Seven Second Summits Major Update
Sunday, 07 April 2013 15:02

It seemed to be confirmed, that Puncak Mandala is the second highest mountain in New Guinea, but a new private GPS survey had a different result.

The Australian survey map with the results from 1973 marked Ngga Pulu as 4862 m and Sumantri as only 4810 m. SRTM was not helpful in this case and so it was thought to be unlikely that within the Carstensz massif there is a second independent mountain. Ngga Pulu shrank because its ice cap was melting, but Sumantri did not and is nowadays about 25 to 30 meters higher than Ngga Pulu. It appeared that the surveyed height of Sumantri from 1973 was completely wrong.

The recently measured difference between Sumantri and the connecting col to the Carstensz Pyramid is large enough to recognize Sumantri as independent mountain and therefore as the second highest mountain in New Guinea.

The table is updated here!

The altitude of Sumantri is approximate, an accurate DGPS measuring or a new land survey would help to have a more exact one.