I hiked Mt. Agung on Sunday, folks. Mt. Agung is the highest mountain on the island of Bali – just over 3,000 meters, or nearly 10,000 feet. You’d think I would have put a little effort into investigating this hike before deciding to do it or actually heading out for the mountain, but nope! I was totally stupid about it.
For starters, Bali is hot. All the time, day or night, hot. When my hotel manager Putu told me the hike begins in the middle of the night so you can catch the sunrise from the top, I thought “Great! At least it won’t be so hot climbing up the mountain.” I headed out the door at midnight in my tights, tank top, and a thin long-sleeved shirt to protect against the sun on the way down. Putu told me to bring a jacket, which I assumed was in case it rained, so I grabbed my rain slicker last minute before heading out. I don’t have hiking boots with me, so my tennies would have to do.
I forgot that it gets cold at high altitudes, even on tropical islands. I forgot there’s snow on a volcano in Hawaii. I forgot about wind. As the car wound up the mountain to the starting point, the air started to to get cooler and the vegetation changed from tropical trees to more alpine-type firs and such. By the time we got to the starting point, it was cool enough for me to want to put on my long-sleeved shirt. When my guide, Made, walked up, she was decked out in hiking boots, at least two pairs of pants, two jackets and a couple shirts, and a scarf wrapped round her head and neck. “Oh my God, I’m going to freeze up there,” I thought.
The starting point was at about 1500 meters with about 1500 meters to climb. The planned hiking time is 4 hours to get to the top in time for the sunrise. From the starting point, you hike up a bunch of stairs to a temple where the guide makes a traditional sacrifice to God before heading up the mountain. The first stretch of the climb is a well worn dirt trail, pretty easy to see and follow. The trail is covered in this fine, soft, silty dirt, though, so it was like tromping through ash or baby powder or something. Your feet would sink in, you would loose a couple inches with each step, and you would kick up a cloud of fine dust as you went along.
The second stretch of the hike, once we were out of the tree line, was course and rough rock with scree-like pebbles and sand along the worn down flat depressions in the rock. The trail was much less obvious now. The wind really picked up at this point with gusts so strong I thought I would get knocked over. Several times I had to stop just to secure my footing and wait for the gust to blow by before I could get started again.
The last stretch of the hike wasn’t a hike at all but basically free mountain climbing. I’m guessing the slope at this point was about 60 degrees. The sky was beginning to get light now. We were well above the clouds at this point and a thick blanket of billowy white clouds stretched out practically as far as we could see. The wide expanse of brightening sky and clouds below us juxtaposed against the steep, dark slope of the mountain was magnificently beautiful, but I couldn’t help but think how easy it would be to slip or pitch yourself right off the mountain anytime I looked anywhere but where my next hand or foothold was.
We took several long breaks along the way. My guide explained it was very cold at the top and we didn’t want to get there too early, so we took breaks to slow ourselves down. Even before we summitted, though, the wind and cold air were brutal. I was thankful to have my rain jacket to block the wind. I wouldn’t have been able to make it up otherwise. Even so, it was still quite cold. At the top, my hands got so cold the skin was completely numb in places. I blew on my hands to warm them up and they began to sting. I was worried I had frostbite.
When we arrived at the top (not the tippy top – everyone stops about 100m from the summit), deep red and orange light outlined the tops of the clouds on the eastern horizon.
Other people continued to summit and groups would take pictures with some flag or other. Along the way, Made and I had joined up with two other guides – friends of Made’s – and their 3 other climbers. At the top, we all sat together and drank the coffee and tea and ate the food – bananas, fried bananas, Balinesian pastries, passion fruit – the guides had brought up and enjoyed the view.
The first stretch of the way down was easier than I anticipated. The rock face is very course, so even though it was steep, it was easy to keep traction walking down. Once we reached the flatter rock with the scree, though, I ran into trouble. I couldn’t seem to keep from slipping. I hit every loose rock and every slippery patch on the way down. No one else seemed to have this problem, even the other climbers wearing tennis shoes (although they did have hiking sticks with them), so there must be something wrong with my technique. Anyway, my guide and I basically climbed down the mountain holding hands, oftentimes both hands so she could keep me from falling, and we progressed slowly, slowly down the mountain. The soft, powdery silt at the treeline was just as bad. It was agonizingly slow and uncomfortable. As usual, the down was worse than the up.
I did get to see some wild monkeys, though. There was a whole family of maybe 6-10 of them across this ditch from us to the left, and they were just climbing around and lazing in the sun. They were big, too – easily waist height just sitting upright on the ground. We saw another couple monkeys in the trees to our right just a little way further down.
My legs were so mad at me after that climb. And they let me know it, too, every time I took a step, especially walking down stairs. Today is the first day I can walk around without acute pain in my legs, especially the part just above the knee.
I survived, thank God. And may you learn from my foolishness – don’t climb Mt. Agung unless you are well prepared.
TL;DR: Was not prepared to climb Mt. Agung; miraculously didn’t die while doing so
