PUNCAK JAYA / CARSTENSZ PYRAMID 4,884 metres / 16,023 feet – as one of the world’s seven summit become unreasonable to climb.
Location : West Papua Province, Indonesia
Range : Sudirman Mountains
Coordinates : 4°5′S 137°11′ECoordinates: 4°5′S 137°11′E
Puncak Jaya, sometimes called Mount Carstensz or the Carstensz Pyramid, is the highest mountain on the island of New Guinea, on the Australia-New Guinea continent and in Oceania. It is the highest point between the Himalaya and the Andes and the highest island peak in the world. The peak is located in what is variously called the Sudirman Range or the Dugunduguoo, in the western central highlands of Papua, the Indonesian western half of the island, and is the highest peak in the country.
HISTORY
Puncak Jaya was originally called ‘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 (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 A. Lorentz, 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.
PERMIT AND ACCESS
As you visit Irian Jaya, you will be requested a police permit or in bahasa “Surat Jalan / Traveling Permit”. Please provide 2 photographs, 4 x 6 size, with red background and a copy of passport when you register the expedition.
Our Expedition Trip offers two route options of the Carstensz Pyramid Expedition program: first, trekking route crossing rain forest from Sugapa/Bilogai and second, by private helicopter from Nabire directly to Base Camp Danau – Danau valley.