Dispatches

December 11, 2005

Back in Manado!

We had an adventurous return and happy to be back to civilization. Bo Parfet left yesterday for his next adventure to Mt. Cook. The rest of us arrived to Manado yesterday from Timika. Today is a rest day before we depart on our international flight. A couple of us took advantage of the world reknown diving while others prefered to go shopping for last minute gifts.

Martin, Chuck and I will be leaving tomorrow for home. Max will extend his vacation for two more days to enjoy the sun, beach and diving.

It will be sad to leave this country where the people have showed us so much warmth and kindness. We had many laughs and good memories with pleanty of adventure & fun climbing.

See everyone in the states!

Cheers, Christine

December 7, 2005

Success! We reached the summit as planned on the 7th. The entire group reached the summit. We had full on conditions- rain and snow, but made it in a long, 16 hour day. More later when we return to civilization.

December 5:

This is the Mountain Madness Carstensz Pyramid Expedition calling in from base camp.
We made it to base camp this morning. Our plans are to sleep here for 2 more nights at 14,000 feet, before going up to the summit on December 7th. Our camp is situated between two aqua blue lakes. The temperature here is 45 deg. f. and it is cloudy. Everyone is feeling good and happy to see our goal in front of us. If everything goes well we hope to be back in town by the 8th.

December 2:

Greetings from Timika!
The team has arrived in Timika today, but unfortunately our checked bags were not as lucky. The bags are expected to arrive tomorrow. We are staying at the Sheraton Timika Hotel, a beautiful resort just outside of town.

Christine

December 1:

Indonesia has been great to us from the minute we landed at Manado airport on the northern tip of Sulawesi Island. Friendly people, good weather, beautiful scenery and great food has been the norm. On Tuesday, November 29th, we hired a boat to take us to Bunaken Island, an 1 hour boat ride from Manado. Some of us went snorkeling for the day. Bunaken is one of the most renowned diving spots in the world. A live aquarium of corals, sponges, and the most diverse species of marine life. However some of us preferred sleeping in and treating ourselves to a two hour massage. Dinner this evening in a seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean was just as great! We all can't wait to get on the mountains to start burning all those accumulated calories. That's why on Wednesday the 30th we went for a hike up Lokan volcano, an active volcano just southwest of town. We hiked for about an hour before reaching the crater rim which was alive with sulfur fumes and steam. After lunch we visited the old Japanese caves from WWII, treated ourselves to a sulfur bath and then played marbles with the locals kids much to the amusement of the onlooking parents. After this long day, we had a wonderful dinner at a nearby restaurant.:

Today we visited a local market. There were many unusual items in the meat section such as bats, rats, pythons, and dogs. We all passed on the meat. This afternoon is packing up for our journey east to Papua. :

All of our paperwork is complete with all the proper permits and authorizations, so we are ready to venture to onwards to Timika in West Papua province. Our flight leaves at 4 a.m. Our plan is to spend a night in Timika before we begin our journey to base camp.:

Cheers,
Christine, Max, Martin, Bo, and Chuck:

November 28th:

Hello from Manado!

Bo, Martin and Chuck have arrived to Manado today! We are all here and excited about the days ahead. Our plan is to spend a couple days in Manado sorting through logistics before leaving for Naibre. We fly late on December 1st to Naibre via Biak.

While in Manado we will take advantage of the world class diving and snorkeling in the area. There are also several extinct volcanoes that offers good trekking. We will have plenty to do before heading off to Papua province.

Tonight it's our welcoming dinner at a nearby Indonesian seafood restaurant. More to come in the next couple days!

Christine

November 26th:

Welcome to the 2005 Mountain Madness Carstensz Pyramid expeditions! I am excited to be on my way to Indonesia. Air travel was light, since I flew on Thanksgiving day. Singapore Airlines served a "nice" turkey dinner for all of us who had to fly on the 24th. I will spend the next couple days arranging logistics for our 2 week expedition. In a couple days I will meet the rest of the climbing team in Manado.

I look forward to the adventure ahead of us. More to come once I reach Manado!

Cheers, Christine