out from the news of the second day, we can reassure you that Gerasim has nothing to do with it. The weather, as usual at this time of year, is rainy, after all, it is the equator and the altitude is 1500 m in Mount Hagen. Glimpses of sunshine also happen, we hope we will be lucky. We are impatiently awaiting our landing party, tomorrow is the first day of the program, almost everyone is flying in on one morning flight. Guides Olya Rumyantseva and Valery Myasoedov.

The 7 Summits Club guide Artem Rostovtsev reports from Papua, Irian Jaya Province, Indonesia:

Carstensz Pyramid News. The climbing season is coming to an end here, there will soon be much more rain, which means there will be nothing to do on the mountain. And our second and last expedition to the Carstensz Pyramid this season has successfully ended. Finally, the whole team was able to gather in Timika, after the mountain climbs. Part of the group stayed at the base camp waiting for the helicopter to fly down. Today the weather was good and everyone went down. We put the final point of the program at a gala dinner, the participants will take their well-deserved medals and certificates for the ascent home. We fly away tomorrow morning. Greetings to everyone from Papua!

The 7 Summits Club guide Artem Rostovtsev reports from Papua, Irian Jaya Province, Indonesia:

Hello, 7 Summits Club! The entire 7 Summits Club expedition team to Carstensz Pyramid has gathered at the base (also known as the assault) camp and is listening to the raindrops. The participants and the guide, who arrived yesterday, decided not to waste time and set out towards the summit at night. We walked along the rocky slopes for a long time, practiced many different interesting movements. And we reached the summit. We got partially wet. Now it's the turn of the second half of the team, we plan to set out at three in the morning.

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Artem Rostovtsev reports from Papua, Irian Jaya province of Indonesia:

 Hello, 7 Summits Club! This is the island of New Guinea. We have started our second expedition to the Carstensz Pyramid mountain, we have returned after a 5-year break. Nothing has changed on the mountains, the weather is mostly rainy.

Yesterday the whole group arrived in Timika. We got ready, weighed ourselves so that the helicopter pilots would not worry about our carrying capacity. At the gala dinner, we invited the local commander-in-chief to take a photo with us. He was also solemnly greeted in the morning at the airport, then it was impossible to approach him. But at the hotel he was happy to approach us.

The morning helicopter flights to the mountain, unfortunately, were interrupted due to bad weather. More precisely, the typical here humid-cloudy-rainy weather. Only part of the team reached the base camp. And held the first training sessions. I hope to reunite tomorrow morning.

March 4. Hello everyone from Papua! Today, our team of 8 people went to the airport in the morning in the hope of flying to Carstensz Base Camp. We weighed ourselves and the loads in advance - it turned out to be just under 800 kg. A helicopter was sent from Nabira especially for us, which takes 800 kg. But when we had already started loading, the pilot said that he was ready to take only 700 kg. We had to draw lots to decide who to leave. And throw out some of the load. In the end, I was left. With the hope of flying out tomorrow too.

In 25 minutes, our entire group (7 people) under the leadership of Artem Rostovtsev successfully landed in the area of the Base Camp (4200 m), where our camp had already been set up in advance with large sleeping tents and a special recently brought cabin from Red Fox (Team Fox). After resting, the members went on an acclimatization rotation. They trained to work on ropes. An assault on the summit is scheduled for tomorrow morning. We are keeping our fingers crossed for our first group on Carstensz!

 The 7 Summits Guides: Artem Rostovtsev from Carstensz BC (4200) and Lyudmila Korobeshko from rainy Timika.

March 3-4. Hello everyone from Papua! It is a province in Indonesia on the island of New Guinea.

On March 3, all the participants of the expedition to Carstensz arrived! Artem and I met them at the airport. They were put up in a hotel, their gear was checked, and they were allowed to sleep a little after a long two-day flight. We weighed ourselves and our gear. In the evening, we arranged a short excursion with a visit to souvenir shops and beautiful places. We had a festive dinner at our favorite restaurant Rimba Papua, surrounded by greenery and fountains.

We met several groups, including those who returned from Carstensz. And some have been waiting for the flight down the mountain for two weeks already. The information about our flight has changed several times. However, as of this morning (March 4), there is a chance to fly as planned. In 2-3 hours it will be clear.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Super guides Lyudmila Korobeshko and Artem Rostovtsev from Papua.

March 2. Hello everyone from Papua! This is a province of Indonesia on the island of New Guinea. From two guides of the upcoming expedition of the 7 Summits Club to the Carstensz Pyramid. Having flown out on the last day of winter, we arrived on the second largest island in the world (New Guinea) only on March 2.

It is green, hot and humid here. Several groups have gathered in the city of Timika, waiting to be dropped off by helicopter at Carstensz Base Camp, right at an altitude of 4,200 meters. We met groups of Adventure Consultants (New Zealand), Mountain Trip (Alaska), a group from the Czech Republic... Everyone wants to climb the mountain. Of course - the mountain has been closed for climbing for almost 6 years! Unfortunately, the news from the mountain is sad - just yesterday a group of Indonesians got caught in bad weather, two died, three were rescued and lowered to the camp from the ridge with hypothermia.

Tomorrow our group arrives. We meet them and work according to plan. We will try to fly under the mountain.

Guides of the 7 Summits Club expedition to Carstensz Artem Rostovtsev and Lyudmila Korobeshko.

The 7 Summits Club guide Boris Egorov reports from Papua New Guinea:

The challenge from Alexander Abramov was accepted! In 8 hours, he and Ilya Gladkikh reached the top of Giluwe from the start of the trek. We were able to do it in 7! But we weren't really planning on racing. Our minimum program was to descend to civilization and take a shower that same day. To do this, we left the hotel at night to start the trek before dawn. But we only drove 10 minutes and ran into a blockage on the road, and a mudslide occurred. And we spent another hour driving around the back streets of Papua. In the end, we started walking with the first rays of the sun. Incredibly fast, in just 4 hours, we reached the base camp, from there we slowed down, lack of sleep was taking its toll. And we walked to the summit unhurriedly. We galloped back to the parking lot just before sunset and that same day we slept contentedly in our beds.

For Artem (Gurshteyn), this is already the third summit in his project "7 volcanoes in 69 days"!

Then we rush to Kilimanjaro!

The "7 Volcanoes in 77 Days" team is flying home from Papua New Guinea. For a two-week vacation. In the first 27 days, we went/ran to 5 volcanoes on 5 continents. We only slept on the planes. There are still 50 days and 2 mountains left until the end of the project: Ojos del Salado - the highest volcano in South America and Sidley in Antarctica. Today in Port Moresby we met a competing company. Borya and Artem, who want to beat our speed record on Giluwe tomorrow. Good luck, guys! Alexander Abramov and Ilya Gdadkikh.

 Many foreign guides have already congratulated us on the new world speed record. 5 volcanoes on 5 continents in 27 days! Thank you, friends!

 SENSATION!!! The 7 Volcanoes in 77 Days team decided to "re-climb" the first mountains: Elbrus, Damavand, Kilimanjaro.... To shorten the project time!

On November 21 at 13:00 local time, the team "7 volcanoes in 77 days" (Alex Abramov and Ilya Gladkikh) climbed to the top of the Giluwe volcano, the highest on the Australian continent. Alex Abramov reports:

We climbed from the road without an overnight stay in 8 hours. We started at 5 am and reached the top at 1 PM. Now we are going down and flying home tomorrow morning.

There is a fifth volcano in the project! Five volcanoes on five continents in 29 days. Ahead is the most difficult and most remote object: Ojos del Salado and Sidley. In the meantime, we can and should rest.

The President of the 7 Summits Club Alexander Abramov reports from Papua New Guinea:

 Today another adventure happened. We started the journey with porters through the jungle. Crawling under another tree, Ilya bumped his eye into an umbrella. And he immediately fell to the ground in convulsions. The eye was damaged. We turned around and quickly descended to Mount Hagen. At the Main Hospital, the best specialist in Papua New Guinea will examine him. Saving Ilya's eye is more important than the mountain!

The "7 volcanoes in 77 days" team, consisting of Alexander Abramov and Ilya Gladkikh, has been flying from Mexico to Papua New Guinea for three days now. It is now the third night on the plane, and we spent the whole day in China. In Guangzhou. We visited the tent factory, which we are now buying for a new expedition to Everest.

"Team A" is at the top of the highest mountain in Papua New Guinea - Wilhelm Peak 4509 m! Yesterday we walked a very picturesque trek to the Wilhelm Peak base camp, which is located at an altitude of 3600 m. The route went through the jungle, green valleys and waterfalls - at some point it seemed to us that we were in "Jurassic Park".

Three hours later we found ourselves on the shore of a beautiful lake, where our base camp was located. In the evening we rested and at 01:00 at night we set out to climb. The route to the summit took about 6 hours. It was a little windy and quite cool, and the weather and nature are very different from the region where Giluwe is located. We saw a very beautiful sunrise, saw the Giluwe peak from afar, where we stood literally 4 days ago, and at 7 am we were already standing at the top of Wilhelm Peak!

All the participants liked both the trek and the ascent; without this mountain our adventure would definitely be incomplete!

October 6. The adventures of "Team A" continue! Today we set off towards Mount Wilhelm. The road to Kegesugl took about 5 hours, but it passed through very picturesque places! High green hills, mountain rivers and villages scattered around.

By lunchtime we arrived at Betty Lodge, which is located at an altitude of 2800 m, where we were greeted very warmly! The locals put on a real show with traditional dances. It is incredibly green and beautiful here - after the gray and rather dirty Mount Hagen, it is simply a joy to the eye. The lodge is new, everything here is homely and cozy and made with love: large rooms, a cozy dining room with a fireplace and delicious food!

There is a trout farm on the territory: more than 55 thousand trout are grown here! This fish is supplied to all of PNG.

For dinner there were a lot of vegetables and fruits grown on the farm and of course the freshest trout and very tasty local coffee.

Tomorrow we are heading to the base camp of Mount Wilhelm, we will be without communication for two days.

Guides: Alexander Dorojukov and Svetlana Kotlyar.

October 5. That day we returned to civilization to our Highlander hotel! How nice it would be to take a hot shower and find ourselves in the warmth after all our adventures and trekking through the swamps under pouring rain!

  In the afternoon we visited two local tribes. The first is the Mudmen. Their bodies were decorated with clay, and on their heads were huge clay masks, weighing at least 10 kg. According to legend, they were defeated by an enemy tribe and were forced to flee to the Asaro River. Before trying to escape, they waited until dusk. The enemies saw them rising from the dirty banks, covered in mud, thought they were spirits and fled in fear.

The second tribe is Huli Wig. They decorate their faces with traditional Papuan flowers and wear headdresses ... made from their own hair and the feathers of the bird of paradise, which is the symbol of the country.

In the evening, a festive dinner was held, at which the participants received the coveted medals and certificates for the ascent. They recalled the brightest moments and shared impressions. For some of the group, the program ends, and they return home. Well, a new adventure awaits us with the second half of the group - climbing the highest mountain in the country - Wilhelm Peak!

Guides: Alexander Dorojukov and Svetlana Kotlyar.

It rained almost the entire night before the ascent and there was a strong wind. Due to the weather, it was decided to postpone the start an hour later. At 4.30 in the morning we had breakfast, filled up the thermoses and left the camp at 5.00.

 The first part of the route also passed through swampy terrain. By dawn, we reached the ridge, from where a stunning view of the top of Giluwe opened up, painted in the warm rays of dawn.

 The ascent itself is not technically difficult. However, the last part of the route is a rocky section where belay is required. At one time, our leader Alexander Abramov equipped this section with bolts. We divided into two groups and continued the ascent.

 At 8.30 in the morning, our "Team A" in full force stood on the top of the highest volcano in Australia and Oceania! Great weather and magnificent views from the summit!

Everyone was happy! For many participants, this volcano has already become the 4th, 5th and even 6th of the "7 Volcanoes" project. 

The ascent did not seem easy to anyone. The rocky section is quite slippery, you need to be on guard all the time so as not to slip, which once again proves that there are no easy mountains!

Group guides: Alexander Dorojukov and Svetlana Kotlyar.