Puncak Mandala

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The Puncak Mandala earlier Julianatop, is a mountain in the province of Papua in Indonesia and is part of the Jayawijaya Mountains in Maokegebirge. The peak height is conventionally usually given with 4760 m, other measurements showed with 4640 m and 4737 m significantly lower values. The Puncak Mandala is listed as the second highest mountain ( depending on the source also Puncak TRIKORA or Ngga Pulu ) on the island of New Guinea by the Carstensz Pyramid ( Puncak Jaya ) with 4884 m and is therefore in mountaineering one of the candidates for the status of the Second Summit on the Australian continent.

Ascents

The first ascent was made in 1959 in the context of a large Dutch expedition to explore the Jayawijaya Mountains, a very remote region in the interior of the island of New Guinea. On September 9, 1959 reached Herman Verstappen, Arthur Escher, Max Tissing, Jan de Wijn and Piet ter Laag from the summit of the north. In 1990, the first ascent of the south face challenging by Bruce Parry and Mark Anstice took place. To date, the mountain is rarely climbed mainly because of its difficult access.

Melting of the ice cap

1909 Puncak Mandala was first recorded as snow-capped peaks and made ​​a sketch of its ice cap. Since then, the mountain was as permanent snow - or ice-covered. Aerial photographs of the United States Air Force from 1945 a summit glacier can be seen running from the Summit on the flat sloping north side of the mountain. The Dutch expedition of the first climbers estimated the thickness of 1959 to about 100 meters. Compared to the recordings of 1945, the glacier appears already significantly reduced.

One dated 2007 and 2008, published in the Journal of Glaciology investigation of the Texas A & M University, based on the analysis of satellite imagery, comes to the conclusion that in 1989 there were still remnants of a melting ice cap, the extent of which did not exceed 15,000 square feet. By March 2003, this had completely disappeared.

Height

The height of the mountain is valued very differently in different sources. Several sources of climbers circles, among other things, the German mountain chronicler Eberhard Jurgalski giving high with 4760 m. A NASA radar measurement ( SRTM ) in 2000 led to an altitude of about 4737 m. The attachment of the Texas A & M University for melting of the ice caps from 2007, however, calls with a significantly lower 4640 m altitude.

Because of this conflicting information, the question is problematic whether the Puncak Mandala or the Puncak TRIKORA has the higher peaks. This is mainly for climbers of interest because one of the two peaks of the Seven Second Summits could be counted. NASA radar measurements of both massifs indicate with a certain probability to the Puncak Mandala. The measurement method used is, however, not intended to measure exact terrain points, but missed small surface sections, both for the height ( P. Mandala: 4737 m; P. TRIKORA: 4711 m) are therefore only approximations that are subject to random variation.