By BERNARD ETSCHMANN
Mt Wilhelm in Chimbu province is one of the truly beautiful places on earth.
A rugged craggy mountain top, half way up picturesque twin lakes where the water is clean enough to drink untreated and down the bottom a smattering of pine trees that gives the whole scene a very alpine feeling.
Apparently in the seventies half the mountain was covered in glacial ice and snow, but these days global warming has ensured that aside from a few patches of ice on the way up, the mountain top is all exposed barren rock which while a little disappointing still provides a wonderfully isolated feeling at the top.
One doesn't have to be a trekking fanatic to enjoy the scenery or the associated brisk, clean and invigorating mountain air.
The whole trip from bottom to top and back is generally done in two days, and so it was with visions of conquering PNG's own 'Everest' with little more effort than that required for a quick stroll that a group of trekkers set off from Lihir in good spirits.
I'm reasonably sure this is the first group from Lihir where everyone made it to the top, so for the record the group consisted of:
- Samson Tamien, who earned the classic comment of the trip award when arriving at the top, out of breath and with sore lungs said:" I now realize that smoking may be bad for you."
- Fabian Suna, a two trip veteran who was born in the area.
- Caroline Hardy, super fit and with her 'Lara Croft' physique and pony tail was always going to be one of the first at the top.
- Kris and Adam 'triathonlon' Pemberton,
- Tania 'I'm only along for the shopping' and Bernard Etschmann
Also along with the group were Pam (tour guide), Kristen (a private trekker from
Melbourne) and seven local guides (who initially started off as guides but ended up multitasking as guides / porters / motivators).
As with most trips out of Lihir, Day1 consisted of a stop over in Port Moresby, and Day 2 involved a quick flight to Goroka followed by a six hour car journey to the starting point of the trek - Betty's lodge.
It was only once here that all the side distractions of shopping, artifact hunting and general frivolity dropped away and the real reason for the trip began to dominate people's thoughts.
Day3, and the first day of the actual trekking, started off with a huge breakfast followed by packing (and repacking) what for most turned out to be an excessive amount of gear for the short event.
The day ended up being an excellent walk through a terrain that began as a jungle style under-canopy and then changed into a more open grassland reminiscent of the African savanna.
The 3.5hr walk while harder than the promised slow walk, was slow enough to allow most to adapt quite easily to the ever increasing altitude, although some had a harder time than others under the dual burden of a deliberately heavy pack and no drugs.
Both Sam and Fabian showed their fitness by disappearing after the first rest stop and were not seen again until we reached base camp some 45 minutes behind them.
The most impressive part of the day was undoubtedly the end of the hike at base camp
(3500m), where after struggling up another small crest one was suddenly hit by the sight of the first lake stretching out in front of a beautiful mountainous backdrop - although how much of the impression was due to the natural beauty and how much was due to the relief of being able to dump the pack is debatable.
The final day actually begins at 11:30 pm the same day as arriving at base camp. Not high enough to cause any real altitude sickness, there were still some who struggled to get any sleep between arrival at base camp the scheduled departure time.
Minor headaches were common place and to dampen any residual enthusiasm for hiking it began to rain quite heavily.
A quick bite to eat, another round of drugs and all cloaked in a variety of wet and warm weather gear we were ready for the push to the summit.
The disorienting feeling you get walking in the dark with only a narrow beam of the headlight soon leads to walking in a kind of dream, where minor local discomforts are forgotten you can concentrate on the magnitude of the task ahead.
The whole experience of high altitude walking is an excellent mental relaxant. Interest rate hikes, elections or the Iraq war are all issues of another far away world.
For a relatively small mountain the walk up was impressively strenuous.
The thing that impressed me most that night though was Fabian. Where I was wearing Nylon microfibre compression pants and a Polartec 200 fleece under a lightweight breathable Gortex jacket he was wearing old jeans and something that looked like an old cardigan. Where I had woolen gloves insulated and waterproofed he had the cotton gloves from work that I know from experience are neither waterproof nor particularly warm.
And yet the lack of technology didn't hinder him at all, and he politely waited behind me chatting to the guide every time I was bent over gasping for air.
With the first hint of dawn approaching he set of for the summit at a pace that would have knocked me out had I attempted to follow.
So it wasn't with much surprise that I later heard he was first on the summit by a significant margin.
Arriving at the summit was an excellent experience. The view was spectacular and the feeling of accomplishing another goal that only a few would attempt and even less would complete is always an adrenalin rush.
That everyone in the group made it was a fantastic effort, and I know that even though some were ready to bop me with their walking sticks for making them attempt something so strenuous, it is an accomplishment that none of us will ever forget.
If the way up was hard, the trek down was torturous. The terrain was slippery and rocky with some knee jarring jumps which required concentration all the way down. Six hours on the way up followed by nine hours back down, bypassing the base camp and straight to Betty's lodge meant we were all physically exhausted and mentally shattered on arrival.
I had trained for some eight months leading up to this trek, so if I was exhausted (and I was) the ladies who had far less opportunity to train must have only just made it. It showed true mental toughness on their part to keep going without complaining - well done girls.
And as for the next time, if it helps at all, I'll be wearing old jeans just like Fabian.



 

 

Previous | Back to Top | Next