I just received this email transmission from several days ago. Clearly the dispatches they tried to send en route got hung up. That must be why they called from the summit. <br /><br />Jim says, "We were up at 5 am in Nabire to start flying into Base Camp. We had a great sunrise flight to the refueling spot. That flight took about about 1 hour compared to the 6 hours it would have taken to drive. From the refueling stop we divided into 2 groups. Denny, Steve and Tracy flew in first then Robie, Martin and I flew in on a second flight. En route, the jungle gave way to spectacular jagged limestone mountains. Our base camp is located right at the base of the climb. We will start the climb at 3 am with hopes of reaching the summit around 9-10 in the morning. We have a beautiful night here after a day of hard rain. We hope tomorrow will be dry to the summit.<br /><br />All are thinking of family and friends over this Thanksgiving weekend.<br /><br />Be well all.<br /><br />(This photo is from an archived trip to the Carstensz region)

I just got a call from the Exploradus team and they are all standing on the summit! The team left at 3 a.m. local time and made it to the summit at 10:15 a.m. Spirits sounded very high. They are now turning around and heading all the way back down. We will have more details from them within a day or two.<br /><br />Congratulations to one and all!

The crew was up and eager this morning. We are off to the airport to begin this odyssey. Our first leg of the journey will be three flights across Indonesia to the very western edge. We will fly Bali/Surabaya/Ambon/Nabire. Nabire is most famous for diving with Great White Sharks. We will save that for later. After 9 hours of travel and 3 flights, we arrived in Nabire just in time for a huge lunch. Food here is largely from the ocean. So we have had fish and seafood prepared every way imaginable. All good. Dinner followed a few hours later. We have weighed everyone and everything so we can be ready to fly by helicopter tomorrow. If all goes well we will be climbing Carstensz Pyramid in less than 24 hours. Communication will be limited so please be patient with us. We will keep you updated as we best we can. Be well all and enjoy Thanksgiving!!<br /> <br />Love to family and friends.<br /> <br />Jim, Steve, Martin, Robie, Tracy and Denny







Saturday, November 22 was Day 1 for the Carstensz expedition.<br /><br />Everyone arrived in Bali for the “fast and furious” Exploradus Carstensz Pyramid Expedition 2014. We have done all we can to get ready for our departure in Sunday morning. We have had a gear check and repacked our gear into waterproof bags for what could prove to be a WET climb. <br /><br />It is hard to believe that the climate will be so different but we are headed three hours west along the equator to Nabire in western Indonesia. We will be in an area known as Papua/Irian Jaya.<br /><br />We are getting ready to head toward Nabire where we will meet the helicopter and begin to shuttle into Base Camp. <br /><br />In the photo: Jim Williams, Tracy Faber, Robie Vaughn, Steve Slaughter and Denny our local host and climbing guide.<br /> <br />Sunday morning we take 3 flights across the country to reach Nabire. More as the adventure unfolds and as we can send it...

Expedition members are in the final stages of packing and preparing for departure. We will gather in Bali on Saturday for Day 1 of our seven day expedition.<br /><br />Itinerary:<br />Day 1 – Nov 22: Arrive in Denpasar – Ramada Bingtang Bali Resort<br />Day 2 – Nov 23: Fly from Denpasar to Nabire<br />Day 3 – Nov 24: Heli to Base Camp (Yellow Valley Camp) / acclimatize<br />Day 4 – Nov 25: Summit day<br />Day 5 – Nov 26: Heli from base camp to Nabire<br />Day 6-7 – Nov 27-28: Reserve day in case of any weather delays<br />