The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven.
The Aletsch Glacier or Great Aletsch Glacier is the largest glacier in the Alps. It has a length of about 23 km (14 mi) (2014), a volume of 15.4 km3 (3.7 cu mi) (2011), and covers about 81.7 km2 (2011) in the eastern Bernese Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais. The Aletsch Glacier is composed of four smaller glaciers converging at Konkordiaplatz, where its thickness was measured by the ETH to be still near 1 km (3,300 ft). It then continues towards the Rhône valley before giving birth to the Massa. The Aletsch Glacier is – like most glaciers in the world today – a retreating glacier. As of 2016, since 1980 it lost 1.3 kilometres (0.81 mi) of its length, since 1870 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi), and lost also more than 300 metres (980 ft) of its thickness.
Western New Guinea, also known as Papua, Indonesian New Guinea, and Indonesian Papua, is the western half of the island of New Guinea, formerly Dutch and granted to Indonesia in 1962. Given the island is alternatively named Papua, the region is also called West Papua.
Puncak Trikora is a 4,730 or 4,750-metre-high (15,584 ft) mountain in the Highland Papua province of Indonesia on New Guinea. It lies in the eastern part of the Sudirman (Nassau) Range of the Maoke Mountains.
The retreat of glaciers since 1850 is well documented and is one of the effects of climate change. The retreat of mountain glaciers provide evidence for the rise in global temperatures since the late 19th century. Examples include mountain glaciers in western North America, Asia, the Alps in central Europe and tropical and subtropical regions of South America and Africa. Since glacial mass is affected by long-term climatic changes, e.g., precipitation, mean temperature, and cloud cover, glacial mass changes are one of the most sensitive indicators of climate change. Retreat of glaciers is also a major reason for sea level rise. Excluding peripheral glaciers of ice sheets, the total cumulated global glacial losses over the 26-year period from 1993 to 2018 were likely 5500 gigatons, or 210 gigatons per yr.
The glacier rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is endemic to the New Guinea Highlands near Puncak Trikora and Puncak Jaya, West Papua, Indonesia. Its altitudinal range is 3,225–4,500 m (10,581–14,764 ft) above sea level.
The New Guinea Highlands, also known as the Central Range or Central Cordillera, is a long chain of mountain ranges on the island of New Guinea, including the island's tallest peak, Puncak Jaya, Indonesia, 16,024 ft (4,884 m), the highest mountain in Oceania. The range is home to many intermountain river valleys, many of which support thriving agricultural communities. The highlands run generally east-west the length of the island, which is divided politically between Indonesia in the west and Papua New Guinea in the east.
New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, with an area of 785,753 km2 (303,381 sq mi). Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the 150-kilometre wide Torres Strait, though both landmasses lie on the same continental shelf, and were united during episodes of low sea level in the Pleistocene glaciations as the combined landmass of Sahul. Numerous smaller islands are located to the west and east. The island's name was given by Spanish explorer Yñigo Ortiz de Retez during his maritime expedition of 1545 due to the resemblance of the indigenous peoples of the island to those in the African region of Guinea.
Tsinga or Singa is a village in Indonesia located in Western New Guinea, in the kabupaten of Mimika Regency.
Puncak Mandala or Mandala Peak is a mountain located in Highland Papua, Indonesia. At 4,760 metres (15,617 ft), it is the highest point of the Jayawijaya (Orange) Range and is included in Seven Second Summits. Following Mount Carstensz 350 km to the west, Mandala is the second-highest freestanding mountain in Oceania, Australasia, New Guinea, and Indonesia.
Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of 4,884 m (16,024 ft), is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth, and the highest peak in Indonesia. As the western half of New Guinea is politically associated with Southeast Asia, Puncak Jaya can be considered the 8th highest mountain of this region. However, as the whole island of New Guinea is biogeographically part of the Australian continent, the peak can also be considered the highest of all Oceania, and thus one of the Seven Summits.
The West Northwall Firn was a glacial body on Mount Carstensz in the Sudirman Range on the island of New Guinea in Central Papua province, Indonesia. The glacier was situated at an elevation of approximately 4,600 metres (15,100 ft) to 4,750 metres (15,580 ft), centered a little over 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northwest of Ngga Pulu and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) of Puncak Jaya, the highest peak of Oceania.
The East Northwall Firn was a glacier on Mount Carstensz in the Sudirman Range on the island of New Guinea in Central Papua province, Indonesia. Situated at an elevation of approximately 4,750 metres (15,580 ft) 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) NNW of Puncak Jaya, the highest summit in Oceania. It broke up in three patches in or before 2017.
Ngga Pulu is a summit on the north rim of Mount Carstensz in the western part of the island of New Guinea rising 4,862 metres (15,951 ft). Trigonometric measurements showed that Ngga Pulu was the highest mountain of New Guinea and also the highest summit of the Australia-New Guinea continent. The elevation of Ngga Pulu in 1936 was about 4,907 m (16,099 ft), and it was the highest and most prominent peak between the Himalaya and the Andes. However, due to glacial melting, Ngga Pulu lost a lot of elevation in the 20th century, being surpassed by Puncak Jaya.
Sumantri Peak is a sharp mountain in the western Sudirman Range. It rises 4,870 metres (15,978 ft).
Ngga Pilimsit is a mountain located in the Indonesian province of Central Papua, in the Maoke Mountains. It rises 4,717 meters (15,476 ft). It is a little over thirteen miles west-northwest of Puncak Jaya, the highest peak of Oceania and Indonesia. The nearest peaks are Carstensz Pyramid, Wataikwa, Ubia, Venusberg, Otakwa, and Papua Peak 4061. Dependent on the definition used for an independent mountain, the peak ranks as the fourth to seventh highest mountain on New Guinea and in Indonesia.
The Seven Third Summits are the third-highest mountains of each of the seven continents. All of these mountain peaks are separate peaks rather than a sub-peak of the continents' high point. Christian Stangl from Austria claims to be the first person to reach the summit of all seven third summit mountains after climbing Puncak Mandala and Puncak Trikora. He did this as a part of his "Triple Seven Summits" project. Because of glacial melting and the disagreement over exactly which three peaks are the tallest in the Australian continent, Stangl also climbed several additional candidate peaks including Sumantri and Ngga Pulu.
Central Papua, officially the Central Papua Province is an Indonesian province located in the central region of Western New Guinea. It was formally established on 11 November 2022 from the former eight western regencies of the province of Papua. It covers an area of 61,072.91 km2 and had an officially estimated population of 1,452,810 in mid 2023. It is bordered by the Indonesian provinces of West Papua to the west, the province of Papua to the north and northeast, by Highland Papua to the east, and by South Papua to the southeast. The administrative capital is located in Wanggar District in Nabire Regency, although Timika is a larger town.
Animated map of the extent of the glaciers of the Carstens Range from 1850 to 2003
Puncak Jaya region icecap in 1936.
Puncak Jaya glaciers in 1972. Left to right: West Northwall Firn, East Northwall Firn, Meren Glacier (now disappeared), and Carstensz Glacier. See also animation.
