CLIMBING MOUNT RINJANI

26th - 29th August 2015

Mount Rinjani is one of the most stunning places I have ever been, but also sadly one of the most disgusting. Litter is a HUGE problem on the Rinjani trek, and no one seems to be doing anything about it. You pay a park fee to enter, so where does that money go? Definitely not on waste management, or on upkeep of the paths, as the railings have all seen much better days (railings were concreted in but the ground around the concrete has long since gone and all that's left is a ball of concrete that moves when you put your weight on the railing!) Still, the memories I have come away with after finishing the trek 6 hours ago are not of the rubbish, they are of the incredible truly panoramic views, once in a life time views in fact, (as it's safe to say I won't be going back up there - my legs, knees and feet are destroyed)

We first heard about climbing Rinjani from someone on our travels, (unfortunately I can't remember who!) They told us that the view from the summit was second to none, precisely because you had climbed a volcano and not a mountain. When you climb a really tall mountain, there will still be lots of other, not quite so tall mountains surrounding you, whereas the summit of a volcano is the highest point of a volcanic island, and the rest of the land drops away from you, meaning the views are completely 360. What we saw was truly breathtaking, we could see the complete circumference of Lombok island, as well as the three Gili Islands, a volcano on Bali was poking out the clouds, we could also see the shadow of Rinjani projected onto the clouds opposite (what we didn't see at Adams Peak in Sri Lanka) and we could see the horizon line, completely and perfectly uninterrupted. That really was a strange sight. But let me break down the whole trek for you. Firstly we had to get to the north of the island. The trekking company sent us a cab that winded through the beautiful island lanes. On route we passed an independence day celebration, a rural village wedding and stopped by a monkey rainforest. We fed the little guys some nuts by the side of the road before heading over to Green Ringani's offices (the trekking company) for our briefing, dinner and bed.

Day one: Sembalun village 1156m to Sembalun crater rim 2639m

We awoke to a stunning sunrise from our hotel window just up from Green Rinjani, complete with Rinjani view. The sky was a deep dark orange, and the enormity of what we were taking on begun to dawn upon us. We ate our breakfast in a hurry and spotted a couple of wild monkeys.

We were collected from our hotel and taken to the Green Rinjani office at 7am to make sure we had everything, then driven to Sembalun village to start the trek. Everywhere was bustling with porters packing up tents, cooking stoves, food and water into their baskets. I had never seen anything like the baskets on a pole they used to carry the group kit. It could only be carried on one shoulder and needed a hand on the pole at all times for balance. We would later see how these baskets had a duel use, as two were propped up and used as tent poles to hold a large piece of tarpaulin that the porters slept under. The most bizarre items being packed were eggs. Yup - eggs. On a trek. They were packaged in cardboard, but even so, one slip and we'd have sleeping bags covered in egg goop! They also strapped several small pineapples to the pole as a garnish.

Once everything was checked, we headed off with our guide Lim and a trainee guide named August (whose birthday must be roundabout now). As we were climbing a volcano, and we were at the bottom of it, the only way was up. Up, up and more up. It was hot and it was tiring. We stopped for lunch at 11ish as the porters needed a good hour to cook it. Everywhere around us were other groups, tonnes of porters, and rubbish. It was a far cry from the wilderness and isolation of the Annapurna Trek. A few times, me and Will exchanged glances, wondering why we'd signed up to an organised trek that was such a busy route and clearly had a huge waste management problem. However, all that was to change on the days that followed. But for now, we followed everyone else in a line up the volcano, until we reached the ridge which was to be our home for the night. The porters had beaten us there and were busy putting up tents and loo tents... Which we were in need of as some of the group had tummy issues.

At the camp there wasn't much of a view as thick white cloud had completely obscured the crater and lake, but it was pretty cool not knowing what was there and having to wait to see the view. However what we could see poking up through the swirling mass of white was stunning.

That evening we had dinner and discussed the plan of action for the following day. An early night followed as we were to be woken at 2am in order to climb to the peak in time for sunrise. We also planted some small trees, as the trekking company we chose are green and that's one of their initiatives.

Unfortunately, we had a camera malfunction that evening as the camera couldn't recognise the memory card. This was really worrying as we hadn't backed up rather a lot of photos and we were worried they would all be lost. We decided the best course of action was to not use the camera in case our old photos got overridden. So a lot of the photos you see are relying on smartphones, not our camera. Thanks a MILLION to Andy for all his amazing photos that you see on this post!

Day two: Sembalun crater rim 2639m to Mt. Rinjani summit 3726m to lake 2000m to campsite 2300m

We dragged ourselves out of our tents at half two, coaxed out by hot tea, coffee and a ham and cheese sandwich. Head torches and layers on, we set off, following what looked like a string of fairy lights stretching from camp up the mountain. There were hundreds of us, all heading up in single file towards the unknown. At first it wasn't so bad on the rocky path, but then came the sand and then finally the shale. Every step took concentration and a huge amount of energy as you stepped and your foot would slide back down. Pretty soon we realised that if you dug the front of your foot into the shale when you stepped, you had a better chance of not sliding down. However, it was tough, and only got tougher the longer you went on. The path up was extremely steep at points and levelled off at others. Oh and all of this was done in the dark! We knew we were climbing up the ridge, and could see the near vertical drop on one or both sides but couldn't see much else.

We watched the sun rise from the shelter of a rock, around 40 minutes scramble below the summit. We sat in amazement as the sky turned an incredible shade of intense orange, which gained in strength until the sun came bursting up in all it's glory. Meanwhile, the sky opposite the sunrise was pinky purple, forming a hazy line between land and sky.

Leaving that sheltered spot and continuing on to the top was a decision that I am so glad that I made (in hindsight) but didn't seem too appealing at the time. We were still 40 minutes away from the summit, but the entire path up was slippy slidey shale and rock, and my strength, energy and will to live had been sapped to breaking point. It was without doubt the most futile stretch of walking I've ever done. Ever. It was like a low budget but very effective version of the travelator at the end of Gladiators. You know, the final obstacle the contestants had to complete before the glory of breaking through the paper barrier and into the waiting arms of Ulrika Johnson. Spurred on by sheer pigheaded-ness, I trudged on, with Will always there to give encouragement/drag me. Finally Lucy and Andy came in to view (they'd been there ages) and we hugged before we had to carry on the final 10 minutes to get to the top. Oh man it was worth it. It was up there with one of the most beautiful, breathtaking, out of this world views that we've had the privilege of seeing on this trip. But no Ulrika-ka-ka unfortunately.

Once the sun had risen, it was also the first time we got to see the second volcano and the beautiful blue lake inside the volcano crater. The second volcano had formed in the crater of Rinjani and had erupted as recently as 2010, blowing the side off and making the lake loads smaller. There was still a forest at the lakes edge but a lot of it had been lost in the recent lava flow. It was awesome looking down into the volcano and then out at the rest of the island. We took a photo with the sign to prove we'd been up there.

(STILL AWAITING OUR PHOTO FROM LUCY !!!! )

Unfortunately what goes up, must come down. I was dreading this part, but it turned out that precisely the reason it was so damn hard to climb up (two steps up, one step down) worked in your favour going down, as it was one step down, two steps down! We practically slid most of the way down, stepping on the loose rock and letting our foot get carried down for another couple of steps worth. We almost ran down! It was a case of letting gravity do the work and semi-falling. It took us 5 hours to climb up from the campsite and only 1 hour 15 mins to get back down. 

Getting down we were treated with one of the most disgusting sights I've ever seen. There was rubbish EVERYWHERE. We hadn't seen that much of it when we arrived last night, and it was pitch black when we left in the morning to summit. Rubbish of all description was strewn everywhere; water bottles, plastic bags, chocolate wrappers, noodle wrappers, old food, gas canisters, you name it, there it was, dumped by humans who didn't give a shit. We made it back to our area of the campsite and watched in disbelief as a group of monkey's surveyed the scene and went through every piece of plastic to find food. They even ripped open plastic bags to find what had been left inside. Who bothers to collect up all their rubbish in plastic bag but then doesn't take it with them!? It's just as bad!!! It was awful seeing the monkeys sifting through plastic waste. What have we done to their home? Or did they move to the area because the humans leave all that stuff and it's all they can eat? We had a few Mexican stand offs with the alpha male of the pack when we were eating our second breakfast of banana pancakes and fruit. In Thailand we learnt to throw stones at/near the monkeys to scare them away. When the monkey saw Will moving to pick up a stone, he obviously knew that meant a missile would soon be hurled his way, and so he took a few steps back. This happened a few times, and by the end, we felt like we had a mutual understanding over territory. They could have anything below where we were, and we could keep eating our banana pancakes! We didn't take any pics... it was too heartbreaking.

After an hours rest and food, we headed off in the direction of the lake at around 11.30am. The climb down was seriously tough, especially after the walk we'd had that morning and the lack of sleep. It was very slow going, as it was a very steep rocky path, where you had to chose your step very carefully or you'd fall down the sheer drop. It took a lot of concentration. We arrived at the lake at 3ish and again were met with beauty and with more piles of rubbish. Bleugh.

We were due to head to the hot springs to bathe and hopefully relieve us of our aches and pains. The hot springs were truly beautiful and it felt amazing to have a hot bath and clean off all the grime with had acquired in the past 30 hours. It was so relaxing and none of us wanted to get out, especially because we still had an hour and a half of walking left that day.

We headed back to where our porters were making lunch and tucked into some noodles before setting off again. The itinerary actually stated that we should make it to the top of the next ridge by nightfall, but we (me) had been pretty slow and so we were behind everyone that was doing the same route as us. We did not mind at all though, as it meant we saw no one all day after getting down from the summit. That afternoons one and a half hour walk was really enjoyable. We first walked around the crater lake to get to the start of the path that lead to the top of the ridge the other side of the summit where we'd been. The path then lead us up through a gorgeous forest and we camped half way to the top. The views of the summit and the second volcano were awesome on the way up, and gave us reason to pause and catch our breath and take in our surroundings. Night was creeping in as we made it to our camp, and the last 10 minutes climb was completed by moon light. We literally collapsed into our tents with exhaustion, having a boiled egg for dinner as we had only had lunch at 4pm. They also brought us a bowl of popcorn which was awesome to have with a beer as we took in the night sky before going to bed at 8pm!!! Rock and Roll on Rinjani!

Day 3: campsite 2300m to ridge 2641m to Senaru village 601m

On day three, we woke up to see our surroundings as it was dark by the time we reached our tents the night before. We were perched half way up to the ridge on a small area of flat-ish land with tall grass. We ate more banana pancakes before heading off on the last stretch of up hill before the long walk back down to civilisation. Lucy was still ill and now Andy was feeling rough too which was such a shame as the trek was hard enough as it is, without the extra stress of feeling poorly. Still, they soldiered on and put us two to shame as they powered on ahead of us!

By 9.30 we were at the top and were rewarded with amazing views of the summit, the mini volcano and the lake. There had been lots of rock climbing to get there - when we had to use our hands to scramble up sections of sheer rock.

Then came the long walk down, but it promised to be an interesting walk as we were going down through a forest where Lim had mentioned there were many tree roots, perfect for tripping over. It turned out to be really fun, and as long as you looked where you were placing your feet, you were fine. The estimate for this final bit was 5 hours, which was way out. The trouble came when it started raining, as the muddy ground became particularly slippy underfoot. I kept thinking I was going to fall, and combined with the exhaustion that had built up over the past few days, it all got a bit much for me. Still, the only way to get off that bloody volcano was walking, so onwards we went, slowly but surely. When we reached a huge sign that signified the start of the forest it was pretty amazing but we still had an hour to go. By this point, Will was in pretty severe pain due to his toes pressing at the end of his boots from all the down hill walking, and his right knee was giving him jip. We just had to make it back to the car and get our boots off and let our feet breath. When the welcome sight of a silver car came in to sight, the pace quickened (ever so slightly) as we were so close to finishing. I must admit my overwhelming feeling was relief, especially when those boots came off. 

Review of Green Rinjani Trekking Company

Our guide Lim could not have done any more to make us comfortable and happy. He shared with us a lot about his life. He spoke about how he first explored the park when he was 14 with his uncle who had passed away a year ago, on the same day that his daughter was born. He showed us two rock seats that him and his uncle had made that were a brilliant rest stop on the third day when you really needed them. He snowed us a plant that had spikes on the top of the leaves, along the underside of the leaves, and on the stalks and said they were once used to torture inmates in Malaysia. He knew every path like the back of his hand. Nothing was too much trouble, and he was very understanding when we weren't feeling too good or needed encouragement. In fact he carried Lucy's bag for half the day, along with all the kit and water he was carrying as she wasn't feeling well.

Are they green? They picked up the rubbish and we planted trees. All the water was in plastic bottles though. I don't think they'd pass for green in the UK, but they were definitely doing more than the other companies we saw. And Lim really cared - he grew up there and hated seeing the rubbish that people left behind. The thing is that it's down to us, as consumers, to say that we are concerned by what we see, and to be responsible by paying more for companies that are more environmentally friendly. By consumers using these green companies, it should send a message to other companies that people will pay more for them to remove all the rubbish we use. Also as consumers we can do our bit by picking up litter when we see it on the path and taking it off the mountain. I feel that they could sterilise water instead of using bottled water - this would also reduce the amount of water they have to carry. This is what the guides did on our Phong Nha cave trek in Vietnam. I also think the company could buy their porters a decent pair of shoes!!!! 

The waste situation on Rinjani is out of control. I feel that every company needs to want to clean up the place otherwise it'll always be like this and only get worse. I feel they should stop treks for a month or a year to properly clean the place up and then have rules for all the companies that they must take away what they bring in to the area or face penalties.

The views were out of this world and it was awesome sharing the experience with Lucy and Andy. When any of us felt low, the group was there to pick you up and give encouragement. Thanks guys for such an amazing few days that I'll never forget!