Reflections of Joanne

Every traveler's pride

We were up at 2am on the morning of the next day, and after some tea and biscuits, a group of us set off for the top, to catch the sunrise at 6am. This climb of over 700m was as close to h*ll as you can get: the first stage up to the main ridge was hard, the second stage along the top of the ridge was reasonable, but the last 100m or so was terrible. Imagine trying to walk up a big mound of coal, or a pile of sand, and you might get close to imagining the summit of Rinjani: one step up, three steps backwards, clawing with your hands to maintain a grip in the freezing winds as dust fills your eyes and stones fill your shoes. It took a good three hours of torturous ascent before I reached the top, arriving at the top alone and just in time to see the sunrise. Eventually everyone else arrived, bar the casualties who had turned back, and the world spread out below us. 12,000 feet is a hell of a long way above sea level, I can tell you, and the kretek cigarette that I gave the driver and the porters (as a form of appreciation) as the lake lit up in the sunlight was just the icing on the cake...

Aside from the physical and mental demands, there were the unusual points about Rinjani that made the walk such a different experience from other volcano treks I'd done. For example, down by the lake were women in Islamic dress, with habits hiding their heads, and prayer mats laid out to face Mecca. The locals just slept on the ground, or in the makeshift shelters dotted along the way, and they did the walk with gear that no self-respecting Westerner would even consider using. And I didn't see one cooker on the whole trip: everyone made a fire on which to cook their meal, something that's quite rightly banned in a lot of Western national parks.


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*INDONESIA, JOURNEY UNTOLD*
LOMBOK - Gunung Rinjani \| Journey \| Every Traveler's Pride \| And Ordeal \| Den
	Every traveler's pride We were up at 2am on the morning of the next day, and after some tea and biscuits, a group of us set off for the top, to catch the sunrise at 6am. This climb of over 700m was as close to h*ll as you can get: the first stage up to the main ridge was hard, the second stage along the top of the ridge was reasonable, but the last 100m or so was terrible. Imagine trying to walk up a big mound of coal, or a pile of sand, and you might get close to imagining the summit of Rinjani: one step up, three steps backwards, clawing with your hands to maintain a grip in the freezing winds as dust fills your eyes and stones fill your shoes. It took a good three hours of torturous ascent before I reached the top, arriving at the top alone and just in time to see the sunrise. Eventually everyone else arrived, bar the casualties who had turned back, and the world spread out below us. 12,000 feet is a hell of a long way above sea level, I can tell you, and the kretek cigarette that I gave the driver and the porters (as a form of appreciation) as the lake lit up in the sunlight was just the icing on the cake... Aside from the physical and mental demands, there were the unusual points about Rinjani that made the walk such a different experience from other volcano treks I'd done. For example, down by the lake were women in Islamic dress, with habits hiding their heads, and prayer mats laid out to face Mecca. The locals just slept on the ground, or in the makeshift shelters dotted along the way, and they did the walk with gear that no self-respecting Westerner would even consider using. And I didn't see one cooker on the whole trip: everyone made a fire on which to cook their meal, something that's quite rightly banned in a lot of Western national parks.