What makes a great Monday morning? Sleeping in? Not wearing any clothes until lunch? How about summiting one of the world’s most active volcanoes via a treacherous three-hour trek through dense jungle at night with only a torch as your eyes, followed by a one-kilometre climb at a 70-degree angle atop loose rocks? If you fancy the last option you are either blissfully insane or fully prepared to climb Mt. Merapi in Central Java, which also requires the aforementioned insanity.
Whatever climbing skill and experience one may have, it is always highly recommended to hire an experienced guide, someone who can not only show the way but also alert hikers to any present dangers and hazards. This is especially important for those willing to fully summit the mountain, as Merapi has claimed several lives in the past, including naïve photographers who lost their footing on the loose rock and seasonal climbers who unfortunately were destined to rolling boulders screaming down the mountainside. So remember, although jump pictures are fairly cool, it’s just important to keep them on stable ground and not at the top of a volcano. The intense view from the summit of Merapi is not for everyone, but sometimes the most phenomenal things in life require a little danger, and climbing Mt. Merapi certainly is one of them.
Making a Merapi expedition extraordinary can also be budget-friendly as well. In Jogjakarta there are numerous little travel shacks that offer hiking packages to Merapi. On Jl. Prawirotaman, across from the popular Ministry of Coffee, a incredibly friendly travel business will offer everything a group of friends would need to begin a Merapi adventure, costing a mere 600,000 IDR for three people. Different agents can be found on Jalan Sosrowidjian in Jogjakarta as well, all for a very reasonable price. Without venturing into Jogjakarta, the easiest place for a base camp at Mt. Merapi can be found at New Selo, where guides can also be hired at friendly prices. There is one catch/advantage to starting a Merapi adventure with the travel agents, as most of their Mt. Merapi packages offer a climb that starts around 1am, where hikers arrive at the plateau of pasar bubrah or the mountain summit just as the eye of the day (the poetic translation of ‘sun’ in bahasa) is beginning to peak over the horizon, encapsulating the entire landscape in a surreal morning beauty that will be engraved in one’s mind forever to come. However, climbing at night does require a torch and, more importantly, warm clothes; it will get very, very cold. Also, as the day progresses Mt. Merapi is known to secrete certain gases, making the morning climb much safer in terms of not inhaling hot and toxic volcanic gasses like sulphur dioxide.
The final summit of Merapi will loom in the near distance, tormenting and tempting climbers, but those with famished legs will be fully surprised and fulfilled by the plateau’s exquisite demeanour during the sunrise. For some, pasar bubrah will not be enough to call it a day’s work, especially with the peak of Mt. Merapi hysterically laughing in their stern and determined faces. The climb from pasar bubrah to the summit takes between an hour and an hour and a half, depending on skill and speed. However, despite the skill, a slow and comfortable speed is highly recommended, as the entire climb is based on balancing across loose volcanic sand, climbing loose rock, and never looking down the steep slope. There are stories of climbers making it halfway up the climb and panicking after looking down, freezing and clutching the nearest rock for dear life, unable to move. A wrong step can turn into a deadly disaster, so climbers must be wary of their footing and hand placements: check the rocks before using them. Making it to the summit is something that the writer of this article refuses to detail, as what a terrible injustice that would be to the feelings of standing on top of one of the worlds most active volcanoes.
After the climb down in the early morning, passing farmers hard at work and the warungs opening at the New Solo base camp, the hikers are treated to breakfast and a sleepy ride back to wherever it was they came from. By utilizing one of the many travel companies in Jogjakarta, the entire climb will be organized and tailored to the hikers ability and wishes, making the entire journey a fantastic experience. Additionally, since Mt. Merapi is only about 28 km from Jogjakarta, a Mt. Merapi expedition can be perfectly supplemented by a trip to the famous Borobudur temple, where hikers can then learn about how they had already reached nirvana that cold and unforgettable morning; the one where the entire region was under a silhouette of the golden morning sun and the clouds rolled lazily over the lesser peaks below, where they were standing above the origins of fire.