Anthony, accompanied by IMG guide, Andy, and Steven, Sofyan and Brury from Indonesia, set off in January 2018 for the unclimbed Mount Yamin (estimated 4520 meters) in a remote part of Eastern Indonesian Papua. This photo shows the closest we reached to the mountain since delays caused by tribal issues, weather and much harder terrain than expected in the approach meant that we didn’t summit. But we already have plans which include allowing a lot more time to repeat the attempt in future.
First Anthony, Andy and Steven headed for Wamena for some acclimatization, visiting the lively local market.
Wamena, in the heart of Papua, is a bustling small town where everything from supermarket groceries to construction equipment has to be brought in by air since there are no road connections to the major towns of Papua.
We were accompanied by old friend Nanang, who had lived in Papua for 16 years including some time in a traditional village where he was adopted by the chief. On return to our hotel, to our surprise and pleasure we found that chief waiting for us. He was in town for treatment for an old arrow wound and had learned of our visit.
With the traditional words of greeting “Wa wa wa wa” he was delighted to see Nanang (pictured in the middle with the chief and his nephew and successor), to see Anthony again and to meet Andy.
Next day we set off on our acclimatization hike which would take us up to 3,800 meters, heading for Lake Habema, driving first past Mount Trikora, rising up on the horizon, which we had climbed in October 2013.
Lake Habema is sacred to several tribes.
Our high point was these seldom visited waterfalls.
We had intended to fly out next morning to Dekai to meet our advance team Sofyan and Brury and pick up our helicopter there which would take us into our planned Base Camp for Yamin. But instead we heard the news that some local tribesmen insisting that our helicopter was really supporting illegal gold miners operating on their ancestral lands had created a major disturbance and all helicopters were ordered out of Dekai. We pondered various options to resolve the issue.
So the next day while Steven stayed behind to work on this, Anthony, Andy and Nanang explored further the countryside around Wamena
This included 2 traditional villages.
During the day with many phone calls by Steven and Nanang to the helicopter company and the authorities in Dekai and negotiation with the local tribal leaders, it was agreed we could proceed to Dekai and we asked Captain Fauzi our pilot to return from his base in Timika to the west, pick us up in Wamena and try once more to fly to Dekai and on to the mountain.
Wamena’s weather had been surprisingly rain free for several days but as we boarded the helicopter the clouds to the east looked ominous. Sure enough not long into our journey the rain began to fall heavily and we were forced to retreat
The next morning we all went early to the airport and as soon as the control tower permitted we took off in still cloudy skies successfully reaching Dekai, a small town that is however capital for a region with many villages and tribes . The plan was for us to fly in 2 teams straight to the mountain but the weather did not cooperate and we settled down to another day lost from our tight schedule. Meanwhile other members of the Una Ukai tribe who had not been a party to the agreement to allow us and our helicopter back raised objections and it needed all Nanang’s diplomatic skills to resolve the situation.
Usually the best flying time of the day in Papua is early morning so it was depressing the next day to see heavy cloud hanging low over the mountains but it began to brighten a bit and we headed to the airport shaking hands with Captain Fauzi who said “we will try.” Sofyan, Andy and Anthony set off as the first team. Our aim was to reach the base camp we had earmarked at 3,900 meters. This was looking unlikely as the helicopter came closer and closer to the cloud ceiling and eventually Fauzi put us down at the end of a long valley at just over 3,600 meters.
We unloaded and waited anxiously to see if our remaining 2 comrades would make it in safely before the weather closed in.
They arrived and we set up our Base Camp, later named the Swamp Camp reflecting the nature of the terrain.
After lunch cooked by Brury, Sofyan and Andy set off to reconnoiter the route ahead and carry some of the loads higher. There were rivers to cross and here we see Andy checking anxiously that his rubber boots are going to prove long enough.
They arrived back about 4 hours later after a significantly harder trip than expected and encouraging us to leave us much as possible at the Swamp Camp. The evening was the best visibility of the day and if we had been flying then we would definitely have reached our originally planned Base Camp.
Steven had called our helicopter planning if the skies were still clear for it to return and take us up to 3,900 meters avoiding the loss of a further day. But we learned in the morning that Dekai airport closes on Sundays so shouldering large packs the team set off.
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