Puncak Jaya
At 4,884 Metres The Highest Peak In Oceania And One Of The Seven Summits; The Highest Island Mountain On Earth, Inside UNESCO Listed Lorentz National Park · Sugapa, Central Papua
At FOUR THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-FOUR METRES, Puncak Jaya is THE HIGHEST PEAK IN OCEANIA, THE HIGHEST ISLAND MOUNTAIN ON EARTH, and ONE OF THE SEVEN SUMMITS - which is why people plan years and considerable expense around a mountain most travellers have never heard of. It is not a walk-up. THE SUMMIT ROUTE IS TECHNICAL ROCK CLIMBING, with graded pitches and a Tyrolean traverse across a gap, on a limestone wall standing above rainforest near the equator. JAN CARSTENSZ REPORTED SNOW ON THE EQUATOR HERE IN 1623 AND WAS RIDICULED IN EUROPE FOR IT; the glaciers he saw are still there and are the only ones in Asia outside the Himalaya, and they are nearly gone - they have lost the great majority of their area and are expected to disappear entirely within decades. GETTING HERE IS HARDER THAN CLIMBING IT - either a mine road requiring permission almost nobody gets, or four to six days on foot through rainforest and swamp, in a region where expeditions have been suspended outright for security.
Sudirman Range, Lorentz National Park, Central Papua, Sugapa, Central Papua, Indonesia
THERE IS NO SEASON, NO GATE AND NO SIMPLE WAY IN. TWO ROUTES EXIST. THE FIRST IS THROUGH THE FREEPORT GRASBERG MINE ROAD, which is fast, requires corporate permission that is rarely granted, and is outside any traveller's control. THE SECOND IS A FOUR TO SIX DAY TREK EACH WAY FROM SUGAPA OR ILAGA through rainforest, swamp and high grassland, with porters, and it is genuinely hard walking before any climbing begins. EXPEDITIONS ARE ORGANISED BY SPECIALIST OPERATORS, months in advance, and a travel permit - surat jalan - has been required. THE SECURITY SITUATION IN THE PAPUAN HIGHLANDS IS REAL: expeditions have been disrupted, and there have been kidnappings and shootings in the region. CHECK CURRENT GOVERNMENT ADVICE AND OPERATOR BRIEFINGS rather than older accounts.