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Carstensz Pyramid: Beware the Consequences Byron Smith found himself in the middle of a controversy in the fall of 2003 when he climbed Carstensz Pyramid, 16,023ft (4,884 m), located in Irian Jaya and the highest Peak of Oceania, therefore one of the Seven Summits. The Indonesian government had stopped issuing permits claiming it was due to security reasons, though it is believed that the real reason is because of the bad press climbers were bringing upon the Freeport Mine, located at the base of the mountain, reportedly causing serious environmental damage. Byron decided to climb anyway; off the record. As he recounted, he was smuggled across military checkpoints, held up in safe houses for days, disguised as a soldier or photographer, and had to bribe his way through some tight situations. This kind of illegal climbing, justifiable or not, could have had no further consequences but for the fact that Byron happily detailed his ‘Indiana Jones’ adventure on the Internet , logging it on a mountaineering website. Word spread and soon all permits for CP were canceled, leaving a number of very angry climbers.
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