Climbing Indonesia's Highest Volcano, and My Thoughts on Why People Want to Trek and Climb Mountains [900 words + photos]

Why do people climb mountains? Why do they walk for hours, days, weeks, and months carrying heavy loads with no real destination? Why do they spend their money and free time to endure hardships most people would pay to avoid? If you have to ask, you’ll probably never get it.

This is a story of the time myself and 7 friends trekked to the top of Southeast Asia’s highest volcano. It’s a story of contradiction; You do something that makes you feel absolutely miserable, then once you accomplish it the feeling of elation is so strong you can’t wait to do it again somewhere else.

I flew with my friend Henry from Bangkok to Padang, the largest city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. There was a problem right away. In 2015 Indonesia was undergoing its worst burning season in 2 decades and the air was thick with smog. Visibility was under a kilometer and even the sun could barely break through.

In Padang we met up with 5 Indonesian friends and took a 7 hour drive over terrifying mountain roads to Jambi, in the middle of Sumatra. The next morning we pumped ourselves up for the trek, then started our ascent.

The team. We met one more guy later on the mountain. Indonesians are unbelievably friendly and welcoming

The base of Mt. Kerinci is already at a high enough altitude that tea plantations dominate the landscape. In the protected forests on the volcano’s slopes, a thick, steamy jungle begins. This area has the world’s largest remaining population of Sumatran tigers.

Between us we were carrying food, water for the trek, plus camping gear for one night at the final camp before the summit… roughly 20 kilograms each in our packs. The water didn’t seem anywhere near enough but there were vague assurances of water on the mountain, so off we went.

Lunch time

The first few hours were easy enough, but elevation started kicking in. The air got thinner and the temperature started dropping. Where earlier in the trip everyone wanted to man up and take the big steps themselves, now we were all too eager to get a hand up any step over thigh high.

Mt. Kerinci is 3805 meters above sea level. There are much higher mountains out there, but even at this altitude oxygen levels are less than two thirds of what they are at sea level. Every single step here takes you higher, and it would be cardio torture even with full oxygen levels.

The forest changes from steamy jungle, to primeval forests so ancient looking you half expect to see dinosaurs walk through the towering ferns. From there it becomes cloud forest of pines and scrubby trees, which grow more and more scraggly until they are just shrubs, and eventually they thin out to nothing.

Near the summit it's like Mordor

After 10 hours of hiking we reached the final camp an hour before sunset. We were finally above the smoke and we took a few minutes to admire the first clear skies we’d seen on the trip. As we set up camp, the summit was clearly revealed above us.

A hot, sugary drink and a bowl of instant noodles with tinned meat might not sound like much, but to us it was heaven. With the sun down it was just barely above freezing.

We woke at 3 am and a few of us went in search of water. We’d heard there was some down in a ravine, but we were just too tired to look the night before. The creek wasn’t flowing, but there was somewhat clear water in a few pools, and we bottled it up.

We started the summit attack at around 4am. Just above camp, the final scrub bushes give way to barren volcanic rock and sand, but we barely noticed. We were only focused on the path and not getting lost. The water we’d collected still needed to be boiled and was down at camp, and we were on a very limited supply.

This mountain is summitted by thousands of people a year. There are much more dangerous places to trek and climb. Still, the numerous plaques memorializing people who’ve died on the volcano are a reminder that this trek is no joke. Wild animals, hypothermia, falls, landslides, torrential rains, blackout fog, and clouds of poisonous gas are all real dangers here.

We reached the summit for a stunning sunrise, but soon after, clouds moved in and a bitingly cold wind sucked the warmth out of us.

Success

The celebrations I’d imagined before were beyond the energy I could muster, but inside I felt overwhelmed by a sense of accomplishment.

The descent is like rewinding an old VHS tape in a VCR, seeing everything you watched played back in reverse, only easier on the lungs and harder on the knees.

And then... that’s it. You did it. Sometimes during the trek you wonder why you’re doing it. There are moments of beautiful nature. There’s a camaraderie that can only be built through this kind of hardship. But it’s not really fun, at least not in the way you typically think of as fun. Somehow though, the feeling of accomplishment is so strong that you just can’t wait to do it again.