| Puncak Trikora | |
|---|---|
| Ettiakup | |
_and_west_ridge_by_Christian_Stangl_flickr.jpg) Puncak Trikora from north. Main summit (center left) and west ridge (right) | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 4,750 m (15,580 ft) |
| Prominence | 1,268 m (4,160 ft) |
| Listing | Seven Third Summits[a] |
| Coordinates | 4°15′44″S138°40′54″E / 4.26222°S 138.68167°E /-4.26222; 138.68167 |
| Geography | |
  Puncak Trikora Location in Indonesia Show map of Indonesia | |
| Location | Highland Papua,Indonesia |
| Parent range | Maoke Mountains |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 21 February 1913 by Franssen Herderschee, Hubrecht and Versteeg |
Puncak Trikora (literally "PeakPeople's Triple Command") is a 4,730 or 4,750-metre-high (15,584 ft) mountain in theHighland Papua province ofIndonesia onNew Guinea. It lies in the eastern part of theSudirman (Nassau) Range of theMaoke Mountains.
BehindPuncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) at 4,884 m (16,024 ft), it is either the second or third highest mountain on the island ofNew Guinea and theAustralasian continent. As such it appears on someSeven Second Summits lists, althoughSRTM-data support thatPuncak Mandala (Juliana Peak) in theJayawijaya (Orange) Range is higher with 4,760 m (15,617 ft).[notes 1][notes 2]
TheDani living near lake Habbema call the mountainEttiakup.[1] Around 1905 the mountain was named after the DutchQueen Wilhelmina. When Indonesia obtained control ofWest New Guinea in 1963 it changed the name of the mountain to Puncak Trikora, after theTrikora (Tri Komando Rakyat, "People’s Triple Command") speech bySukarno given in December 1961 at a mass meeting inYogyakarta. The three commands were: to defeat the formation of an independent state ofWest Papua, raise the Indonesian flag in that country, and be ready for mobilization at any time.[2]
At the beginning of the 20th century all the highest mountains in New Guinea, including Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid), Puncak Mandala (Juliana Peak), Ngga Pilimsit (Idenburg), and Puncak Trikora (Wilhelmina Peak), were covered by glaciers. The first expeditions to the Maoke Mountains documented a strong recent retreat of all glaciers in the area. Theice cap of Puncak Trikora melted between 1936 and 1962. In 1909 the ice cap still reached as low as 4,400 m (14,436 ft).[3][4]
Puncak Trikora is a high point on the central range (Sudirman (Nassau) Range), which was created in the lateMioceneMelanesian orogeny,[5]caused by an oblique collision between the Australian andPacific plates and is made of middle Miocenelimestones.[6]
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_21_February_1913._By_A._F._Herderschee_(1872%25E2%2580%25931932).jpg)
The navigableNoord River made the mountain more accessible than the other snow-covered peaks ofDutch New Guinea and the Dutch organized a series of scientific expeditions in the early 20th century to reach the equatorial eternal snow and climb the mountain. The leader of the first two expeditions was the diplomat and amateur biologistH.A. Lorentz. Each expedition was accompanied by soldiers, porters, andDayaks, who were employed for their expertise with boat journeys.
In July 1907, the first expedition establishedCampAlkmaar near where the Noord River, since 1910 known as theLorentz River, became unnavigable (4°40′S138°42′E / 4.667°S 138.700°E /-4.667; 138.700), but was unsuccessful in penetrating the highest mountain range. TheSecond South New Guinea Expedition also used Camp Alkmaar, from where it left on October 9, 1909. A group of nine, including Lorentz and Jan Willem van Nouhuys, were the first to reach the eternal snow of New Guinea at a height of 4,460 m (14,633 ft) on November 8, 1909. From the ridge, they observed a large lake to the north, which Lorentz namedLake Habbema (4°08′S138°40′E / 4.133°S 138.667°E /-4.133; 138.667), after a member of the expedition. No attempt was made to reach the Wilhelmina summit. The return trip was severe; with the loss of four expedition members, the explorers finally returned to Camp Alkmaar in mid-December.
The summit was first reached in 1913 during theThird South New Guinea Expedition, which lasted from September 1912 to April 1913 and followed the same route. It was led by Alphons Franssen Herderschee, an officer of theRoyal Netherlands East Indies Army, and it aimed to research the soils, flora, and fauna of the region that lay above 2,300 metres. Other expedition members were the zoologistGerard Martinus Versteeg, the botanistAugust Adriaan Pulle, the geologistPaul François Hubrecht, andJ.B. Sitanala, an IndonesianGP. Herderschee also took over the role ofethnographer. Including soldiers, porters, and Dayaks, thebaggage train had 241 members. They were divided up into several groups to carry out the different tasks in a time-effective way. Herderschee, Hubrecht, and Versteeg formed the summit team, which reached theWilhelminatop on 21 February 1913.
The 1920-1922Central New Guinea Expedition had as its goal to reach the mountain from the north coast over a route partially explored in a 1914 military expedition. On February 7, 1920, the first exploration, under the leadership of A.J.A. van Overeem started at the mouth of theMamberamo and followed theIdenburg River. In October, they had climbed across the Doorman Mtns and reached the upperSwart Valley (now Toli Valley). Here they made first contact with theLani people (a.k.a. the WesternDani people), an agricultural people with whom they stayed for six weeks. Running out of time and food provisions, this expedition returned without climbing Wilhelmina.
A follow-up expedition starting in June 1921 and led by J.H.G. Kremer, who was a surveyor the previous year, retraced the route, and via the upperBaliem Valley and Lake Habbema reached the summit on 4 December 1921. Among the ascendants was Paul Hubrecht, who had been on the top in 1913 and noticed that the ice cap had retreated considerably since 8 years before.[7][8]
