A punishing yet beguiling ascent into the heavens of Central Java

Philosophical arguments are usually given when mountaineers explain why they climb mountains. British mountaineer George Mallory, for example, famously quipped “because it’s there” while the legendary New Zealand explorer Sir Edmund Hillary put forward the existential notion that by climbing a mountain we are actually “conquering ourselves”. However, having just climbed the world’s 76th highest peak – Central Java’s Mount Lawu – I would suggest that for many climbers the reason for wanting to scale a mountain is far simpler, and that is the visceral pleasures which come from the stunning views at the top!

As Indonesia’s very high mountains go, Mount Lawu is not particularly well-known, but at 3,265 metres it falls only 411 metres short of Indonesia’s (arguably) most famous mountain, Lombok’s Mount Rinjani (3,676 metres).

Mount Rinjani, however, is not the most practical of mountains to climb, requiring a serious investment in both time and money. Mount Lawu, by contrast, is easily accessible from Jakarta and the trails are so well marked that even a drunk and highly myopic climber would find it difficult to get lost (no, I’m not being autobiographical here!). Mount Lawu is also a good test for novice climbers – to see whether they have ‘what it takes’ to climb the country’s even more challenging mountains.

●Getting there

To get to Mount Lawu you first need to get to the Central Java city of Surakarta (or Solo, as it’s otherwise called). We took the night bus which departed from the grim and grimy area of Kampung Rambutan in East Jakarta. For what seemed like ages the bus struggled through insane traffic on the toll road heading out of the city.

Eventually, though, the traffic started to ease just after the satellite town of Bekasi and we thought we were finally on our way – and then the driver decided it was time to eat and pulled over at a vast service area where we had our evening meal in what seemed like a huge aircraft hangar. Weird.

Back in our seats 30 minutes later and with the bus hurtling toward Central Java on newly-built toll roads (thanks, Jokowi), most of us soon dozed off to nostalgic Indonesian love songs by the likes of Ebiet G. Ade, Alda Risma and the most talented female rock star to have ever lived, Nike Ardilla – best-known for her heart-wrenching ballad Bintang Kehidupan.

All was then a blur until, at some ungodly hour before dawn, we were awoken by dangdut music playing from a radio in a streetside warung. We stopped for coffee; not the Starbucks nonsense, but proper Javanese coffee – kopi tubruk – so strong and sweet it could breathe life into a wayang golek puppet. Reenergized, we departed and within an hour or so arrived at Terminal Palur, a typically ropey looking bus station on the outskirts of Solo. From here, we changed to a smaller bus to get to Tawangmangu, the nearest town to Mount Lawu, in a bone-jarring ride which takes about one hour.

Tawangmangu is a pleasant enough place with accommodation if you need it. There are two trails leading up Mount Lawu (named Cemoro Kandang and Cemoro Sewu), starting not far from each other, and easily reached from Tawangmangu by omprengan (minibuses) in about 20 minutes. Of the two trails, I would highly recommend using the Cemoro Kandang trail to ascend the mountain, as although longer at 12km to the summit – compared to Cemoro Sewu’s 8km – there are more flat stretches, making for a more pleasant trek.

Practicalities

■No guides are needed as the trails are very well defined and in many places paved with large stones.
■Be properly prepared with all the right gear as it’s very cold at night and hypothermia kills. Night time temperatures go as low as 0-4 degrees.
■Bring a minimum of 2 litres of bottled water.
Travel as light as possible.
■Don’t do the hike during the rainy season – really, it’s not worth it.
■Be mentally prepared for a very tough hike.
Take the hike seriously. If you have an accident you won’t be helicoptered out!

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