Puncak Jaya
Interesting facts
- Puncak Jaya is the highest point anywhere between the Himalayas and the Andes.
- It ranks fifth in the world for topographic isolation, the distance to the nearest higher ground.
- Carstenszoon's report of tropical snow went unconfirmed for more than two centuries, and maps of the time marked the range simply as Sneebergh, the snow mountain.
- In 1936, when ice still covered about 13 square kilometres of the massif, glacier-capped Ngga Pulu was probably the true summit, over 4,900 metres high.
- After Indonesia took control in 1963 the peak was renamed Puncak Sukarno after the president, before becoming Puncak Jaya, meaning victorious or glorious peak.
- The mountain is made of middle Miocene limestone, pushed up when the Australian and Pacific plates collided.
- A 2010 expedition led by glaciologist Lonnie Thompson measured its glaciers thinning by about seven metres a year.
- Although the lowest of the Seven Summits, it is generally rated the most technically difficult of them.
- It lies within Lorentz National Park, whose forerunner reserve was created in 1919 after Dutch expeditions explored the region's snowfields.
Why it is worth it
At 4,884 m, Puncak Jaya — also called Carstensz Pyramid, and Nemangkawi Ninggok, "peak of the white arrow", in the language of the Amungme people — is the highest mountain in Indonesia, the highest on any island on Earth and, for climbers who count New Guinea with Australia, the Oceania entry among the Seven Summits. It rises in the Sudirman Range of Central Papua, a bare limestone wall standing just a few degrees south of the equator.
Its name recalls the Dutch navigator Jan Carstenszoon, who reported glaciers on the mountain in 1623 and was mocked in Europe for claiming snow in the tropics. A Dutch expedition in 1936 reached the neighbouring Ngga Pulu and East Carstensz summits but not the rock pyramid, which was first climbed in 1962 by a party led by Heinrich Harrer with Philip Temple, Russell Kippax and Bert Huizenga. The small glaciers that once covered the massif are retreating fast; the Meren Glacier vanished around the turn of the millennium, and scientists have predicted that the rest will not survive much longer.
This is a mountain for experienced climbers only. The summit day is a long rock climb up the north face and along a serrated ridge that includes a Tyrolean traverse, often in cold rain or snow. The approach has traditionally been either by helicopter to base camp or by a punishing multi-day jungle trek from the village of Sugapa, and the enormous Grasberg copper and gold mine lies only a few kilometres to the west. There is no casual viewpoint for ordinary travellers.
Getting there
Expeditions fly into Timika (about 81 km away by straight line), and charter aircraft or helicopters continue into the highlands; the small Bilorai Airport (UGU) at Sugapa is about 42 km from the peak. Climbing requires a chain of Indonesian government and security permits arranged through a specialist operator.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of 4,884 m (16,024 ft), is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth, and the highest peak in Indonesia and within Oceania. The mountain is located in the Sudirman Range of the highlands of Mimika Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. Puncak Jaya is ranked 5th in the world by topographic isolation.
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