Carstensz Pyramid is the traditional name among mountaineers for Puncak Jaya, the highestmountain in Oceania. (Dutchexplorer who first reported it to Europeans; Puncak means peak, and Jaya means victory.) It is located in what is variously called the Sudirman Range or the Dugunduguoo, in the western central highlands of Papua, the New Guinea.
The peak was formerly known as Puntjak Soekarno (Simplified Indonesian: Puncak Sukarno) meaning Peak of Sukarno, named after the first President of Indonesia. Carstensz Pyramid is the second highest mountain in Southeast Asia, behind Hkakabo Razi in Myanmar, and is also the highest island peak in the world.
Carstensz is a peak on the more demanding of the two principal Seven Summitspeak-bagging lists. It is held to have the highest technical rating (but 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 November1995. 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.
Puncak Jaya (IPA: 'pʊn.tʃæk 'dʒaɪ.ɔ), sometimes called CarstenszPyramid, is the highestmountain on the island of New Guinea, on the greater Australian continent and in Oceania.
Puncak Jaya was originally called CarstenszPyramid, 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).
CarstenszPyramid is one of the more demanding of the two principal Seven Summits peak-bagging lists.