Puncak Jaya
Encyclopedia
Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid (4,884 m) is the highest summit of Mount Carstensz (ˈkɑrstəns) in the Sudirman Range
of the western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia
(within Puncak Jaya Regency
). Other summits are East Carstensz Peak (4,808 m) and Ngga Pulu (4,863). Other names include Nemangkawi in the Amungkal
language, Carstensz Toppen and Gunung Sukarno.
At 4884 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 West Papua region 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
, 4509 m (14,793 ft), as the highest mountain peak in Oceania, on account of Indonesia being part of Asia
(Southeast Asia
).
explorer Jan Carstenszoon
who first sighted the glacier
s 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
.
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 predecessor of the Lorentz National Park
, which encompasses the Carstensz Range, was established in 1919 following the report of this expedition.
, unable to establish definitely which of the three summits was the highest, attempted to climb each. Anton Colijn
, Jean Jacques Dozy
and Frits Wissel reached both the glacier covered East Carstensz and Ngga Pulu summits on December 5, but through bad weather failed in their attempts to climb the bare Carstensz Pyramid. Because of extensive snow melt Ngga Pulu has become a 4,862 m subsidiary peak, but it has been estimated that in 1936 (when glaciers still covered 13 square km of the mountain; see map) Ngga Pulu was indeed the highest summit, reaching over 4,900 m.
The now highest Carstensz Pyramid summit was not climbed until 1962, by an expedition led by the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer
(of Seven Years in Tibet
fame, and climber of the Eiger
North Face) with three other expedition members – Philip Temple, Russell Kippax and Bert Huizenga. Temple, from New Zealand, had previously led an expedition into the area and pioneered the access route to the mountains.
When Indonesia took control of the province in 1963, 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'.
Melanesian orogeny, caused by oblique collision between the Australian and Pacific plate
s and is made of middle Miocene limestone
s.
While Puncak Jaya’s peak is free of ice, there are several glacier
s on its slopes, including the Carstensz Glacier
, West Northwall Firn
, East Northwall Firn
and the recently vanished Meren Glacier. Being equatorial, there is little variation in the mean temperature during the year (around 0.5°C) and the glaciers fluctuate on a seasonal basis only slightly. However, analysis of the extent of these rare equatorial glaciers from historical records show significant retreat since the 1850s, around the time of the Little Ice Age Maximum which primarily affected the Northern Hemisphere, indicating a regional warming of around 0.6°C per century between 1850 and 1972.
The glacier on Puncak Trikora
in the Maoke Mountains disappeared completely some time between 1939 and 1962. Since the 1970s, evidence from satellite imagery indicates the Puncak Jaya glaciers have been retreating rapidly. The Meren Glacier melted away sometime between 1994 and 2000. An expedition led by paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson
in 2010 found that the glaciers are receding at a rate of seven meters per year and will disappear in four to five years.
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.
Sudirman Range
The Sudirman Range or Dugunduguoo or Nassau Range is a mountain range in Papua province, Indonesia.Located at , it comprises a western portion of the Maoke Mountains. The highest peak in Oceania and Australasia, Puncak Jaya , is located here, as well as the large Grasberg copper and gold mine,...
of the western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
(within Puncak Jaya Regency
Puncak Jaya Regency
Puncak Jaya Regency is one of the regencies in Papua province, Indonesia. It is an inland highland regency, lying directly east of Paniai Regency and west of Jayawijaya Regency...
). Other summits are East Carstensz Peak (4,808 m) and Ngga Pulu (4,863). Other names include Nemangkawi in the Amungkal
Amungme
The Amungme are a group of about 13,000 people living in the highlands of the Papua province of Indonesia. Their language is called Damal.They practice shifting agriculture, supplementing their livelihood by hunting and gathering...
language, Carstensz Toppen and Gunung Sukarno.
At 4884 metres (16,024 ft) above sea level, Puncak Jaya is the highest mountain in Indonesia, the highest on the island of New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
(which comprises the Indonesian West Papua region plus Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
), the highest of Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
(Australia
Australia (continent)
Australia is the world's smallest continent, comprising the mainland of Australia and proximate islands including Tasmania, New Guinea, the Aru Islands and Raja Ampat Islands...
), and the 5th highest mountain in political Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. It is also the highest point between the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
and the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
, and the highest island peak in the world
World
World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
. Some sources claim Mount Wilhelm
Mount Wilhelm
Mount Wilhelm is the highest mountain in Papua New Guinea at . It is part of the Bismarck Range and the peak is the point where three provinces intersect, Simbu, Western Highlands and Madang...
, 4509 m (14,793 ft), as the highest mountain peak in Oceania, on account of Indonesia being part of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
).
Discovery
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 DutchNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
explorer Jan Carstenszoon
Jan Carstenszoon
Jan Carstenszoon or more commonly Jan Carstensz ) was a 17th century Dutch explorer.In 1623, Carstenszoon was commissioned by the Dutch East India Company to lead an expedition to the southern coast of New Guinea and beyond, to follow up the reports of land sighted further south in the 1606 voyages...
who first sighted the glacier
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s 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
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
.
The snowfield of Puncak Jaya was reached as early as 1909 by a Dutch explorer, Hendrik Albert Lorentz with six of his indigenous Dayak
Dayak people
The Dayak or Dyak are the native people of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, located principally in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily...
Kenyah porters recruited from the Apo Kayan in Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
,. The predecessor of the Lorentz National Park
Lorentz National Park
Lorentz National Park is located in the Indonesian province of Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya . With an area of 25,056 km² , it is the largest national park in South-East Asia...
, which encompasses the Carstensz Range, was established in 1919 following the report of this expedition.
Climbing history
In 1936 the Dutch Carstensz ExpeditionCarstensz Expedition
The Carstensz Expedition was made in 1936 by Anton Colijn, Jean Jacques Dozy and Frits Wissel. They left on October 29, 1936 from Aika, a town on the southern coast of Dutch New Guinea on December 24 and returned. The aim of the expedition was reached by climbing the highest peak of the...
, unable to establish definitely which of the three summits was the highest, attempted to climb each. Anton Colijn
Anton Colijn
Antonie Hendrikus Colijn was a Dutch amateur mountaineer who in 1936 led the Carstensz Expedition, being the first to climb the Carstenszgebergte in New Guinea....
, Jean Jacques Dozy
Jean Jacques Dozy
Jean Jacques Dozy was a Dutch geologist.In 1936, he discovered the Ertsberg on New Guinea that gave rise to the Grasberg copper mine. In 1939, he published an article about his find, but it was neglected due to World War II...
and Frits Wissel reached both the glacier covered East Carstensz and Ngga Pulu summits on December 5, but through bad weather failed in their attempts to climb the bare Carstensz Pyramid. Because of extensive snow melt Ngga Pulu has become a 4,862 m subsidiary peak, but it has been estimated that in 1936 (when glaciers still covered 13 square km of the mountain; see map) Ngga Pulu was indeed the highest summit, reaching over 4,900 m.
The now highest Carstensz Pyramid summit was not climbed until 1962, by an expedition led by the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer was an Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author.He is best known for his books Seven Years in Tibet and The White Spider .-Athletics:...
(of Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet
Seven Years in Tibet is an autobiographical travel book written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer based on his real life experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War and the interim period before the Communist Chinese People's Liberation Army invaded Tibet in...
fame, and climber of the Eiger
Eiger
The Eiger is a mountain in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m...
North Face) with three other expedition members – Philip Temple, Russell Kippax and Bert Huizenga. Temple, from New Zealand, had previously led an expedition into the area and pioneered the access route to the mountains.
When Indonesia took control of the province in 1963, the peak was renamed 'Puntjak Soekarno' (Simplified Indonesian
Indonesian language
Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....
: Puncak Sukarno) or Sukarno Peak, after the first President of Indonesia
President of Indonesia
The President of the Republic of Indonesia is the head of state and the head of government of the Republic of Indonesia.The first president was Sukarno and the current president is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.- Sukarno era :...
; later this was changed to Puncak Jaya. Puncak means peak or mountain and Jaya means 'victory', 'victorious' or 'glorious'.
Geology
Puncak Jaya is the highest point on the central range, which was created in the late MioceneMiocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
Melanesian orogeny, caused by oblique collision between the Australian and Pacific plate
Pacific Plate
The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At 103 million square kilometres, it is the largest tectonic plate....
s and is made of middle Miocene limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
s.
Access
Access to the peak requires a government permit. The mountain was closed to tourists and climbers between 1995 and 2005. As of 2006, access is possible through various adventure tourism agencies.Glaciers
Glacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s on its slopes, including the Carstensz Glacier
Carstensz Glacier
The Carstensz Glacier is near the peak of Puncak Jaya which is a mountain in the Sudirman Range, western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia. The glacier is situated at an altitude of approximately and is east of the summit tower of Puncak Jaya...
, West Northwall Firn
West Northwall Firn
The West Northwall Firn is a glacial body near the peak of Puncak Jaya which is a mountain in the Sudirman Range, western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia...
, East Northwall Firn
East Northwall Firn
The East Northwall Firn is a glacier near the peak of Puncak Jaya which is a mountain in the Sudirman Range, western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia. The glacier is situated at an altitude of approximately and is northeast of the summit tower of Puncak Jaya...
and the recently vanished Meren Glacier. Being equatorial, there is little variation in the mean temperature during the year (around 0.5°C) and the glaciers fluctuate on a seasonal basis only slightly. However, analysis of the extent of these rare equatorial glaciers from historical records show significant retreat since the 1850s, around the time of the Little Ice Age Maximum which primarily affected the Northern Hemisphere, indicating a regional warming of around 0.6°C per century between 1850 and 1972.
The glacier on Puncak Trikora
Puncak Trikora
Puncak Trikora, until 1963 Wilhelmina Peak, is a 4730 or high mountain in the Papua province of Indonesia on New Guinea. It lies in the eastern part of the Sudirman Range of the Maoke Mountains. Behind Puncak Jaya at , it is either the second or third highest mountain on the island of New Guinea...
in the Maoke Mountains disappeared completely some time between 1939 and 1962. Since the 1970s, evidence from satellite imagery indicates the Puncak Jaya glaciers have been retreating rapidly. The Meren Glacier melted away sometime between 1994 and 2000. An expedition led by paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson
Lonnie Thompson
Lonnie Thompson , is an American paleoclimatologist and Distinguished University Professor in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University. He has achieved global recognition for his drilling and analysis of ice cores from mountain glaciers and ice caps in the tropical and sub-tropical...
in 2010 found that the glaciers are receding at a rate of seven meters per year and will disappear in four to five years.
Climbing
Puncak Jaya is one of the more demanding climbs in one version of the Seven SummitsSeven Summits
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass .-Definition:...
peak-bagging list. (It is replaced by Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia...
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
Grasberg mine
The Grasberg Mine is the largest gold mine and the third largest copper mine in the world. It is located in the province of Papua in Indonesia near Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain in Papua, and it has 19,500 employees...
, the area is highly inaccessible to hikers and the general public, requiring a 100-km hike from the nearest town with an airport, Timika
Timika
Timika is a chartered city , and the capital of Mimika Regency of Papua, Indonesia....
, to the base camp, which usually takes about four or five days each way.
See also
- Seven SummitsSeven SummitsThe Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass .-Definition:...
- List of highest mountains of New Guinea
- List of Southeast Asian mountains
External links
- Racing Time on Oceania's Highest Peak by The Earth InstituteThe Earth InstituteThe Earth Institute was established at Columbia University in 1995. The research institute's stated mission is to address complex issues facing the planet and its inhabitants, with particular focus on sustainable development and the needs of the world's poor...
- Puncak Jaya on Peakware
- Puncak Jaya on Peakbagger
- Carstensz Expedition Report - 90+ Photos
- Information for climbers
- Carstensz Pyramid Expeditions
- Carstensz Pyramid Team for Expedition Trip to Carstensz Pyramid
- Carstensz Pyramid Expedition
- Carstensz Expedition