Carstensz Pyramid

At 4,884m (16,024 feet), Carstensz Pyramid, also known as Puncak Jaya, is the highest mountain in the Australian continent and the lowest, but also the most technical of the Seven Summits.

Carstensz Pyramid belongs to the Sudirman Range and is located on the Island of Papua in Indonesia. It was first climbed in 1962 by an expedition led by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer.

The mountain remains one of the most difficult to access of all the Seven Summits, requiring a 100-km trek through the jungle to reach the base of the mountain. Further, although the climb itself is not the most physically demanding, its north face, the most common route, has the highest technical rating of all the Seven Summits.

In light of this, the mountain is climbed by only approx. 100 people per year.

There has been some debate regarding whether Carstensz Pyramid or the 2,228m (7,310 feet) Mount Kosciuszko in Australia is the correct mountain to represent the Australian continent. However, while both mountains are generally accepted as part of the Seven Summits, experts point out that the Island of Papua belongs to the continent of Australia and therefore Carstensz Pyramid is the correct mountain to represent the continent.

2013 Speaking Recap

Last year gave me dozens of opportunities to relive my journey to the top of the world through motivational presentations at schools, universities / business schools and companies primarily across Europe and the Middle East, including at great companies such as Accenture, HP, McKinsey & Company, Danone and Dubizzle.

I spoke to audiences of various sizes, ages and cultural backgrounds about how many of the challenges we face on high altitude expeditions are very similar to the challenges that we encounter in our daily private and professional lives and therefore, how many of the ways in we address those challenges on the mountains are also relevant at sea-level.

Kasvufoorumi

 

As a businessman and mountaineer, I use the journey to address various topics relevant to businesses from encouraging ambition and setting goals for sales teams, to improving teamwork within and across departments as well as addressing topics such as dealing with constantly changing operating environments.

My most memorable experience from the past year was one young lady who came up to me post-presentation explaining that she suffered from ADD and has struggled to focus for periods longer than a few minutes for most of her life, however, my story had kept her engaged for almost two hours.

It gave me an amazing feeling…almost like the one I felt standing on top of the world ;-)

 

First Anniversary of My Seven Summits

Today’s the first anniversary of my Seven Summits – climbing the highest mountains of every continent as the first person from my native Finland.

The “Seven Summits” –term was coined by Richard Bass, an American climber, who became the first to climb the mountains in 1985.

  • Africa: Mount Kilimanjaro (5895m) in Tanzania
  • Antarctica: Vinson Massif (4897m)
  • Asia: Mount Everest (8850m) in Nepal
  • Australia: Mount Kosciuszko (2228m) in Australia
  • Europe: Mount Elbrus (5642m) in Russia
  • North America: Denali (6194m) in USA
  • South Africa: Cerro Aconcagua (6962m) in Argentina

A year later, legendary Italian mountaineer, Reinhold Messner, also climbed the Seven Summits, but instead of climbing Mount Kosciuszco in mainland Australia, he felt that the highest mountain for Australian continent should be Carstensz Pyramid (4884m), which stands in the middle of the jungle on the island of Papua in Indonesia.

There mountaineering community remains split regarding which one is the correct mountain for Australia, so both views are accepted and referred to as the Bass and Messner Seven Summits Lists.

To date, roughly 350 people globally have climbed the Seven Summits. I’m one of around 100 people that have climbed both Bass and Messner Seven Summits Lists, so there’s no room for dispute ;-)

My Seven Summits project was an amazing experience. It started ten years ago in Africa, although at that time I viewed climbing Kilimanjaro simply as a mountain climb, not the start of a big project. Over the years, my climbs took me around the world to interesting places and finally on June 22nd, 2012 I completed the project by summiting Denali in
Alaska, USA.

It was an amazing feeling to complete a project that required years of focus and dedication, but also led to a feeling of what’s next and a desire for another big project. I’ll tell you more about what that ill be later!

Arsenal’s Mountain Man

Check out the latest edition of the Official Arsenal Magazine for a “Summit Special” – a story regarding my relationship with Arsenal and the journey of two Arsenal flags on my Seven Summits project.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the flags accompanied me to the summit of Vinson Massif on Antarctica, the highest, driest, windiest and coldest continent on earth, as well as to the summit of Cerro Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America. The other followed me to the top of the world, the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, as well as to the summit of Denali / Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America.

The flags will be auctioned for the Arsenal Foundation at the Charity Ball towards the end of the season. If you’re interested in bidding for these unique items, please contact the Editor of the magazine at magazine@arsenal.co.uk.

 

Snowman and the Seven Giants

The leading Finnish outdoor magazine, Retki, which basically means “trip” or “journey” recently published a story regarding my Seven Summits journey titled “Snowman and the Seven Giants” in the theme of snow white and the seven dwarfs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m obviously not much of a snow white, but the article is great and if you’re a Finnish speaker and haven’t had a chance to pick up the magazine, then you can see the article here.

Carbon Offset Completed!

I just finished offsetting the last of my Seven Summits project’s travel related carbon dioxide emissions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My First Finnish Seven Summits project took me to all seven continents over a period of several years, although the last five mountains were climbed during a period of just 13 months.

The project was a great experience and I would recommend everyone to take advantage of the numerous beautiful places on this planet. However, I would also encourage everyone to also be considerate to the negative aspects of travel and in particular the carbon dioxide emissions.

In order to continue exploring the world with a clear conscience, I wanted to offset the carbon dioxide emissions related to my travel and would encourage others to do the same, so that we can continue to admire the natural beauty around us.

In order to complete my project, I had to take 46 flights and cover approximately 137,453 miles in a combination of planes and helicopters. I’ve now offset the emissions related to these flights by making a donation to Carbonfund.org Foundation, which will invest the money in projects creating 26.51 tonnes of carbon offsets.

 

 

Buying the carbon offsets is easy as there are a lot of companies offering the service to both companies and individuals. Figuring out your carbon dioxide emissions is a bit trickier, but fortunately most carbon offset companies provide calculators enabling individuals to calculate their carbon dioxide emissions for example related to driving, flying, living etc.

 

Outdoor Achievement of the Year in Finland

My First Finnish Seven Summits project was recognised tonight as the Outdoor Achievement of the Year in Finland.

 

 

 

 

 

The selection decision was announced at the Helsinki Adventure Night event in central Helsinki, which is quickly becoming the must-attend event of the Finnish outdoor scene.

 

 

 

 

 

The award was a great honour and recognition both for Finnish mountaineering as a sport as well as my project, which has taken my full focus for the last 12 months, so it was a great feeling to be recognised!

 

 

 

Beer, coke and stories

Met with Dan, an-American-turned-into-a-Brit, in London for drinks. Dan climbed Mount Elbrus in Russia with Delanii and me in 2009 and summitted Denali in Alaska in May.

It was good to catch up and swap stories – Dan’s thinking of heading to Carstensz Pyramid next, while Denali will hopefully be last of my Seven Summits next June.

Heading home

After a luxurious breakfast by the Chao Phraya river, we took a boat up the river to a shopping mall we visited on our previous trip to Bangkok to see beautiful antiques, before heading to the airport for the last leg of our return trip to Dubai.

Looking for Mola Mola

After breakfast, we were once again picked up by Yos Diving and this time headed to Nusa Penida, an island about one hour boat ride from Nusa Dua beach, where we had dived previously.

We enjoyed an excellent dive at Manta Point, a cleaning station for manta rays. On our second dive, we were trying to locate Mola Mola (aka Sunfish), although it was out of season for the famous inhabitants of Bali. We didn’t see the Mola Mola, but enjoyed the dive nevertheless.