The date is December 5th 1936, and the three friends on the picture have reasons to be happy: they have just successfully made the first ascent of what was then the highest mountain between the Himalayas and the Andes: the 4,900 m Ngga Pulu in Dutch New Guinea. Incidentally one of them has also just discovered what would become one of the largest gold and copper deposits in the world! Snow on the Equator On a rare clear day in February 1623 Dutch explorer Jan Carstenszoon had first sighted the glaciers on the peak of the mountain from his ship […]