Ciremai crater - photo Rob Woodall

The trip that nearly didn’t happen! As I write this, on a sunny Easter Saturday, the UK and much of the world is in lockdown, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The first Easter in three decades which I’ve not spent on the hills.

The plan, meticulously assembled by Dan Quinn, was for an ultra-prominent peak in North Sulawesi, then four ultras in Peninsula Malaysia, with (mandatory) guides and 4x4 transport all arranged – too good an opportunity to miss.

Central Java workaround 

As I prepared to leave London Heathrow on 10 March 2020, word arrived of restrictions which would prevent us from travelling to Sulawesi – one peak down even before departure!

Plan B: Dan needed a revisit to the multi-summit Ungaran 2050m, P1320m, so this made a good compensation peak; an easy 5-hour train journey east from Jakarta followed by a pre-dawn start for a sunrise summit, with excellent views of nearby ultras - Merbabu looking superb, and further east, Sumbing and Sindoro in silhouette.

From the tourist summit we found our way across to Puncak Botak, the (rarely visited) highest point, detouring through tea plantations to visit a cave on our way down. Dan then headed home while I made my way by bus and ojek (motorbike taxi) to Kopeng.

It was still the rainy season on Java (although not in the Malaysian peninsula where we were due next), so the next day, to avoid a soaking, I made an 02:20 start, arriving at the trailhead of Merbabu 3145m, P2432m in an hour. Like all the popular Java peaks, it has a good trail, well-marked and not difficult to follow by head-torch.

Day-break saw me at a minor (2900m, P68m) summit, from where a gentle ridge led down to a col, then steeply up to Merbabu’s main ridge. A short cabled section and some delicate pebbly scrambling led to the tourist summit, Kenteng Songo (3m lower), which was busy with several dozen folk. Clouds were building, but I’d arrived in time to see Merapi, Java’s most active volcano, looking superb in the morning light.

I continued for a couple of minutes to the (deserted) highest summit, Triangulasi, enjoying brief views before the clouds closed in. Then down, and back to the hotel. It certainly makes sense to start early here, especially in March, where most days I avoided an afternoon deluge. After the rain finished I got an ojek up nearby Telomoyo 1894m, P617m.

Back to Jakarta; Karang day trip

The next day I found my way back to Semarang and then took the train back to Java, ready to head for Malaysia … or not. Dan had been studying COVID reports and status.  It was evident that it wouldn't be safe to head for Malaysia for the four Ultras planned there (disappointing, after all the planning, with guides and flights booked). The decision was borne out when Malaysia went into lockdown a couple of days later, with our planned peaks closed – we could have been trapped there. 

It was tempting (some were saying, sensible!) to just head home. But there was no immediate sign of Indonesia imposing a lockdown (it never did), and flight connections seemed solid, thanks mainly to the Gulf carriers, so I hired a car and driver for a day to bag the Jakarta’s nearest Ultra, Karang 1778m, P1705m, a straightforward 3hr 30min forest hike on a good trail. Several friendly groups were ascending as I headed down; I was stopped for a couple of selfies.

En route back to Jakarta we stopped for a tasty Indonesian meal (another selfie, with the staff). I liked the driver Sabto so, having assessed the COVID situation, I booked him for few days (at least, I thought I had!), with an aspiration to tackle the remaining four West Java Ultras, if feasible. The car meant I could get back to Jakarta airport on any given evening if things changed. The original (post Malaysia) plan had been to do these peaks by public transport, at a more leisurely pace a couple of weeks later.

West Java Ultras, or bust - Ciremai and Cikuray

The Central Java peaks (including Merbabu and Ungaran which I'd just bagged) were already closed (COVID), and in the west the national park peak of Ciremai 3078m, P2792m with its impressive crater, seemed likely to go the same way.  Indeed it closed four hours after I finished climbing it!

Sabto collected me at 3 a.m. and we were at Apuy before 7 a.m. I was then taken up to the Park gate in a small pick-up, with a wait while onions were loaded onto a truck. Park entry was quite a performance; a few hikers were waiting, but I was fast tracked, probably as I was a high value foreigner: 215,000 Rupiah (11 GBP) was quadruple what Petter Bjørstad paid last year! It included a medical (height weight and blood pressure, but not temperature, despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis). I also got a free meal after the hike, as I later discovered - quite tasty.

The ascent was mostly on trail, with some minor bush-whacking – a 5hr50min round trip. After resolving some misunderstandings with the pick-up driver over the price, and with my driver (who thought he had another client the next day), we booked a cheap hotel for the night.

On the next day I climbed Cikuray 2821m, P2105m, which seemed to be open (the office in the village was open, although not the one at the trailhead) and an ojek was arranged to take me up the jolty track to the trailhead. The 4hr round trip started through tea plantations, then a good trail led up through misty forest to an open summit. Despite no lockdown, social distancing was encouraged and the universities closed, with the (unintended) result that the peaks were full of sociable students! I refused a cup of tea on Ciremai, but somehow got into a group photo on Cikuray.

Pangrango - the hard way

Four out of six Ultras – so far so good.

However, the next ultra, Pangrango, didn't seem too feasible (bureaucratic at the best of times) so instead I bagged Bukit Tinggul 2209m, P1345m, a nice easy climb to a forested summit with no baggers in sight (just a welly-shod dog walker); a 3hr15min round trip. Calling at the Pangrango entrance that afternoon "for a look", I spent an hour checking out the start of the "unofficial" route used previously by Mykhailo Pavliuk and Petter Bjørstad. It looked well-trodden, so I found a hotel nearby, and sent my driver back to Jakarta for a night with his family, extended the car booking for an extra day and arranged for him to collect me the following afternoon. That day and evening I spent a few hours on the phone to Etihad and Opodo trying to bring forward my flight a couple of weeks to the Sunday, before giving up and buying a new Emirates flight.

My version of the Pangrango 3019m, P2426m route had a rather unorthodox start, through narrow streets (and past slightly bemused locals not used to white hikers), before reaching the fields and the hill path. The route through the forest was overgrown in places; the usually busy summit was deserted, and in cloud; the 24km 1900m 9hr20min outing was the longest of the trip. Sabto was waiting at the hotel when I got back, and we were on our way just before the afternoon monsoon, which was particularly intense that day. I commented to the driver about the appalling driving conditions – but to him it was quite normal.

Salak and home to lock-down Britain

Finally Salak 2211m, P1679m – access was a somewhat grey area, but despite some initial confusion over a permissible parking spot, unfriendly dogs on the way up and a rough, slippery, rooty path, I enjoyed my last summit of the trip. It was again deserted, with a view of the previous day's Pangrango. The route passes some quite fancy play equipment, and on the way down I passed a group who asked if I was from the American embassy. They (and their dogs) seemed a little surprised to see me; my non-local appearance probably kept me out of trouble.

Finishing early afternoon, I headed straight to Jakarta airport, where my temperature was checked and I was allowed into the rather quiet airport. My early morning flight (Sun 22 March) took off as planned and a text message from the UK Embassy had assured us that there would be no quarantine trap en-route (assuming no COVID symptoms). Unlike my two-thirds-empty outward flights, the Emirates flight was full, as was Dubai airport for the layover. My neighbour on the flight was a NZ-based UK national who had been refused access back into NZ, due to the very strict lockdown there (which seemed extreme at the time, but worked well for them). My rearranged flight got me into Stansted, England - a deliberate choice, as Coronavirus was already quite widespread in London itself. A nearly empty train took me back to Peterborough, and in view of stories of panic buying and empty supermarket shelves, I was happy to pick up a few supplies before my walk home, just a couple of days before the UK went into full lock-down. A pedestrian end to a quite exciting, rather unpredictable but very satisfying trip.

Many thanks to Dan Quinn for the original idea and for his support and advice throughout. His Gunung Bagging site is an essential resource for Indonesia and Peninsula Malaysia peak-bagging.

Route descriptions and GPX route files are linked from within this report and can also be accessed via my Peakbagger 2020 ascents page

https://www.peakbagger.com/climber/ClimbListC.aspx?cid=569&sort=AscentDate&u=m&j=-1&y=2020.

Rob Woodall

Spring 2020