| Elevation | 1,778 m (5,833 ft); Prominence: 1,524 m |
|---|---|
| Province | Banten |
| Ribu Category |  Kurang Tinggi |
| Links | Wikipedia English ; Peak Bagger |
Photos
Photos provided by Daniel Quinn
Bagging It!
This Ribu is the second highest peak in Banten. It can be climbed as a dayhike from Kampung Baru (follow Jalan Gunung Karang from the green and white clock tower in the nearby town of Pandeglang) although you may need to leave your vehicle further down the road. The road to Kampung Baru turns into a rocky farm track which skirts the eastern side of the mountain before reaching the village (which lies roughly east-north-east of the peak). The tracks in the farmland beneath the summit can be confusing so you may need to ask farm workers for help! It takes about 4 or 5 hours to reach the top. There is a ‘false summit’ (about 20 minutes before the true summit) where the path drops down steeply before ascending again. The summit is forested and there is a mosque on top. Apparently in good conditions you can occasionally see the Krakatau islands but we weren’t so lucky! Return the same way.
Failed to reach the peak on a wet, muddy Sunday 10 Jan 10. James and I drove to the eastern most end of Jalan Gunung Karang, just before it turns downslope to the south. From there, a newly paved one-lane road shoots upwards to the 800m contour ending at Kampung Angin Pasir, at a point 4km SSE of the peak. We decided to take a local guide who led us to a hotsprings at 1400m called Kawah Haji. This was a dead-end due to very steep slopes above and around us. Look 2km SSE from the peak (direction 5:30 o’clock) at the 1400m contour. You will see dark gray on the terrain map and you will see clouds on the sat map. The hotsprings, consisting of many small boiling steaming puddles is under the clouds but can be seen as a grey patch partly obscured by clouds. We saw monkeys in there, each of us got leeches along the trail, and we saw a spider whose legs spanned larger than my hand. Still a good hike, but not a great hike – we will find the peak next time! Most promising route is to ascend from the east once you are above 1200m and about 1.5km from the peak – definitely avoid traversing westwards until you have passed to the east of the large crater sitting 1 km SE of the peak. You could possibly try jumping off from Jalan Ciaja-Kunungdahu which can get you to a point due east of the peak, or even ENE, and above the 800m contour. The sat map shows plantations that you could follow westwards as you climb to the peak. We wish you better luck than we had! Keith
Hi Keith, it’s funny how the smaller ones tend to be the difficult ones. I wish I could offer more specific advice but we got lucky even finding the trail on the way up after stumbling around farmland and through thick forest. On the descent, the path lead down to a village (according to one signpost, Kampung Baru) and from there we took a right and followed the track back round the (eastern) side of the mountain to where we had started. I do recall on the way up there was a fork in the track and we went left (higher) which was a mistake – though we never came across the hot springs. The correct approach for the route we came down is from the ENE rather than the SE.
I checked my GPS tracks from the hike. After battling to the summit with a big detour, we descended the right way. The route up should start from Jalan Gunung Karang at lat -6.2592, long 106.0752. From there you hike pretty much straight uphill through the kampung in a west-southwest direction. The trail takes a small deviation (dog leg) northwards about 1 km from the kampung, but then quickly continues back west-southwest. It’s not an amazing hike; but if you get to the summit before the clouds and rain come, maybe you can see Krakatau, which would be worth it.
Our mistake was launching from Kampung Angin Pasir at 6°17′31.02″S 106° 4′8.23″E and striking out NW from there on a line directly to the peak. The Kawah Haji hotsprings are at 6°16′45.25″S 106° 3′13.96″E which was our dead end. Thanks for the GPS points and yes, that is the jump-off I tried to describe as the best route for a successful climb – next time, eh!