“Gunung Bragging!” – The Hall of Fame List 2017

Below is the eighth edition of the Hall of Fame (for end of 2017). A new edition of the list is published at the end of every year. Please contact us if you wish to be listed next year.
Links to previous years…2016; 2015; 2014; 2013; 2012; 2011; 2010

Why Have a Hall of Fame?

Although looking at lists of mountains like the Ribus is always secondary to the actual experience of being out there in the mountains – enjoying the fresh air, the scenery and the exercise – there is an undoubted pleasure in keeping track of the peaks you’ve visited. Unlike in several other countries where mountain climbing is equally – or more – popular, there has not to our knowledge been any attempt to create a record of people’s hiking achievements in Indonesia. The Ribus are based on objective criteria (i.e 1,000 metre prominence) and so we hope to utilise this to keep a record of people’s hiking achievements – if they want to be included. Given the immensity of the challenge of climbing all the Ribus (and the fact that nobody knew where they all were until now) it is pretty much impossible that anyone will have climbed all 226 of them! Indeed, we think that at present no single person has reached the top of more than about 70 Ribus, although it is probable that at least 100 peaks on the list are relatively accessible and have been climbed on at least several occasions (though many requiring a week-long trek or more). Perhaps 50 Ribus or more are visited by hikers on at least a weekly basis during the dry season.

Hall of Fame Criteria

If you have climbed 20 or more Ribus (excluding Spesial peaks) you can join the Gunung Bagging Hall of Fame. If you would like to be added, please contact us with a list of your bagged Ribus and Spesials, and including any “significant attempts” when you came close but failed to reach the absolute summit for some reason. There can be many reasons for failing to reach the summit:

• Volcanic activity (or the weather) can make it too dangerous to reach the highest point. The trek to Merapi (Central Java) is an example of a relatively straightforward hike to the summit area of a volcano, but not to the summit itself (which was completely altered, in 2006 and most recently in the 2010 eruption). Hikers who visited the highest point prior to 2006 (Garuda’s Wing) can reasonably claim to have reached the summit if they managed to get their head above the highest point of the huge piece of rock. Between 2006 and 2010 however, the highest point was part of a new lava dome which was simply too dangerous and utterly irresponsible to visit. However, since the 2010 eruptions, the summit area is vastly different once again – with a new 400m wide crater.
• Technical climbing skills are required. Gunung Raung (East Java), Puncak Trikora (Papua) and Egon (East Nusa Tenggara) require climbing ropes and/or intermediate rock-climbing skills in order to reach the highest point.
• Dense vegetation / jungle / no trail. Some peaks are covered in dense vegetation. Occasionally, finding a route to the top can be very difficult, if not impossible. Trails become overgrown quickly and if tops are not visited for a number of years the vegetation can become so dense that there is no visible trail and/or the vegetation is just too dense to walk through. Papandayan and Galunggung (Beuticanar), both in West Java, are notable examples of overgrown trails. Marapi in West Sumatra is not baggable by any conventional route, although a handful of hikers have opened up a new trail which does reach the true summit. We hope this site will help encourage new hiking routes and the regeneration of old, forgotten trails.
• Mystifying legal reasons. There are a number of peaks in Java (and elsewhere) officially closed to the general public. This a fairly recent problem – peaks which were often climbed in the past have been closed by Forestry or National Park authorities, mainly because they do not have sufficient resources to maintain a network of trails in the short-term even though in the long-term the amount of tourism revenue would probably be high if people knew of their existence. Annoyingly, waivers stating you are entirely responsible for your safety and behaviour (which you would be normally, anyway) are rarely granted except to scientists conducting research. It’s a lose-lose situation but in general Indonesian hikers don’t seem to mind and the media have bigger fish to fry. You can either enter the lengthy and expensive process of negotiation with authorities or just get on with it and try to climb them anyway.
• Not knowing where the summit actually is. A less common and more humorous reason for not reaching the highest point will be simply that you didn’t know where the very top was, perhaps due to excessive vegetation or a very flat mountain top with several peaks of seemingly similar elevation. Even a guide might not actually know where the true summit is and they can even get you lost. Liman, Palung (Ponti) and Rajabasa fall into this category but we have tried to provide information on this site which specifies the likely highest point.

Of course, reaching the highest point is not the most important part of going for a hike and considering the dangers you may face it is occasionally unwise to attempt at all. However, we want to keep this list as stringent and professional as other mountain lists worldwide. For Gunung Bagging purposes, (and despite probable accusations of pedantry!) this means that if you haven’t reached the highest point then you can’t claim to have ‘bagged’ it. However, be sure to mention such attempts in your email to us so that other hikers know what to expect on tricky or particularly active peaks.

Known Difficult Peaks

Many of the Ribus and Spesials are very hard to conquer! This is due to a number of reasons. The highest point may be in dense vegetation with no path whatsoever, part of an active lava dome, on a knife-edged crater rim or ridge, in a tribal conflict area or require moderate rock climbing skills or a hike of two weeks or more! Here is an initial list of some of the trickier summits that we know about so far – please see individual mountain pages for more details. N.B. Most peaks in Kalimantan and Papua are likely to be very difficult. We hope to make updates as and when we have new information. We also hope to conduct expeditions to these summits if/when it is safe to do so.

Java:

• Papandayan (Malang) – The true summit is in moderately dense vegetation although one group from Bandung reached the top in June 2015 and we reached the top in June 2017.
• Parang – The summit is in dense vegetation but we finally reached the top in June 2017.
• Kelud – The summit rocks require rock climbing skills – ropes are probably needed.
• Liman – this remote mountain is difficult to reach given the terrain (rarely-used) and lack of local knowledge about what is a very complex range of peaks.
• Lamongan (Tarub) – The summit is rarely visited and overgrown. In October 2008, local hiking enthusiast Pak Iwan Erfanto led what was one of only a handful of recent expeditions to the summit of Tarub from Klakah via Lamongan, taking 4 days there and back. Gunung Bagging went to Tarub in January 2011 from Ranu Gedang.
• Ijen (Merapi) – Whilst Ijen crater is very popular with visitors, the top of the massif, Gunung Merapi, is hardly ever visited. It is a great place – there are several sandy craters to explore. The highest point is covered in dense vegetation. Java Lava either reached the summit or got very close indeed in 2006 but since then most attempts have been thwarted by the density of the vegetation. However, two hikers reached the old trig point which marks the true peak in 2013 and one hiker allegedly bagged the summit in 2017.
• Baluran – None of our requests to hike to the summit have been granted by the Park. Technically not a difficult peak to reach, but bureaucratically a very difficult one.
• Sumbing – The highest point of the crater rim is mildly difficult to reach. Confident scramblers should have no difficulty.
• Raung – The highest point of the crater rim is difficult to reach. It requires a very long hike in and ropes for rock climbing.
•  Merapi– technically not allowed to go beyond Pasar Bubrah now due to the dangers (but loads of hikers do go anyway).

Sulawesi:

• Karangetang – The volcano is incredibly active and dangerous.
• Tondongkarambu – Reaching the ridge of this mountain is easy enough from local villages. But the summit is about 4km away!

Sumatra:

• Bukit Jempol – Only roped rock climbers dare attempt ascend the vertical summit cliffs.
• Kaba – There is a great trail around the active double-crater. But the highest point of the massif appears to be in dense vegetation to the west.
• Pangulubao – The trig pillar is visited at least once a year but the true highpoint likely 1.8km along a densely forested ridge from there.
• Pantaicermin – A hunter’s trail snakes through the forest but misses out the true summit. You’d need several days to cut a fresh trail along to it.
• Tujuh – The climb to the summit is very steep and has apparently only been climbed once or twice.

Maluku:

• Salahutu – Although local hikers climb to a lesser nearby top, the highest peak of the range is rarely visited and if there is a trail it is likely to be very vague.
• Binaiya – Despite being one of Indonesia’s “Seven Summits”, the true peak of Binaiya is also known as the forbidden peak because technically it is a nature reserve so hiking is not allowed beyond the second-highest peak (which is where all the ‘summit’ signs are) .

Nusa Tenggara Timur:

• Curunumbeng – There appears to be no trail to the summit, at least not from the eastern side of the mountain.
• Egon – The highest point of the crater rim is difficult to reach. It requires good scrambling skills over very exposed and slippery terrain. Rob Woodall made a complete circuit of the rim in August 2010 and Wolfgang Piecha reached the summit on a Java Lava trip in April 2009.

Kepulauan Riau

• Daik – Apparently it is a very difficult rock climb and only the second-highest rock pillar has been successfully bagged.

Papua:

• Puncak Trikora – Ropes are needed for a rock climb at the very top.
• Arfak (Umsini) – There is a current conflict between two neighbouring tribes which makes access to the peak rather difficult.
• Puncak Jaya (Carstensz Pyramid) – Indonesia’s highest mountain is very expensive – especially for foreigners – and rock climbing skills are needed.