Climbing Gunung Rinjani

Day 1 - Sembalun to the Base Camp

I met my fellow trekkers, a dutch couple named Robin and Ingrid, at 6 am, when we were all picked up in Senggigi. It was almost 8 am, when we finally arrived in Senaru, where we were introduced to Mursan, our guide, and Mordi, our porter for the trip. When we repacked our bags I noticed that Robin and Ingrid were equipped with the best gear money can buy. Well, it only made sense, considering that they had been to Mount Everest Base Camp and on the summit of Kilimanjaro. Nevertheless, I felt a bit inadequate with my Nike trainers and my flimsy raincoat. After a yummy breakfast of banana pancakes and tea we set off in a bemo to Sembulan, the starting point of our little adventure. There we first checked in at the Rinjani Ranger Center and then short before 10 am we started walking. The first hour was fairly easy, first through rice fields and then later through open countryside. When the forest started it got noticeably steeper and thus harder.

We kept on walking on tiny trails, across small bridges, that spanned deep crevices, and through high and dense pasture until about 12 pm. We had just a little break with water and crackers and then we were off again. By then the clouds started to come closer and it started to drizzle. Visibility dropped to sometimes just 20 meters. Robin had pulled a leg muscle earlier on, so both him and his wife kept falling behind, but Mursan kept the pace up as we had to get to Base Camp before Sunset. Around 2 pm we had a quick lunch of noodle soup, tea and fruits in a dried riverbed below a bridge. When we started off again Mursan told me to go with Mordi, because I could climb faster that way. In the beginning it wasn’t a problem keeping up with our porter. But as it got steeper and time passed I grew very tired. It was really amazing watching Mordi climb like a mountain goat with his flip flops and 30 kg on his shoulder. I don’t know how he or the other porters do it. Anyway, he let me catch up every half hour or so and we made it to Base Camp, about three hours from the summit, around 5.30 pm.

Robin and Ingrid finally arrived one hour later and went straight to bed after dinner. I stayed up for about another hour and drank tea and smoked indonesian kretek with Mursan and Mordi. Around 8 pm I then crawled into my sleeping bed and fell asleep within one minute.

Day 2 - Base Camp - Summit - Crater Lake - the Rim

My alarm woke me up far too early at 2.30 am. Mordi was awake already, getting the fire going and making tea. Half an hour later just Mursan and me set off to climb to the top of Rinjani. I was just carrying my camera, water and a small torch. The way up from the camp to the rim was extremely hard going. It is dark, very steep and the path is covered in loose gravel and earth. Once we were on the rim it didn’t really get any easier. Then, after about two hours into the trek I twisted my left knee. I tried to keep going for another 10 minutes, but eventually I wasn’t able to put any pressure on it anymore. I told Mursan and he said that we just rest where we are, watch the sunrise and then climb down once it is light. So we curled up behind a rock and tried to sleep. This was probably the coldest hour in my entire life, but I did sleep a bit. The sunrise was amazing, but I dreaded the climb down. Every single step hurt. I had to keep my left leg straight the whole time to be able to stand on it, so walking was very awkward. Finally, at 7.30 am we arrived back at the camp.

In my tent I took a few painkillers and rubbed tiger balm into my left knee. Then after we’ve had breakfast and packed up our gear we started the difficult climb down to the lake. While me knee really hurt at the beginning it started to numb up a bit after a while, which helped a lot getting down the rocky and narrow path. But still, after about two hours I was in pure agony. I could only climb down about 30 meters and then I had to apply some tiger balm again. It was only during those breaks that I could enjoy the amazing scenery that was laid out before us. We could see the whole lake, a waterfall, a kind of yellow river and just the sheer beauty of the mountain. After about three hours the land started to flatten out until we got to the lake. There we had some food, relaxed a bit, watched the fishermen, had a look at the hot springs and set out again at 2 pm.

First we followed the lakeside for a bit, then I headed off with Mordi again. Right at the start he found me a walking stick, which allowed me to take some pressure off my knee. After a while I just wanted to get to the top. I wasn’t really looking at my surroundings anymore. It took me three hours to climb the 600 meters altitude to the rim on the Senaru side and then another 45 minutes down to our camp site.

Day 3 - Camp to Senaru

When I woke up I felt a lot better than the evening before. Short before going to bed I had taken some more painkillers and rubbed half the tub of tiger balm on my knee and then kept it as warm as possible during the night. When we set off the sun was shining and we didn’t have to do any more climbing. From here it was just downhill all the way to Senaru, where a bemo would be waiting for us. The mood was great. I set out again with Mordi and we chatted a bit about his family, work and life in general. The first hour we just walked through open land. Then we slowly entered the forest again. At a little beruga we waited for the others. Robins muscle pain had gotten so bad that Mordi had to carry his backpack as well as all his own stuff. He wasn’t complaining, I guess he’s had to do it before. He just put it on top of his bamboo construction and started walking again. I have a lot of respect for all the guides and porters that work on Rinjani. Most of them do this trip or a similar one actually twice a week during the whole high season from May to October. We arrived very tired but happy back in Senaru around 1 pm. We gave Mursan and Mordi a huge tip, said goodbye and then were driven to our next destinations. The Gilis for Robin and Ingrid and Mataram for me.

Tags: Indonesia, Lombok, Rinjani, Trekking