Puncak Jaya
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Coordinates:
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4°5′ S 137°11′ E
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First ascent:
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1962 by
Heinrich Harrer and 3 others
<tr><td bgcolor=#e7dcc3 width=85>Easiest
route:
<td style="border-top:1px solid #e7dcc3" width=220>rock/snow/ice climb
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Puncak Jaya is the
highest mountain in
Oceania. (
Puncak, pronounced pun-chak, means peak or mountain and
Jaya, pronounced to rhyme with "eye", means biggest or highest.) Its traditional name among
mountaineers is
Carstensz Pyramid,
after
Dutch explorer Jan Carstensz who first reported it to Europeans. It is located in what is variously called the Sudirman Range or the Dugunduguoo, in the western central highlands of
Papua, the
Indonesian-controlled western half of the island of
New Guinea.
The peak was formerly known as Puntjak
Soekarno (Simplified
Indonesian: Puncak Sukarno) or Peak of Sukarno, after the first
President of Indonesia. It is the second highest
mountain in Southeast Asia, behind Hkakabo Razi in Myanmar, and the highest island peak in the world.
Carstensz Pyramid is on the more demanding of the two principal
Seven Summits peak-bagging lists. It is held to have the highest technical rating, though not the greatest physical demands, of that list's ascents. Although the snowfield of Puncak Jaya was reached as early as 1909 by a Dutch explorer, Hendrik A. Lorentz, the peak was not climbed until
1962, by an expedition led by the Austrian mountaineer
Heinrich Harrer with three friends - Temple, Kippax and Huizenga.
During the
1990s, separatist
guerrilla violence erupted in the province between local groups and the Indonesian military. Due to the deteriorating political situation, the Indonesian government closed off the mountain to public access in
November 1995. Access now requires a government permit, which always requires a lengthy wait and will be denied if political conditions are not conducive to having foreigners in the jungle.
External links
See also: Puncak Jaya, 1962, 1990s, 1995, Climbing route
