Of all the Seven Summits, Carstensz Pyramid, aka Puncak Jaya, in New Guinea is undoubtedly the most exotic and technical to climb. It’s also part of the “list” discussion. Are there seven or eight “Seven Summits?” But just getting there can be the real challenge. The Freeport Mining company controls the area and employs 12,000 people. They often close roads, detain climbers trespassing on their land, and labor strikes can bring the entire area to a halt.
Overview
Kosciuszko and Carstensz Pyramid vie, for which is the seventh of the Seven Summits. Most people who want to climb all seven climb all eight! Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya), New Guinea, is 16,023 feet/4884 meters high. The mountain is in the Sudirman Range of the highlands of Mimika Regency, Central Papua, Indonesia. It’s expensive, in the mid-$20,000 range for the 2024 season.
The Dutch explorer Jan Carstensz first sighted the peak in 1623, and Puncak Jaya was named “Carstensz Pyramid” after Dutch explorer Jan Carstenszoon. He was ridiculed for claiming to have seen glaciers on CP, given how close it was to the equator, and it took 200 hundred to verify his claim. It was first climbed by Austrian Heinrich Harrer and his team in 1962.
American Dick Bass hatched the Seven Summits idea. He started with six summits in 1983: Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, Denali, Vinson and Kosciuszko. Then, with guide David Breashears, he became the oldest person, 55 at the time, to summit Everest in 1985. Bass chose Australia as one of the seven continents and Kosciusko as its mainland high point. However, Canadian Pat Morrow, who was competing with Bass to finish the 7, challenged Bass’s summit of Australia’s Mt. Kosciusko as the highest peak in Oceania, saying that Carstensz Pyramid on Irian Jaya (Papua) in Indonesia’s New Guinea was the actual high point for the Australasian continental mass. Italian Reinhold Messner jumped in and agreed with Morrow.
Today, Carstensz is considered one of the seven, but some Seven Summiteers try to bag the lower Kosciuszko to meet the Bass and the Messner lists. Canadian Patrick Morrow became the first to summit all seven with Carstensz besides Kosciuszko in 1986. Italy mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner summited all the peaks without supplemental oxygen, a first, and completed the task in 1986.
One challenge is avoiding interaction with the Freeport mining company, which runs the world’s largest gold and copper mine, Grasberg, only a few miles from the summit of Carstensz. They have strict, non-negotiable rules forbidding any trespassing on their land. But some willingly ignore the regulations and face capture and detainment in large, dark, ocean-going crates for a day or two with only the food and water they had with them. This is well known, yet it happens almost every year.
Culturally, Dani tribe members of the Beliem Valley dominate the area, providing both enjoyment and a threat. The Dani people wear traditional clothing, or none, paint their faces and travel with long knives and guns to kill wild boar. It was far from civilization as I have ever felt. Besides the cultural experience, they are all business people who earn good money by leading climbers through the jungles. We planned to take a helicopter and were threatened with death if we didn’t make up for the lost wages from carrying our loads to BC. This holding hostage situation is quite common. We paid thousands of dollars not to be killed and take the helicopter.
Logistics and Difficulty
Carstensz Pyramid ranks at the top, along with Vinson, of all the 7 Summits that have difficulty reaching the mountain base. Almost all teams will fly to Bali and then to Timika, Papua. You usually spend a night there, but political or local issues involving the Mine can stall it. Next is a short flight to the remote village of Bilogai in Sugapa at 7362 feet/2244 meters. Once there, you deal with the Dani before moving to base camp. Today, most teams use helicopters to fly to CP Base Camp at 14,019 feet/4273 meters. The other choice is a five-day trek through a leech-infested, dense, hot and humid jungle. No matter the choice, it is a miserable, wet landscape that will make you plea to go back to crevasses, avalanches, and heavy snow!
CP, like Elbrus, can be closed for random reasons, mostly involving violence. You will need a permit from the government; recently, they opened and closed climbing with no notice after some violent event. CP was closed for climbing between 1995 and 2005.
Routes and Dangers
While there are several routes on the mountain, one dominates, as is usually the case for most of the Seven Summits. The Normal Route, also known as Harrer’s Route, is the standard. The American Direct, on the other hand, is highly technical and involves ascending a steep Carstensz headwall. The East Ridge, situated between the two routes, follows the ridgeline, adding to the technical challenge of the climb.
Climbing
The climbing is the most technical of the 7 Summits, requiring rock scrambling and a brief mid-5th Class rock section. The most exciting part is crossing a 50-foot gap using a Tyrolean traverse. You clip into a steel cable, hang upside down and pull yourself across. Today, they have updated the crossing, so you execute the crossing by tight-roping a thin steel cable with two safety lines to hold on to.
Summary
CP is a fun cultural experience, but I’d never go back, nor would I have ever gone in the first place, if it wasn’t for my project to raise money and awareness about Alzheimer’s through climbing the Seven Summits.
If you want to cover all the Seven Summits angles, here is the list of nine climbs:
- Everest, Nepal – 29,035/8850m
- Aconcagua, Argentina – 22,902/6960m
- Denali, Alaska – 20,320/6194m
- Kilimanjaro, Africa – 19,340/5896m
- Elbrus, Russia – 18,513/5642m
- Vinson, Antarctica – 16,067/4897m
- Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya), New Guinea – 16,023/4884m
- Mt. Blanc, France/Italy – 15,771’/4807m
- Mt. Kościuszko, Australia – 7,310/2228m
Episodes will drop each week:
- September 15: Introduction
- September 22: Mt. Kościuszko, Australia – 7,310/2228m
- September 29: Mt. Blanc, France/Italy – 15,771’/4807m
- October 6: Vinson, Antarctica – 16,067/4897m
- October 13: Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya), New Guinea – 16,023/4884m
- October 20: Elbrus, Russia – 18,513/5642m
- October 27: Kilimanjaro, Africa – 19,340/5896m
- November 3: Denali, Alaska – 20,320/6194m
- November 10: Aconcagua, Argentina – 22,902/6960m
- November 17: Everest, Nepal/Tibet – 29,035/8850m
Safe climbing to all.
Climb On!
Alan
Memories are Everything
Video podcast version of Episode 5: Seven Summits: Carstensz Pyramid
You can listen to my podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Anchor, and more. Just search for “Alan Arnette” on your favorite podcast platform.
Summit Coach
If you dream of climbing mountains but are unsure how to start or reach your next level, from a Colorado 14er to Rainier, Everest, or even K2, we can help. Summit Coach is a consulting service that helps aspiring climbers throughout the world achieve their goals through a personalized set of consulting services based on Alan Arnette’s 25 years of high-altitude mountain experience, including summits of Everest, K2, and Manaslu, and 30 years as a business executive.
