Tag Archive for: New Guinea

Standing by in Timika

Madison Mountaineering guide, Terray Sylvester with our climber, Scott at the hotel in Timika after their flight from Bali!

The Madison Mountaineering Carstensz Pyramid expedition team has arrived in Timika and is awaiting their flight to the mountain! There, they’ll settle into the Yellow Valley Base Camp, do some acclimatization, and technical skills review before making their summit push. In the meantime, the team is enjoying lots of oxygen down low, and the luxuries of what feels more like a vacation than a mountaineering expedition at our hotel! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with this dispatch from Timika:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the next Madison Mountaineering Carstensz Pyramid  (4884m/16,024ft) expedition – today is March 3rd.

Last night we headed to the airport in Bali and this morning, we arrived in West Papua! Our flights were uneventful, smooth all the way around. We just got settled in at the Ossa de Villa Hotel which is very pleasant here in downtown Timika (31m/103ft). We’re surrounded by tropical plants and the sound of birdsong. So, we’ll get sorted out here and be prepared to fly to the mountain as soon as possible!

All is well here in Indonesia and we’ll be in touch!

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

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Another Carstensz climb is underway!

Carstensz Pyramid as seen from afar.

The second of our Carstensz Pyramid expeditions in 2025 is off! After 100% of our team who left base camp on the first climb successfully reached the top of the highest peak on the continent on February 27, 2025, another team has come together with their sights set on the summit. With a gear check complete and final logistical items now in place, the team looks to move to their base camp soon! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester check in with this dispatch from Bali:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the next Madison Mountaineering Carstensz peak (4884m/16,024ft) expedition – today is March 2nd here in Bali, Indonesia.

The team arrived here over the last 24 hours or so. So, we spent most of yesterday getting ready to move on closer to the mountain, doing gear checks and making other arrangements. This evening, if all goes according to plan we will fly over to the island of New Guinea to Timika (31m/103ft). We’ll arrive there early tomorrow morning and then as soon as possible, hopefully we’ll fly on to Yellow Valley Base Camp (4285m/14,050ft) at the foot of the peak.

So far, all is well! It’s been really beautiful weather here in Bali, perfect temperatures in our hotel right on the beach! It’s a really nice place to start a mountaineering expedition. And when we arrived, we were lucky enough to coincide with our guests arriving back from the previous successful ascent of Carstensz Pyramid! So, we spent the last day and a half socializing with them as they prepare to head off home!

So, all is well and we’ll be in touch from Timika!

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

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Carstensz Pyramid team 100% summit success!

Our Carstensz Pyramid team reached the summit and has now returned to Bali today, after a helicopter flight early this morning from the base camp.  The weather over the last 48 hours since we got down from the summit has been very stormy, so we were laying low at our base camp until the storm passed and the clouds and rain cleared up for a brief window to let the helicopter fly in.  Most of the kitchen and dining tents in the base camp were destroyed in the wind storm, but our personal tents held up fine throughout the storm, thanks to the great engineering from Mountain Hardwear for our Trango 3 tents!

The climb was an epic day on the tallest peak in Australasia, a rock pyramid jutting out of the surrounding jungle landscape.  We departed before dawn, climbing up the route over varying degrees of steepness on sustained slopes until we reached the summit ridge.  We then traversed the ridge to the famous “abyss” crossing, where we tip toed across a wire cable to the other side.  That wasn’t the crux, as there were a couple more challenging crossings where we literally had to leap across to the other side!  We lucked out with great weather the whole day and reached the top around 9 AM, then began the long series of rappels back down to base camp.  This has truly been an epic adventure!  We are all now on our way home after a wonderful time in Indonesia, climbing one of the world’s “7 summits“!

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Carstensz Pyramid team

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Carstensz Pyramid team

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Carstensz Pyramid weather delays return flight

Carstensz Pyramid weather has our climbing team positioned at base camp for another day. Garrett checks in below via satellite phone and relays that George and Audrey are enjoying the adventure while they wait for their return helicopter flight. Pictures coming soon!

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Carstensz Pyramid weather

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Carstensz Pyramid climbers make safe descent from the summit

Garrett checks in with the Carstensz Pyramid team after a safe descent from the summit yesterday. Currently our team is socked in at base camp waiting for suitable weather to fly back to Timika and then to Bali. Stay tuned!

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Carstensz

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Carstensz

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Carstensz Pyramid team reaches the summit at 4,884m / 16,024ft!

Follow our progress on this real-time tracking map

Carstensz Pyramid team reaches the summit at 4,884m / 16,024ft! Listen to the audio dispatch below as Garrett checks in from the summit. Reports of variable cloud cover and stable climbing conditions. Way to go team!

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Carstensz Pyramid team

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Carstensz Pyramid team

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Carstensz Pyramid team

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Carstensz Pyramid team .

Carstensz Pyramid team

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Carstensz Pyramid team

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Carstensz Pyramid team

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Autumn 2017 Carstensz Pyramid expedition has launched!!

Follow our progress on this real-time tracking map

 
Our autumn 2017 Carstensz Pyramid expedition has launched!! Our team flew by helicopter and arrived safely at Yellow Valley base camp today. Listen in below for a audio dispatch from Garrett and climbers Audrey and George as they prepare for the ascent. Onward and upward!

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After a few days patiently waiting for the sky to clear we are off to the mountain! Carstensz Pyramid here we come!

2017 Carstensz Pyramid

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2017 Carstensz Pyramid

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Autumn 2017 Carstensz Pyramid expedition has launched!

Follow our progress on this real-time tracking map

 
Our autumn 2017 Carstensz Pyramid expedition has launched!! Our team flew by helicopter and arrived safely at Yellow Valley base camp today. Listen in below for a audio dispatch from Garrett and climbers Audrey and George as they prepare for the ascent. Onward and upward!

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After a few days patiently waiting for the sky to clear we are off to the mountain! Carstensz Pyramid here we come!

2017 Carstensz Pyramid

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2017 Carstensz Pyramid

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Carstensz Pyramid team still waiting in Timika

Once the expedition gets underway, follow our progress on this real-time tracking map.

 
Hello and greetings from Timika, the island of Papua. While on standby for the last couple of days waiting for good weather to fly into the base camp of Carstensz Pyramid, we have made the most of our time here by visiting some nice restaurants and touring the town & surrounding areas.  Our climbing team is very eager to get to the mountain and begin climbing, however, we must wait for good flying conditions.  So we are playing the waiting game, keeping our spirits up, and anticipating with positive hopes for a flight in the next day or two.  As soon as we are able to fly to the base camp we will be poised to make our climb of the famed Carstensz Pyramid rock wall!

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Carstensz Pyramid Team in Timika, preparing to fly to Carstensz base camp

Once the expedition gets underway, follow our progress on this real-time tracking map.

Greetings from the town of Timika, on the Island of Papua.  We arrived yesterday here from Bali and went to the immigration office to get our permits.  Then we enjoyed some nice dinner here before checking our equipment and preparing for today’s helicopter flight to Carstensz Pyramid, assuming good weather and flyable conditions.  We will fly about 45 minutes over the jungle to the base camp at about 14,000′, and once there plan to settle into our base camp.  We are very excited to get to the mountain and start climbing!

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