September 2009 ~ samunav

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

beauty of merapi peak

merapi is the most active volcano in indonesia, Merapi from Javanese words meru means mountain and Api means fire. The latest eruption of merapi on June 2006, as lava and superheated clouds of gas poured repeatedly down its upper slopes. The pyroclastic flows are known locally as "wedhus gembel" Javanese for "shaggy goat". This is the most dangerous killers are the heat clouds. This 3000 0 Celsius heat substance should melt and burnt easily anything found on its way. "Luckily, this cloud blew to an uninhabited area west of the mountain. In 1994 sudden eruption, 66 people of the South-West slope have been killed by this heat cloud.

The worst eruption was in 1930 which killed about 1300 people. People did not know exactly how many thousand or even million times, Merapi has been erupted since its birth. In the 10th century, its ashes had buried totally a temple 15 km southward. Probably its unbearable activity had pushed eastward the Hindu Mataram kingdom from Prambanan, central Java to East Java in the 10th century.

But Merapi does not act always as "a bad guy", most of the time "it is a good ", beautifully gives tremendous fertility to the land, stands strongly guarding the nature

There are 2 routes lead to Mt. Merapi. The first is thru Yogyakarta from the South, the second is thru the village of Selo, Boyolali from the north.

From Yogyakarta
From the city of Yogya, a climber shall travel to Kaliurang – a small nice 1300 m high mountain resort, 27 Km north of Yogya and then continue to Kimahrejo village, the last village to the top. A guide, sufficient supply (water etc), any information are available here. Normally, it shall take 6 hours of climbing to the peak.

The path should lead to the border of last vegetation, the timberline, Kendit. Going to the peak, walk thru labile and stony paths, the journey is strenuous. On the peak, one can see the sulphur crater and heavenly panoramic views. It is strongly advised to all mountaineers to prepare themselves adequately, before any climbing. Be careful of accident which could happened due to stone sliding or falling down.

From Selo Village, Boyolali
The other route is thru Selo village, from the north of Merapi. This cool hilly village (1500 M high) located on the slopes of Mt. Merapi, in the south and Mt. Merbabu in the north. It’s about 40 Km, north-west of Solo city.

The climbers could prepare supplies in this village, there are some nice accommodations here. Normally, the climbing to the peak should take 6 hours. The way back to Selo, is approximately 4 hours. Most climbers prefer to start early hours at 2.00 or 3.00 a.m from Selo base camp, catching the sunrise from the peak and avoiding thick fog which usually appears mid-day.