Last month a group of us attempted to climb Mt Wilhelm, the highest mountain in PNG at 14,790 ft above sea level (4,509m). I had missed an opportunity back in June, so since then I had hoped to climb it come September. The best time of year to climb, as it is the dry season. My Engineering manager leaves PNG next month and he wanted to climb it before leaving. So since June a group of us had talked about doing it this September. Come July we set a date and I took on planning the trip. It involved a lot more organising than the Mt Hagen trip. In the end there was a group of us from different mission organisations including MAF, CRMF and Baptist Union.

1. Some of the Hagen crew before departing

I had planned to train for this climb, especially after the Mt Hagen climb. But the two months prior I had been battling with different sicknesses. Some of the other guys went hiking early each Sunday morning before church, I managed to go with them one week. Also I had heard a lot of people’s stories about the trip and different sections of it. So I gained my own expectations from their stories, one that was tough and dangerous.

Most of us left Mt Hagen Friday morning and headed to Kundiawa in two vehicles. One person didn’t make it to his pickup point in time in Hagen and without being able to make contact and him traveling to Hagen, we had to leave without him. The trip down to Kundiawa was quite good along the highway. We were stopped a few times by groups of young men in bad parts of the highway to pay a small road tax (as they claim to be fixing the road). In our vehicle we had Betty who owns and operates the lodge at the start of the track. So listening to her life stories and experiences made the trip interesting and entertaining. We reached Kundiawa after an hour and a half and stopped quickly. And picked up another person on how way through.

2. Some of the road through Chimbu Gorge

On our way from Kundiawa we would start on a road that would take us through Chimbu gorge to Betty’s lodge. It is roughly 43km’s of very rough road and takes around three hours to travel along. Despite it being a long and bumpy ride, there is absolute amazing scenery during the trip. There are villages along most of the road and greeting people along the way. A lot of the road is along steep cliffs. We made it to Betty’s lodge in the mid afternoon where we would stay the night. Our missing team member somehow made it there just before us. The lodge is to back packer’s standard of accommodation and quite enjoyable being in such an isolated place (Charley Boorman and his crew spent a night there back in June while filming By Any Means).

3. Hiking up to the base camp

Saturday morning around 0800 we headed off from the lodge for the first part of the hike to the summit via the base camp. Some of us would carry our own packs and others got porters, we also hired two guides as well. The lodge was around 8500ft above sea level. It was a pleasant hike through the forest and about half way up came to a look out. We continued hiking to what once was a glacier and that took us up to the base camp which is roughly 10000ft plus. We arrived at the base camp which is an old Australian university outpost from colonial times, just as it started to rain. The condition of it is not maintained, we often joked during our stay there about a few of us being able to push the whole house off its foundation. As just one person walking around inside, the whole place moved side to side like an earth quake. Four others of the group would leave Mt Hagen Saturday morning to meet up with us at the base camp later in the afternoon.

4. Watching sunrise before reaching the summit

At the base camp there is the first of two big lakes in the area. We were keen to go out exploring that afternoon and do some altitude training before the hike to the summit. But due to rain, we stayed close to the base camp. What was amazing was how cloud would roll in clouding the whole mountain side than within minutes clear again and exposing some of the mountain ridge. We could not see the summit from the camp, but what I could see was very steep. That night we all planned to go to bed early as we would be getting up early. So it meant an early dinner, especially as we had no lights expect one lantern. I ate quite well during the trip, that night three of us had pasta. People started going to bed around 1830, I ended up in bed around 2030 and couldn’t remember going to bed so early at any time in my life, except the night at Mt Hagen summit. But I couldn’t sleep, due to noises some people make in their sleep and thinking about what was before us. So I got only two or three hours sleep that night.

5. Sunrise

We all got up at 0030 so that we could set off at 0100 in the morning. The reason being if you wait to start until light by the time you get up to the summit, it will be clouded in. So we had to get to the summit just at sunrise or after. I really struggled to get up, I was so tired and warm in my sleeping bag. I was the last one up and we all had breakfast and got ready to set off. Out of thirteen of us, ten would attempt to make it to the summit. We grouped together and had a quick time of prayer before heading off. It was cold outside, but I was comfortable in shorts and a jumper. We left the base camp just before 0130.

6. Near Christopher’s Corner

As we headed off, it was quite dark and the sky completely clouded. Fortunately I was able to borrow someone’s LED head lamp for the trip. It made it possible to hike and could not get by without one, but I do not enjoy hiking at night normally. After a little while I had to get down to my shirt as I was quite hot and after that as long as we kept walking I was good. We hiked for about an hour and a half before our first stop. We walked around the first lake and then up past the second lake. It was quite steep, the track was wet, muddy and most of the track was next to a cliff face. At the first stop, we had ended up into two groups. We stopped to rest and wait for the next group. As soon as we stopped I started to get colder and had to put back on the jumper. As we waited the sky started to clear of cloud and the stars started to appear. This was really promising for the morning, but also an amazing sight. With the second group we all decided to split into two groups so we could all travel at a pace we were comfortable with.

7. Stopping briefly, enjoying the view

Our group of six plus our guide was in front and we continued to hike through the morning without really stopping much. The track was not as steep as before, still challenging in some places. But still wet and with big steep drops on one side. I noticed the altitude change as we continued up, but not that much. It didn’t affect me like climbing Mt Hagen did, it didn’t put me in difficulty. This really surprised me, as the altitude is normally the main thing preventing people to reach the summit and was my main concern. The higher we got the colder it got. And there were snowflakes in the air, very fine ones. We got to a place called Christopher’s corner around 0500 and decided to stay there to watch the sunrise. It was now quite cold and couldn’t wait for the sun to come up. The sky was now completely clear and still thousands upon thousands of stars visible. We were blessed with an amazing sun rise.

8. Getting closer

We continued up to the summit, now with natural light. It was amazing how much having daylight change the hiking. We continued up and down a ridge line and finally to see the summit. The summit looked quite close, but still took some time to get up to it. The track leads you behind it and then up the back, probably the most difficult part of the track. We made it to the summit around 0700, so took us under six hours to get to the summit. It was clear skies up there and we could see the coast as well, including Madang and Kar Kar Island. Most of us only spent around twenty minutes up there. The longer we were up there the possibility of hiking back down in rain grew, plus I was really tired. The one regret I have is not staying up at the summit longer on a day like that. Compared to the Hagen climb spending the  afternoon, night and morning up there, I took a lot more in than on Wilhelm.

9. The summit in sight

We started our way back down from the summit to the base camp. I was eagerly awaiting my very late breakfast, as I had toast, bacon and eggs waiting to cook for me and plus a bottle of maison (I couldn’t be bothered taking it all the way to the summit-getting the bottle is another story). On our way down, I hit a wall. One mentally, being really mentally tired. But also physically, my knees were starting to get painful and plus I had fallen behind on eating, as we were not stopping that much and didn’t have my summit breakfast. As we hiked down we were able to see things that we didn’t see on the way up. The amazing views, steep drops off the track down the mountain, parts of a WW2 plane wreck. The track is better than that of Mt Hagen. I battled back down, but pushed through the mental barrier and we got back to base camp around 1130. So roughly ten hours from the base camp up to the summit and back down again to base camp.  We had met up with the second group just before the base camp, unfortunately they got sick and didn’t make it all the way up, but came close. As soon as I got back to the base camp, I threw down my pack, grabbed my maison bottle from inside and rested under a tree as it started to rain. It was great to make it back to the base camp, I so wanted some sleep.

10. Maipson and I at the summit

Some of the guys who had come up Saturday, planned to head back to Hagen Sunday afternoon. So after a quick lunch they were off heading down to the lodge. The rest of us were planning to spend the night at the lodge, so we had some time to rest at the base camp. After an awesome late breakfast, I laid down to have a power nap. We had planned to leave the base camp around 1400, but with none of us really getting any sleep and it starting to rain again we started off for the lodge. The track to the lodge was a lot easy going, but going down isn’t easy on my knees after all that hiking. We hiked mostly in the rain and made it down to the lodge after two and a half hours.

11. The second lake on the way back down

It was so good to get to the lodge and to some accommodation that was a bit more civilised and maintained. I was so dirty and desperate for a shower, that the fire to heat up the water had not been started yet.  I just went for a cold shower, normally not a problem. But this water was off the mountain and it was so cold. I had to hyperventilate to get under the shower. It was the coldest shower I had ever had, but I was quite refreshed afterwards. That night we were given free hospitality by Betty serving Barramundi and vegetables. After spending some time around a fire and talking about the day’s adventure we all headed off to bed. By 2000 I had fallen asleep, completely out of it.

12. The survivor’s at base camp

Monday morning we were up around 0700 and left the lodge after 0800. It took us three and a half hours to get back down the road through Chimbu gorge to Kundiawa. It seemed to take forever and the scenery somehow didn’t seem as nice as the first time. We made it safely back to Mt Hagen later in the afternoon. I had worked out including driving and hiking, it took twenty five hours of travelling to get from Mt Hagen to the summit of Mt Wilhelm and back again. I am glad we did it over the four days, rather than two. It was an awesome adventure and great to finally be able to do it. The  trip was not as hard as I expected and made the trip easier. It was a great weekend away with brothers and sisters from different mission organisations.

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Start of September we had our only Cessna Caravan in for its phase check. The phase check system is a bit different to our other systems of maintenance we run. The Phase Check system runs over twelve checks at every two hundred flying hours, from check one all the way to Check twelve and then starts over again. In between each Phase Check is a smaller check called a mini phase which is every one hundred flying hours. Instead of having little checks and then really big checks after a longer period of time, it is spread out consistently. The aircraft is broken down into different areas with assigned work cards to each area involving inspections and servicing.

The one thing with having the Caravan over a year now, only having one in the fleet and the first ever operated by MAF in PNG means that for most of us we have not much experience on this aircraft type. Most of us have only done a few checks on it. But there are two guys that have a lot of experience on them when serving with other MAF programs. This check would be a Phase 1, the first time we would carry it out on this aircraft. There was a lot involved in the check, by far the biggest one to date we have done. Plus with defects requiring rectifying or items called up, some big ones like a flap track replacement and a prop change.

2. Phase Check 1

We were given a week to have the aircraft finished so that it could return to service the following week. I knew it was a real big ask, almost impossible. After we received the aircraft and it had been out and had the engine runs completed, it came into the hangar. We were destined different areas to look after. I was assigned area 2, which is the airframe all the way from the engine firewall to the tail. The largest area with a very large amount of inspections and servicing to be carried out. I had only worked in that area once before and by myself, but this time I would have someone helping me to get through it all.

3. Laz replacing a flap track, a big job

We would work back each evening till 1800, each day slowly making our way through the check. It seemed we were making little progress each day. Come Wednesday evening to some amazement we were close to finishing most scheduled stuff for the check. Thursday we would spend finishing defects and putting the aircraft back together. Planning to do the compressor wash, engine runs and a prop balance on Friday, and to have the aircraft ready to fly a program on Saturday. This was a huge achievement. One thing that helped was having people start some major jobs at the start of the check.

4. Looking down from the tail

Come Friday morning getting closer to the end after a big and intense week. A lot of us felt like we had hit a wall as it had been so intense and now had come to an almost halt, as the airframe was pretty much done with mainly the engine to be finished. As work continued there were problems with the new prop and in the end resulted in a few guys working into Friday night and throughout Saturday to get the aircraft ready for Monday morning. Despite the delay, it was a huge achievement by the team to get the aircraft out in a week, it is still a learning process for many of us and it was by far the most intense week I have experienced.

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