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Climbing the live volcano, Merapi, south Java
One very long, lung bursting night with a guide no more than 12 years old
Our guesthouse in Yogyakarta had a seemingly innocuous invite behind the modest reception desk. An overnight climb up a mountain called Merapi. The word means ‘Mountain of Fire.’ Merapi is not just a mountain. It is a volcano. A live volcano. What could be more appealing? My bed, I suggested. But Laura wasn’t listening. Her vision was already set on looking over the rim of the summit into a hideous mass of fire and sulphur. My other suggestion that this might indicate Hell was equally ignored. That was it. We were climbing Merapi.
The volcano in South Java stands at 2,910 metres (9,550 ft). Not especially high. And especially not compared to the Annapurna circuit we were to complete a few years later (see my article on the Annapurna Circuit). But it was all to be climbed in the space of one night in time to watch the sunrise at the summit. Or, at least, that was the idea. The theory being that it would also be much cooler at night. Well, this was Indonesia so it was a fair point. Only climbing anything during the wee hours bothered me. Okay we would miss the heat but the fact we’d be in darkness bothered me more. It meant we might fall off the damn thing, perhaps with a little push from a head wind. Suddenly 2,910 metres…
