Dear all,

As some of you may know, I am organising an 8-week expedition to Papua Province, Indonesian New Guinea, scheduled for Nov/Dec 2010. The expedition has three main objectives:

1. Climb the three highest peaks in Australasia, including first female ascent of remote Puncak Mandala and second ascent of the the south face
2. Support ongoing climate change research in relation to the disappearance of New Guinea's tropical glaciers by creating a photographic record of current ice cap cover and collection of other data
3. Raise a substantial sum for disadvantaged young people (in the UK) and children with cancer (in Canada)

Although a standalone expedition, this is also the second leg of a long-term project to climb the three highest peaks on every continent, which has never been attempted before.

I need the support of Anniesland rugby - I'm emailing to ask if you know of any businesses / employers / family / friends who you think may be interested in sponsoring us to achieve our expedition objectives. Due to the complicated logistics involved in planning an expedition to the remote areas we hope to visit, we have budgeted costs of c. 21k GBP. We are looking for corporate sponsors to help offset our costs. I've attached our expedition funding proposal for reference. Sponsorship opportunities are detailed on Page 10.

The photographic record we create and the other data we collect will be used by world-class researchers (including the University of Glasgow) to further their ongoing climate change research.

The expedition is taking place in very remote areas over exceptionally challenging terrain. The major challenge on this expedition will be trying to repeat the climb on the South Face of Puncak Mandala, which has only been climbed once before. The mountain is incredibly remote and the approach to the steep southern cliffs is fraught with difficulty. No photographs exist of the intended route and the mapping that I have sourced from the Royal Geographical Society is somewhat sparse. The current status of the icecap on this peak is unknown - we aim to verify the extent or existence of an ice cap on this peak to support ongoing climate change research. We are also planning to climb the highly technical and rarely climbed ‘American Direct’ route on Carstensz Pyramid, a mountain which was closed between 1995 and 2005 due to political insecurity in the area.

We issued our first press release last month and have secured the following coverage so far:

1. Ricky wrote an article for Wide World online magazine (UK)
2. Trek & Mountain magazine interviewed Ricky for an article (UK)
3. Third Sector magazine ran a short story (UK)
4. Get Out There magazine ran a story (Canada)
5. Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal interviewed Carol for an article (Canada)
6. Article appeared in SCRUM Magazine (UK)
7. Ricky interviewed for Scottish Rugby Union website (UK)
8. Story planned in Outer Edge magazine (Australia)

A portion of our costs are being met by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and the Alpine Club of Canada Environment Fund. The expedition has been approved by both the British Mountaineering Council and the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

If you think of anyone who you think would be interested in supporting the expedition directly please contact me and I can approach them if you prefer. If you need any more information on our plans please contact me by email or using the contact details below.

Cheers,

Ricky Munday
Expedition Leader
Australasia 3 Peaks Glacier Expedition
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +249(0)128138079
Skype: rickymunday

This article was posted on 22-Jun-2010, 17:48 by Hugh Barrow.