Hi everyone,

I have not been there (Mt. Raung) but I like to know about it too, so below is the info gathered so far. Hope it would serve as additional info for someone intending to go up there.

Many unsuccessful attempts has been made on it by various groups but to no avail and to this date, as far as I know the main summit of Mt.Raung (3328 meters / 10918 feet) has been reached twice. The first was in 2001 by outdoor enthusiast club (OEC) from Surabaya. The second was done by OEC from University of Indonesia (UI) Jakarta on 13-21 April 2003.

Both OEC made the ascent from its southern side but approaching the summit from different ridge.

The first route, employed by OEC Surabaya, is thru Kalibaru Village. This route is considered more difficult than Glenmore route (see below). After the vegetation border, climber should reached Wates Peak first, go down, traversing 50 meter / 164 foot cliff wall, and then semi-scrambling on loose-rock slope to reach the summit. Most of the routes after the vegetation border is about 40-70 degree slopes on the loose-rock ground. Water is also difficult to find on this route, so it must be prepared and carried along from the base. The whole route from Kalibaru to the summit is said to be 17.6 Km /10.9 miles long.

Glenmore Village is starting point for the second route and was done by reaching the Glenmore Peak (3227 meters /10587 feet) first which is situated on the east of the main summit. When OEC-UI made their route, they did it by traversing the crater rim from the Glenmore Peak to the main summit which is located in the west of it. Horizontal length between the two peaks is less than 1 Km/ 0.621 mile, but it was said to take whole day to accomplish and most of it was done by crawling. The terrifying factors here is the vertical drop down to the crater 500 meters / 1,640 feet below on the right side and the 40-70 degrees slippery sand-loose-rock slope on the left side. But according to the hikers, this route is easier compared to Kalibaru route, as it is easier to find water along the way.

It is also encouraged to bring along climbing gear as the characterisitic of the southern side is exactly the same as the northern side i.e. sand and loose rock. Rope 50 meters / 164 feet, harness, figure eight, long pegs, (ice) axe were among the essential gear to have.

Following is my opinion.

Based on the above stories, extra care and planning should be taken when taking trip \ to the main summit of this mountain. Extra effort would be needed right from the base (starting point) too. Finding route and cutting our way up the hills thru dense forest, especially rattan with its prickles, is harder than hiking along an established trail / path. Although porters are available to hire at the villages on both routes, map reading and route finding is better done by ourselves.

It also needs more days to do it. To reach the vegetation border, OEC-UI needed 5 days and this is standard (assuming the base is 1000-1200 meters / 3,281-3,937 feet above sea level) as when cutting new trail in dense forest we could only get 300-500 meters / 984-1,148 feet vertical gain in a day if we are not getting bored of doing so half way. So at least 10 days should be reserved for this trip.

On the other hand, the reward of this kind of trip is also promising I guess. Being in only a small group of closed friends alone in the middle of virgin pure-nature environment, with no other people crowding and passing around our camp-site... hot coffee in hand and gazing to the horizon... is what we need to refresh our mind. And usually there will be no rubbish to be found in the new cutting trail.

Because slip or fall in this trip could lead to fatalities, for emergency, sat-phone is one of the choice for calling SAR Agency right on the spot (and then pray). But this stuff has its set back too as we tend to communicate often and this, according to purist, spoils the nature journey... Dont know if Ericsson R190 is still around but I think, despite of its light weight, this modified GF388 handset is clumsy and is not designed for outdoor use. And the fact that you have to see the sky when you make the call is also raising your blood pressure higher when it is raining as the phone is not waterproof. If the phone make a fall from your slippery hand, it then become at least two pieces if not three when the baterry & antenna torn apart... sorry out of topic.

Please let me know and share your story on this Raung southern side when you go there. Apology for wrong words and terms.