Mt. Rinjani - Day 1

Sorry for the delay in the updates. We have been on the move and also in areas where internet is expensive so we try to limit our time by holding off on the blog.

We had been feeling a bit worthless and lazy considering we have been moving from beach to beach and not really doing anything active or productive with our lives. We decided it was time to change that (which doesn't usually happen for us) so we headed off to Lombok which is where Mt Rinjani is located. For those of you who are unaware (as I was until we got there) Rinjani is Indonesia's 2nd highest active volcano (its last eruption was in April of this year) and stands at about 3726 m high. It is currently still "burping" out lava but not in deadly amounts...obviously. We spent one night in Lombok in an area called Sangigi which is a nice beach town and is fairly cheap. The next day we rented motor bikes and toured around the island for a while because we didnt have to leave for the mountain until 5 pm. We got lost a few times but ended up in some cool areas with beautiful views so it was well worth it. At 5 we hoped in a van and took a 2 hour drive to another hostel that was closer to the base of Rinjani and is where we would be leaving from at 6 am the following morning. We had signed up to do the 3 day 2 night trek (rather than the 2 day 1 night) because it allowed us to trek to the rim on day one, summit on day 2 and also go down to the crater lake and then spend one more night on the rim before heading back. We woke up early on day 1 because we were told that we had about 7 or 8 hours of hiking before we reached camp for the night. The beginning of the hike was in the open through fields which was nice because we had great views but bad because we were getting owned by the sun. Our group consisted of the 5 of us plus two Irish girls and a young couple from England. We hiked for a few hours before stopping for lunch (we have about 4-5 porters with us who are amazing because they carry all of our stuff and do it all in flip flops. they also dont use backpacks but instead use bamboo poles with big baskets on either end). The second half of the hike is where things started to get a bit interesting. We were hiking through the clouds at this point and about an hour after lunch the rain started. It was also a bit cold at this point and the wind was blowing fairly hard which made things even colder. At this point the group was fairly spread out and Will and I were in the front following the porters because our guide (Sam) was waiting behind for the others who were moving a bit slower. The last 1 or 2 of the hike was brutal. We were completely soaked through (wearing just shorts and a T-shirt) and the rain was only getting harder and the wind continued to make things colder as we climbed. When we finally reached the rim where we would be spending the night we found some of our porters there huddled together under a single poncho. They were shivering uncontrollably and looked like they were not used to getting caught in rain storms during the hike. Finally they pulled out a tarp and we all huddled under it to wait for the others to reach the rim. We literally sat under this tarp for the next 2 hours because the rain would not let up. As more people came they would join us under the tarp and we would all huddle together and try to use body heat to warm ourselves up. Most of us were totally unprepared so most didnt even have raincoats or any warm clothes to put on. It was a total mess and we knew then that it was going to be a miserable night with no sleep. The worst part about this whole thing is that all of our gear was also drenched including the tents and sleeping bags. There was no natural shelter to use to get out of the rain and no dry wood to start a fire. We couldnt do anything but try to laugh it off and pretend like we were not all miserable. Finally the rain stopped and we remained under the tarp while the porters started setting up tents and trying to get a fire going for dinner. After 30 mins or so they had the tents set up so we stripped out of our wet clothes and jumped into our wet tent practically naked (of course it was Will, Jesus and I in one tent which made things interesting). Because the sleeping bags were soaked we just sat there on the bare rock which was extremely cold and uncomfortable. We put some of our dry clothes on (only Will and I had fully dry clothes because we have dry bags that we hiked with. The others had all of their extra clothes soaked in their bags) and then waited tried to warm up by using each others body heat. There was a massive game of Rock Paper Scissors as soon as we got into the tent to determine who would be in the middle because we all wanted the middle position for warmth reasons. Jesus ended up winning so he had the middle with Will and me on his sides. I am almost ashamed to say it but for the next 2 hours we sat in the tent waiting for dinner and spooned in an attempt to warm up. It was a bit awkward at first spooning in a tent with 3 guys but the heat that it generated made it very worth it. Those 2 hours spent waiting for dinner were some of the most uncomfortable and painfully cold hours of my life (I know that sounds dramatic but it is true). Finally the porters called us out for dinner and we were all pumped to get out of the tent and go eat a hot meal by the small cooking fire they had made. After eating the drying out process began and we all crowded around the fire and tried to dry various clothing items. Most of us focused on shoes/sock and sleeping bags but the fire was so small that it did not work too well. In the end, as anticipated we went into our tents and curled up in our wet sleeping bags and attempted to fall asleep (which never happened). Thankfully we had to get up at 3:00 am to start the hike to the summit the next morning. Before people retired to their tents many had already decided to drop out on the summit hike. They were all complaining about how cold they were and how they had no dry clothes so they couldn't do it in the morning. I am proud to report that our group of 5 never wavered and we all went into our tents planning to hike in the morning. From our trekking group we were the only ones who did not back out that night (both the Irish girls as well as the English couple wussed out). The plan for the morning was to wake up around 3 and have tea and a snake before heading out around 3:30 for the peak. They said it would take about 3-4 hours to summit so we would be back for breakfast at the camp by 8:30.

-RBC