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Climbing the World to End Alzheimer's

Climbing Memories Week 1

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Oct 182015
 
Climbing Memories Week 1

As I climb the world to end Alzheimer’s, I have taken literally thousands of photographs. I am posting many on Facebook over the next few months and will do a weekly summary post here on my site. I hope you enjoy them. Mt. Vinson, Antarctica This is one of my favorite memories from Antarctica’s Mt. Vinson at 16,050’/4892m in December 2010. We were approaching the summit using the so-called right-hand variation lead by IMG legend Phil Ershler. I documented the moment in my trip report: “ … we made steady progress to the next ridge where we meandered around jutting rock continue reading

Final Trip Reports: Carstensz Pyramid and Kosciuszko

 1 Response »
Nov 052011
 
Final Trip Reports: Carstensz Pyramid and Kosciuszko

What a way to wrap up phase 1 of the  7 Summits Climbs for Alzheimer’s: Memories are Everything project. Carstensz Pyramid had everything I expected and Kosciuszko was the perfect last climb. Carstensz Pyramid Carstensz was what an adventure should be. It had drama, uncertainty, an element of danger and of course for a climber – a summit. I knew as I boarded the plane for the flight to Indonesia that this would be the most difficult climb both technically and logistically. What I didn’t expect was that labor issues at the local mine near Carstensz would be the culprit. continue reading

Carstensz Summit Brief Recap

 6 Responses »
Oct 252011
 
Carstensz Summit Brief Recap

Carstensz Pyramid was without a doubt the most exotic, logistically complicated and, capsule from a pure climbing perspective, rewarding of all the 7 Summits. In my usual approach, I will post a full trip report, FAQ and photo/video gallery but for now, some highlights of our summit day. As I previously posted, strikes at the huge local gold mine created massive uncertainty with our flights to Carstensz base camp (BC) resulting in having to charter several helicopter flights to avoid the 6 day trek across the Paupu jungles. But we were here to climb, not trek, so the entire team continue reading

Summit: Audio Dispatch from Carstensz Pyramid

 24 Responses »
Oct 212011
 
Summit: Audio Dispatch from Carstensz Pyramid

I summited Carstensz Pyramid on October 22, 2011. It was a great climb. Read the full trip report for all the details. This is the audio dispatch I posted live from the summit; the 7th of my 7 Summits climbs. Click to listen: [Audio clip: view full post to listen] These climbs are to raise Alzheimer’s awareness and $1M for research. I lost my mom and two aunts to Alzheimer’s. Please join me to end Alzheimer’s by making a donation today. Read the details. Climb On! Alan Memories are Everything

Carstensz Summit Push in 10 hours

Oct 192011
 
Carstensz Summit Push in 10 hours

We leave our summit push for Carstensz Pyramid in about 10 hours, leaving camp around 1 AM local time. It should take between 8 to 12 hours roundtrip.Attached is a picture of Carstensz’s face we are climbing. The route is to the right gaining the ridge…

Carstensz: Commit to the Goal

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Oct 182011
 
Carstensz: Commit to the Goal

Our Indonesia adventure continues. We were supposed to fly out today from Timika on the southern coast of Papua to Suagpa north of Carstensz, but a snag in the logistics foiled this plan. Before I go on, a bit of background. Adjacent to Carstensz is one of the largest gold and copper mines in the world. It is the primary employer in this area and around 9,000 of the 12,000 workers went on strike on September 15 for higher wages. They make about US$2 to $3 a day, according to some press reports I have seen, and want $43. The continue reading

Welcome to Sagapa

Oct 172011
 
Welcome to Sagapa

We achieved major progress today and are now in the village of Bilogai in the area of Sugapa. We received notice that the airplan had left another airport to pick us up in Timika about 7 this morning so we hustled to the airport with no drama. There we…

Inguinity, Papua style!

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Oct 162011
 
Inguinity, Papua style!

OK, progress – Papau style! With the local issues, fuel has become the major problem in reaching the base camp of Carstensz Pyramid. But, impressively, our local team has been working on several solutions. So as it stands right now, subject to change, we will fly out of Timika tomorrow, Tuesday, to Sugapa where we will catch a helicopter to base camp. This involves an additional air drop of multiple fuel barrels in order to refuel the helicopter for the three trips it will take to get us and our gear there. Conveniently, Sugapa is also the starting point if continue reading

The Carstensz Adventure Begins!

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Oct 162011
 
The Carstensz Adventure Begins!

Well it didn’t take long for the adventure part of Carstensz Pyramid to begin. I finally made it to the southern mining town of Timika today, Sunday, after leaving home on Wednesday spending almost all of the time flying or in airports. My journey took me from Denver to Los Angles to Bangkok; then directly to the Bali airport of Denpasar where I met up with the rest of the Mountain Trip team and our leader, Scott Woolums who was passing on one delay after another to us – all part of the “flexibility” required on a trip like this. continue reading

The Leeches of Carstensz Pyramid

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Oct 092011
 
The Leeches of Carstensz Pyramid

If that title and picture didn’t get your attention, I don’t know will! :-D. I leave for the next climb of the 7 Summits Climb for Alzheimer’s: Memories are Everything in mid October. This will be the 7th climb, but to be precise, I will actually climb one more, Kosciuszko in Australia immediately after Carstensz; why? Check out this post to see why I am climbing all 8 of the 7 Summits! OK, so what’s up with the leeches? Carstensz is located in Indonesia’s New Guinea in the province of Papua formally named Irian Jaya. New Guinea is the world’s continue reading