At 14,793 feet, Mountain Wilhelm is Papua New Guinea’s
tallest mountain. According to political geography, Mt. Wilhelm is considered
one of the seven summits (the tallest mountain on each continent). Climbing to
the summit was a dream Stephen had as a child growing up here. When he lived in
Lae, during his teenage years, a group from Kudjip planned a hike up the
mountain, but forgot about Stephen down on the coast J When we returned to the highlands, Stephen was
determined to cross this hike off his bucket list!
The base of the mountain is about a four hour drive from
where we live. We left on a Friday morning, started hiking from the guest house
around 3:00 pm and arrived at base camp at 6:00 pm. The group of hikers
included the two of us, Scott and Gail Dooley (doctor and nurse), Earl Hartwig
(hydro project engineer) and his sons Zachary and Caleb (Stephen’s new
students), Quinton Schmelzenbach (a senior this year), my friend Veronica ( a
scrub nurse), our friend Apa (works in maintenance), and Jonathan (friend of
the Dooley’s). We had two guides who we hired to lead us, and since we had to
bring all of our food, clothing, and sleeping bags, some of us paid porters to
carry our packs to base camp (for the record, Stephen carried our bag the whole
way!).
Base camp is a small camp with three rooms for sleeping and
a “kitchen.” We cooked our Ramen noodles in the cook house Friday evening for
dinner. Traditionally, Papua New Guineans have a small house to sleep in and
then another small house, “kuk haus”, where they cook their food over an open
fire and tell stories before going to bed. Since we knew we’d be waking up
early to hike to the summit, we storied with our friends until about 8:00 and
everyone went to bed.
Shortly before 2 am we awoke to the lovely singing voices of
Apa, Jonathan, and Quinton! They were ready to start the hike, which meant the
rest of us had to crawl out of sleeping bags, put on our layers of warm
clothing, pack our bags, use the squatty potty, review the signs and symptoms
of altitude sickness, and have a short devotion and prayer with Scott and Gail
before heading into the dark mountainside! If you’d like to review the signs
and symptoms of altitude sickness, as you prepare for your next hike, here is a
short list of what we were looking for: nausea, dizziness, confusion, and
respiratory depression! J
Since Zachary was already experiencing mild shortness of breath at base camp,
we decided he’d better stay with the Dooley’s and not attempt the summit.
Donning headlamps, hats, and gloves, the eight of us, and
our two guides, Thomas and Willie, left base camp between 2:00 and 2:30 Saturday
morning. We’d hike for 15 minutes, sit for a short break, and then hike another
fifteen minutes. Every half an hour or so we’d ask Thomas and Willie, “Okay,
where is the summit? Can we see it yet?” They’d ALWAYS answer, “Oh not yet; we’re
close. It’s just on the other side of this mountain.” With the end NOT in
sight, we carried on. Around 6 am we turned off our flashlights and headlamps and
watched a beautiful sunrise. An hour later we spotted the watch tower, weather
station, and then FINALLY the summit! At 7:45 we reached the summit!!! Stephen
and Veronica were probably the most fulfilled as this is something both of them
have wanted to accomplish since childhood. We “sat on top of Papua New Guinea”,
taking pictures and taking in the view for all of fifteen minutes before we
started the journey back! On the way
down we found ourselves, several times, saying “Oh, I don’t remember this…” Haha,
not because we were lost, but because the mountainside looked very different in
daylight! We made it back to base camp early enough that we were able to hike the
rest of the way down to the guest house and drive home before dark. We had planned
to sleep at a school near the guest house Saturday night and drive home Sunday
morning, so knowing that we could make it home Saturday night, motivated us to ignore
our tired and painful legs and press on!
Though climbing Mt. Wilhelm wasn’t a dream of mine, and I don’t
particularly love hiking, making it to the summit does feel like a bit of an
accomplishment. I’m grateful for the adventure I shared with my husband and our
friends as we admired God’s glorious creation from the top of Papua New Guinea!
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| Our group leaving Kudjip on Friday |
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| Hiking to base camp |
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| Veronica and me at the waterfall before base camp |
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| Gorgeous sunrise Saturday morning |
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| A view of part of our trail |
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| Sitting on top of Papua New Guinea! |
(For our friends in Maine who’d like to join us, Stephen and
I would like to hike Mt. Katahdin when we return home!)
