Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid)

Puncak Jaya, sometimes called Mount Carstensz or the Carstensz Pyramid, is a mountain in the Sudirman Range, the western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia. Other names include Nemangkawi in the Amungkal language, Ngga Pulu, Carstensz Toppen and Gunung Sukarno.
At 4,884 metres (16,024 ft) above sea level, Puncak Jaya is the highest mountain in Indonesia, the highest on the island of New Guinea (which comprises the Indonesian Papua provinces plus Papua New Guinea), the highest of Oceania (Australia), and the 5th highest mountain in political Southeast Asia. It is also the highest point between the Himalayas and the Andes, and the highest island peak in the world. Some sources claim Mount Wilhelm, 4,509 m (14,793 ft), as the highest mountain peak in Oceania, on account of Indonesia being part of Asia (Southeast Asia).

History

The highlands surrounding the peak were inhabited before European contact, and the peak was known as Nemangkawi in Amungkal. Puncak Jaya was named "Carstensz Pyramid" after Dutch explorer Jan Carstensz who first sighted the glaciers on the peak of the mountain on a rare clear day in 1623. The sighting went unverified for over two centuries, and Carstensz was ridiculed in Europe when he said he had seen snow near the equator. This name is still used among mountaineers. Although the snowfield of Puncak Jaya was reached as early as 1909 by a Dutch explorer, Hendrik Albert Lorentz with six of his indigenous Dayak Kenyah porters recruited from the Apo Kayan in Borneo, the peak was not climbed until 1962, by an expedition led by the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer (of Seven Years in Tibet fame) with three friends — Temple, Kippax and Huizenga.

When Indonesia took control of the province in the 1960s, the peak was renamed 'Puntjak Soekarno' (Simplified Indonesian: Puncak Sukarno) or Sukarno Peak, after the first President of Indonesia, later this was changed to Puncak Jaya. Puncak means peak or mountain and Jaya means 'victory', 'victorious' or 'glorious'.

Climbing
The highland area in 2005, with the Grasberg copper mine pit in the foreground. Its summit is at the far end of the central rib.
Puncak Jaya is one of the more demanding climbs in one version of the Seven Summits peak-bagging list. (It is replaced by Mount Kosciuszko in the other version.) It is held to have the highest technical rating, though not the greatest physical demands of that list's ascents. The standard route is up the north face and along the summit ridge, which is all hard rock surface. Despite the large mine, the area is highly inaccessible to hikers and the general public, requiring a 100-km hike from the nearest town with an airport, Timika, to the base camp, which usually takes about four or five days each way.

The mount usually climbed by professional climbers, it needs  complete equipment and the local potter. The route is: Tembagapura or Illaga – Lembah Danau – Danau – Cartetz Peak.

Puncak Jaya Picture

Alternate Name(s) :
Carstensz
Latitude/Longitude (WGS84) :
4° 5' S; 137° 9' E
-4.076859, 137.156262 (Dec Deg)
739391E 9549057N Zone 53 (UTM)
Country :
Indonesia (Highest Point)
State/Province :
Irian Jaya (Highest Point)
Drainage Basins :
Mamberamo
Pacific Ocean
Island :
New Guinea (Highest Point)
Ownership :
Land : Gunung Lorentz
Prominence :
Clean Prominence: 4884 m/16,024 ft
Optimistic Prominence: 4884 m/16,024 ft
Key Col : Ocean 0 m/0 ft
Isolation :
Distance to Higher Peak: 5262.57 km/3270.71 mi
Nearest Higher Neighbor: Yulongxue Shan (NW)