Climbing Mt Albert Edward

During the period 16 – 20 June 2007 I climbed Mt Albert – Edward, 3990 metres, in the Owen Stanley mountain range, Central Province. This is my trip report.

Day 1

Leave Port Moresby (POM) at 6:30 am on an Airlines PNG Twin Otter 16 seater from the cargo section of Jackson’s Airport. Arrived at Woitape at about 7:00 am. Was met by the usually assembly of local village people who are interested in seeing who arrives, or who is leaving, the village. My backpacks where quickly collected by my guides and I was taken to the Woitape Lodge, which doubles as a depot for Airlines PNG. Here I was given a coffee while things were sorted out. At 8:00 am we set off. Me and two local guides / porters. I had a bit of gear as I had a tent, sleeping bag and food for 3 people for 4 days.

The first part of the walk was through the village but then quickly we started climbing the hills. We went through beautiful rail forest with grassy clearings from time to time. The weather was clear which meant we had great views as we got higher.

Early afternoon we came out onto what I describe as alpine meadows. Large expanses of flat land covered in grass. It looked as through heads of giraffe, gazelle or brontosaurus should be grazing on them. We got to our first overnight shelter at about 4:00 pm. I set up my tent, the boys built a fire in the shelter and we shared the evening meal. Early to bed at 7:00.

Day 2

Up at 6:00 am. Two minute noodles for breakfast and then we headed off over the ‘alpine meadow’. This was quite hard work as it was basically a bog with clumps of tussock or grass that I tried to walk on. Needless to say, my boots were wet all day. My guides had bare feet, so they didn’t care what we walked through.

The day was quite cloudy, so couldn't see all that much. Got to out shelter at about 1:00 pm, which was good as that meant we could have a good rest before the summit on day 3. I woke up during the night and looked out and the sky was clear: “that looks good for tomorrow’, I thought, and it was.

Day 3

It was a very cold night (for PNG – 8 degrees Celsius) and we were up at 5:30 am to get to the summit early. And, yes, the day was sunny. ‘Hallelujah!’.

We started walking at 6:30 am, and it was mostly up. The altitude started to kick in, and it was actually a very steep walk. The bonus was that it was sunny and I could see for (hundreds) of miles. The scenery was spectacular: alpine lakes, steams and waterfalls. And the space was just so big, with no one else but us three there.

Got to the summit at 9:30 am. Spectacular. I could see the northern and southern coastlines of PNG and Mt Wilhelm (highest mountain in PNG) in the west. I was extremely lucky as not everyone sees this. Even while I was there some clouds rolled over and I couldn’t see the coastlines. This was certainly a highlight of my time in PNG.

Time to head down. I wasn’t looking forward to that as I was pretty buggered by this time, but you have to do what you have to do.

Got to our shelter at about 3:30 pm after a hard slog with many ups and downs. I was glad when the boys got the fire going and we could have a cup of coffee.

Day 4

Another cold night and early morning. We had a long way to walk today. The day started out overcast, but then the sun came out. Again, spectacular, pristine scenery. So many creeks, rivers, waterfalls, river crossings over log bridges, clambering over rocks, following paths that really didn’t seem to exist and beautiful rain forest, flowers and butterflies. Yes – this is all true! The country side was SOOOOO big, and just us.

After lunch we met some people travelling to another village, but apart from about six people, didn’t see anyone.

We had a steep climb down the mountain, crossed (walked through) a small river, spent time in a village with about 6 houses, where I had to take photos of everyone, and then back to Woitape at 4:00 pm. WOW – what a trek. At the Woitape Guesthouse a hot shower, coffee, a home cooked meal and a good night’s sleep awaited. The Woitape Lodge is great. Worth a visit just to stay there and do some trekking around the village.

My guides were great. Not much conversation. What conversation there was largely in Pidgin, which improved my pidgin no ends. But they did know their way around the mountains, which is what counts.

Day 5

Up early again for sausages and eggs, on the twin Otter at 7:30 am and back to POM. On the way back I got a bonus as we landed at Onongo village, which has a classic grass airstrip on the top of a mountain ridge. Exhilarating.

This is a great trek, but it is not mentioned in the LP. Woitape only gets a passing reference and Mt Albert Edward is not mentioned at all! That’s good in a way, because if you do this trek you will know that very few others have done it. I organised the trip myself and it cost about K1,200, including airfares of K550. A tour company advertises this trek for apporoximately K3,000 (including airfares).

Then back to POM and reality. I then went to Melbourne for 12 days and have just got back to POM. Next – climbing Mt Wilhelm in September.

PS: Thanks to nomadtales who alerted me to the fact that Mt Albert Edward is actually the 6th highest mountain in PNG, and not the second as I had been lead to believe.

Hiya, great tale and it has made me very jealous. Good on ya for taking the iniative to go off the beaten track, even in PNG where it is mostly off the beaten track anyway. I bet the sense of achievement is high.

Any chance of uploading some photos to somewhere?