Description:
The highest peak between the Andes and the Himalaya is Carstensz Pyramid (or Puncak Jaya), rising to almost 5000 meters on the tropical island of New Guinea. It is also the highest mountain on an island on the planet, and perhaps the strongest candidate for highest point of the Australia/Oceania continent.
Europeans have long called this peak the Carstensz Pyramid, or Mount Carstensz, after the Dutch navigator who first sighted it on a rare clear day. The Netherlands held on to western New Guinea longer than the rest of Indonesia, turning the area over in 1960. The Indonesians then renamed the peak Puncak Jaya, or "Mount Victory", once they gained control of the area. But most English-speaking mountaineers still call the peak Carstensz, and that name is most often used by the increasing hordes of seven-summit devotees.
Carstensz is high and wet enough to support some small glaciers, only 4 degrees from the equator. Surrounded by unexplored rainforest, the area is difficult to reach for the casual tourist. Recent guerilla activity by the OPM rebel group, seeking West Papua's independence from Indonesia, has made the situation more difficult. There is a large copper mine just 8 kilometers west of the summit at Tembagapura. This operation is owned by a U.S. corporation and it has become a flashpoint in the struggle, with the natives maintaining that the mine is polluting and imperialist. Neither the OPM or the miners are very friendly to climbers, and access remains difficult.
Still, as one of the dominant peaks of the world and generally considered one of the "Seven Summits", Carstensz is still climbed by intrepid westerners, mostly on pre-arranged adventure-travel tours. The rich culture of the isolated tribes of the central New Guinea highlands is an added attraction to any journey into the area. |
