😞There was also a delayed expedition just before us, pushing us back in the heli queue. It was an agonising and frustrating 7 days wait. Each heli trip could only take 3 pax, or up to 350kg load. Every morning, the assigned climbers would be ready at 530am, head out to the airport, and either fly out or return. The heli window is only a few hours each morning; there are no flights after 10/11am as the winds typically pick up in the afternoons. To get a flight going, there needs to be clear visibility in both Timika and BC. There is a small "curtain opening" in the mountains for the heli to fly through and get over to Yellow Valley where BC is. When I finally got on the heli, I saw just how tight that opening was.
After many prayers and some morning full-dress rehearsals, Andrei,
Gilles, Josh (our guide) and I arrived at BC on 12 Aug 2018. We were
extremely lucky that the pilot was willing to make a second trip after
dropping off some climbers from the previous expedition that morning to
get us there! We wanted to climb immediately, but because we landed
late, it was 11am when we started. The rain came in and we managed a 2h
acclimatisation hike instead. The rain continued pelting heavily through
the afternoon. None of us slept much that night. The combination of
altitude and adrenaline kept me counting every hour until it was time to
get ready at 4am.
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