Finally, the moment of truth had arrived. At 3.30am, we were all geared up and raring to go. The shuddering cold temperature was not helping at all. The other groups of trekkers had already made their final ascent to the summit of Mt Rinjani that stands at a staggering 3,726 meters. We exchanged some good luck wishes. We were the last group to ascend.
The trail was a bit different this time. It was rocky and slippery. The terrain is all made up of small pebbles and volcano ashes that vomited from the volcano eruption last time. This made our ascent quite a difficult and strenuous one as compare to the previous day. Alvin as the fittest climber amongst us, had already raced ahead with the guide Anum. Winston and I were struggling to keep pace with Alvin and Anum. We kept losing our footing because of the slippery trek that has little grip.
Somehow, we psyched ourselves up to keep on going no matter what the situation was. At one time, we even lost sight of our guide. That could not had come any worse. We just walked towards the direction of the summit and that's all we could do. We knew by that time that watching the sunrise at the summit was already out of the question. We had blown our chance. But deep inside my heart, I still keep the faith of reaching the peak whatsoever. Slowly but surely, I told myself. Winston had already making a lot of noise about the slippery trek.
Actually, we were passing some very scary and dangerous mountain ridges that lead to the summit of Mt Rinjani. But since the sun had not risen as yet, we could not really see the danger. Later, I was surprised of how dangerous that few stretches of ridges actually were when the sun had risen. It was just a tiny narrow path and with one side of the path is the almost vertical drop of few hundreds meters beneath. This was not good man. The fear factor kicked in. When I saw the real trail, I knew the summit attempt was over for me. Winston had been struggling for some times now and we decided to turn back with the summit just 30 minutes away. It was so near yet so far for us. But we knew we had made the right decision that time. Mentally, we were not prepared for this kind of trek. Bear in mind, the trek was slippery and we could plummet few hundreds meters beneath if we lose our footing at the wrong spot and at the wrong time. I have never thought of this kind of tragic death. Furthermore, it was Winston's birthday that day. Better safe than sorry.
The guide Anum to us, "Come on! The summit is almost there."
What we went through. Walking along that tiny mountain ridge took a good amount of courage from me. Haha!
Of course, Alvin managed to reach the summit not long after that. It was a marvelous and incredible achievement for him considering he had just climbed Mt Agung in Bali just four days earlier. At least, some one from our group had successfully conquered the mountain and kept our pride intact in front of other groups. Hehe...Well done Alvin! You are still the best.
View of Segara Anak crater lake from the summit
Gunung Baru that last erupted in 1994
Ol and behold! Another spectacular view from the summit
Alvin even caught up with Winston and I when we descended to the campsite at Plawangan II. This proofed how treacherous the whole descent actually was. We had to be extra cautious and be careful. At 9.30am, we managed to reach Plawangan II campsite after Alvin.
We took our breakfast and descended to the Segara Anak crater lake after that for our lunch beside the crater lake. The descent this time was not that scary but still I did not take any chances. Winston raced ahead this time but injured his knee after he stepped into a hole (or a drain as he said). Actually, I knew the spot where the incident happened and luckily I did pace myself slowly. My motto is to get back in one piece. As simple as that.
Majestic view of Gunung Baru beside Segara Anak crater lake
After lunch, we ascended to the Pos III at Senaru side of the trail. This stretch of the trail is the most difficult and energy draining of the entire Mt Rinjani trail. It is not as scary and dangerous as the summit trail. But since it was an extremely steep uphill climb, it still as treacherous and difficult. We even had to rock climb to the other side of the hill at one part. With that, we had crossed over to the other side of the trail at Senaru. I reached the Pos III campsite at Senaru at around 6.30pm. I must thank Anum for this part of the trail because he was with me all the time and his makeshift walking stick proved to be a survival gear for me. Kudos!
* All the pictures are courtesy of Alvin's.
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