Gunung signifies "mountain" in both Malaysian and the very similar Indonesian.

Motivating Bob is a successful, earlier journey by Norwegian climber Petter Bjørstad, who during a family vacation bagged three of these - all but Semeru; while his wife enjoyed sunny beaches. Surely, then, a trip dedicated to just bagging peaks could get all four of these - and more!!

Anachronistic juxtaposition of old and modern.

Bob also has in mind Gunung Agung, the Bali island highpoint, Indonesia - so making a total of five peaks on his wishlist.

By January 2007 Bob is prepared to hire a travel agent for arrangements - an expensive proposition. Bob also solicits partners. Reading his description, I am jealous because at that time my plans preclude joining him. Specifically, I was trying to organize an expedition to Mount McKinley ("Denali"), and the timeframe for both trips overlap in June and July.

However Robert Woodall of the United Kingdom joins Bob. Robert is eager to explore prominent peaks around the globe now that he essentially has finished everything his home land offers in that regard.

Girls in Islamic dress cross a rope bridge at the Kota Kinabalu Natural Science Museum.

The Denali expedition plans fail, and, with the promise from a Seven Summits completer to co-organize a future Denali climb, I quickly sign-on with Bob and Robert for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - and start planning with vengeance!

I convince Bob that we can eliminate the travel agent, relying instead on street smarts and experience to make arrangements on-the-fly. Thereby an estimated $7,000 expense, per person, is reduced to one third as much - and so within my financial reach.

Adam at night in the Kersik Tua homestay, Sumatra. Electricity is not a given.

Robert advises that with spare time we should concentrate on Javanese peaks, as there are many with significant prominence besides Gunung Semeru. Investigating, I learn that Java sports a full 17 ultra prominence summits - peaks with at least 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) of prominence. That's a large number for an island no bigger than southern California - and with a population of 120 million, one of Earth's most densely-peopled places.

So why not add to the itinerary a good number of these peaks?

I generate several scenarios, discussing them by E-mail with Bob and Robert. Eventually we agree to using Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as the entry point for our international flights, posing financial and logistical advantages over both Singapore and Jakarta.

Adam shows disdain for omnipresent, bland tea.

Then, on a February climbing trip to Baja California, I discuss itinerary options in person with Bob - including exact flight dates and times.

On returning home I purchase airline tickets for Bob and myself, while Robert does so essentially simultaneously to ensure we remain synchronized.

In brief, the itinerary calls for a 35 day trip, of which in principal 31 days are required for climbing a total of eight mountains. Four days pad the schedule to allow for unforseeable events, i.e. really bad weather, broken vehicles, etc... .

The additional three volcanoes all lie on Java - Gunung(s) Raung, Lawu, and Slamet. Notably, all eight mountains are on the World Top 100 list of prominent peaks - four of them being in Earth's Fifty Finest and four of them ranked 51-100.

smoking implements, Kuala Lumpur

From a prominence-based perspective, scaling all eight peaks is the equivalent of climbing {Mount Rainier, Mount Whitney, Mount Elbert, Mauna Kea, Haleakala, Pico Duarte, Cerro Chirripo, and Orizaba} ... in a single outing!

Any of the four days not used by journey's end are applied to climbing additional volcanoes on Sumatra before flying to Kuala Lumpur and home.

With only climbing and "getting to the next mountain" on the itinerary, our travels are hectic and, frankly, exhausting. Such is the price to pay for bagging so many of Earth's most prominent peaks.