March 17, 2014 – Frist planes Have Returned to Bali - Brent and Dick Are Waiting in Sugapa

A chartered Cessna Caravan landed at the Sugapa airstrip early in the morning on Monday. As we have been describing in recent dispatches, the weather on the North side of the Sudirman Range in New Guinea, where the village of Sugapa is located, has not been great. In addition to all the rain there has been some wind. The South African pilot who was flying the Caravan told Brent and Proxy that his weight load in these conditions meant that at least two of our climbers should stay behind and wait for another aircraft.

Dick Morse, being the team player that he always is, volunteered to wait in Sugapa with Brent and with guide Meldy and assistant guide, Yosh. Proxy and the rest of the team members flew on to Timika. As luck would have it, Proxy and his group did arrive in Timika in time to catch the onward flight to Bali, so by Monday afternoon Bill, Don, Urszula and Jen were back at the hotel in Bali. We spoke to each of them and we heard the voices of folks who were happy to be showered, and full of stories of a fantastic adventure.

Our plane arriving to take us out of the jungle

Meanwhile down in Sydney, Dr. Chet Sutterlin, or “Mganga” as he is known from his witch doctor days, is going into surgery Monday morning to have an AC separation and ligament damage on his left shoulder repaired. On the first day of the trek, March 6th, Chet fell and sustained the shoulder injury. His evacuation was flawless and extremely fast. He and Meldy walked back to Sugapa in one day and the next morning caught a plane into Nabire and on to Timika, where the jet to Bali just happened to be delayed on the tarmac, with two empty seats left. In one day Chet went from the jungle to Bali and the next evening on home to Sydney. Chet is something of a shoulder injury veteran; he was rehabbing his right shoulder before his Kili climb last year and his most recent trips to Nepal. We are glad that Chet is back home in Sydney and we wish him the best for speedy recovery and rehab. With Chet Sutterlin there are always more climbs and adventures on the horizon.

Don, Bill, Jen and Urszula are enjoying the Bali Rani Hotel today.

When we talked to Bill in his hotel room Monday evening he described some great photos that he had from the climb. We know that it is bedtime in Bali, but hopefully he can send them to us soon, so that we can share a few. It is Monday morning in Canada now and we are watching it snow as we look out the window at the Berg Adventures office. Brent and Dick are asleep in a hut in Sugapa. Jen, Urszula, Bill and Don are clean and sleeping between sheets in Bali and Chet is resting post op in Australia.

This was a fantastic adventure, on the wildest of the “Seven Summits”. We look forward to posting photos of the team in action on the trek and climb soon. And congratulations to all!