Puncak Jaya [Carstensz Pyramid]

Seven summits [oceania]

Puncak Jaya, sometimes called Mount Carstensz or the Carstensz Pyramid (kɑrstənz/), 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).

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.[4] 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 'victorious' or 'glorious'.

While Puncak Jaya’s peak is free of ice, there are several glaciers on its slopes, including the Carstensz Glacier and the Northwall Firn. 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. Puncak Jaya is one of the more demanding climbs in one version of the Seven Summits peak-bagging list. 

•  source: wikipedia/Puncak_Jaya

for travel information or climbing pyramids carstenzs can contact

ADVENTURE INDONESIA - Papua
Jl. Trikora No.2, PO Box. 152
Wamena 99511 - Irian Jaya Papua
E-mail: wamena@adventureindonesia.com 

or

ADVENTURE INDONESIA - Jakarta
Wisma 31, 3rd Fl,Kemang Raya Street No.31 Jakarta12730,Indonesia
Phone: 62-21-718-2250 or 62-21-718-2256 -
Fax: 62-21-718-0438
E-mail: advindo@cbn.net.id