Raung is an active and dangerous volcano, which is known to erupt regularly*.Prior to 1838 the crater probably contained a lake, which would have caused extensive flood damage during eruptions. Nowadays, however, the crater floor is dry. From the air, the gaping summit of Raung presents an awesome spectacle, the sheer crater walls plunging half a kilometre into the heart of the mountain.

Raung (right) is named for the sound that tigers make or the sounds of wind above the peak that local people said "me-RAUNG". The summit is a long ridge and very jagged. Fresh gray-brown rock surrounded by forest. We never got very close but it formed a nice reference in the distance

Getting There

I Climbed The Raung Mount at July 2009 from Kalibaru Route, a small village at the south of Mount raung at Kabupaten Banyuwangi, East java.

We can use train from Surabaya City, there's some to go to banyuwangi and it transit at Kalibaru station. From the station we took a transportaion called ojek, a motorcycle that used to pick up people to another point of kalibaru, besides, we can use a small truck of Local Peoplen that bring vegetables or any to take us to Wonorejo Village. Any permit and necessary things of regulation we can ask to the Kalibaru Police station and the Head Village of Wonorejo.

The fastes route of Mount Raung actually is from the North Side, but it only take us to the Crater rim, not to the highest point. The North route was absolutely dangerous and unrecomended, coz we have to climb up and down the wall as high 500 meters to reach the Highest peak, so we decide to Climb from Kalibaru route.

Kalibaru Route need minimals three days to reach the peak, which is we have to prepare with Standard Climbing gears, kernmantle rope, piton, ice axe and harness.

When To Climb

Dry season its about May - September, cause in tha rain season the track is very wet and skinny. But we must prepared a lot of Water, because there's no water along the track to the summit.

After checking in at the base 'office' at Kalibaru Village with my guides, I started climbed to the summit and back down again in four days, it sounds quite simple but it is a long trek/climb.

We saw no-one at all the whole way - the fact it there's no one really like to climb this mountain because the challenge of the route. Raung has the widest crater of any of the big 12 and sitting almost alone there on the edge of it just after dawn was a magical experience, The Route was one of the most dificult route of Indonesian Mountain.

To the west, Argopuro and Semeru rose out of the clouds, beyond lay the others described above.To The East we can see the holly Agung Mountain of Bali Island.

Mountain Conditions

A Big Canyon Between Peak 17 and Peak kalibaru of Mount Raung

the Ridge to Peak 17

Raung is a stratovolcano with a circular summit caldera. A prehistoric collapse on the west flank of the volcano produced a large debris avalanche that traveled about 40 miles (60 km). Raung has erupted at least 57 times since 1593. Most eruptions consisted of moderate size explosions (VEI=2). The explosive eruption in 1593 was very large (VEI=5) and caused fatali ties. Eruptions in 1597, 1638, 1730, and 1817 also caused fatalities. A crater lake was present during the eruptions of 1586, 1593, 1597, 1638, 1730, 1817, and 1838. Mudflows were generated during the eruptions of 1638, 1730, 1817, and 1838. More than 1,000 people were killed by floods and lahars between the Stail and Klatak Rivers during the 1638 eruption

Others Info

Hi everyone,

I have not been there (Mt. Raung Main / True Summit) but I like to know about it too, so below is the info about the main summit gathered so far. Hope it would serve as additional info for someone intending to go up there.

Many unsuccessful attempts has been made on it by various groups but to no avail and to this date, as far as I know the main summit of Mt.Raung (3328m/10918ft) has been reached twice. The first was in 2001 by outdoor enthusiast club (OEC) from Surabaya. The second was done by OEC from University of Indonesia (UI) Jakarta on 13-21 April 2003.

Both OEC made the ascent from its southern side but approaching the summit from different ridge.

The first route, employed by OEC Surabaya, is thru Kalibaru Village. This route is considered more difficult than Glenmore route (see below). After the vegetation border, climber should reached Wates Peak first, go down, traversing 50m/164ft cliff wall, and then semi-scrambling on loose-rock slope to reach the summit. Most of the routes after the vegetation border is about 40-70 degree slopes on the loose-rock ground. Water is also difficult to find on this route, so it must be prepared and carried along from the base. The whole route from Kalibaru to the summit is said to be 17.6Km/10.9miles long.

Glenmore Village is starting point for the second route and was done by reaching the Glenmore Peak (3227m/10587ft) first which is situated on the east of the main summit. When OEC-UI made their route, they did it by traversing the crater rim from the Glenmore Peak to the main summit which is located in the west of it. Horizontal length between the two peaks is less than 1 Km/0.621mile, but it was said to take whole day to accomplish and most of it was done by crawling. The terrifying factors here is the vertical drop down to the crater 500m/0.31mile below on the right side and the 40-70 degrees slipery sand-loose-rock slope on the left side. But according to the hikers, this route is easier compared to Kalibaru route, as it is easier to find water along the way.

It is also encouraged to bring along climbing gear as the characterisitic of the southern side is exactly the same as the northern side ie. sand and loose rock. Rope 50m/54.6yards, harnes, figur eight, long pegs, (ice) axe were among the essential gear to have.

Following is my opinion.

Based on the above stories, extra care and planning should be taken when taking trip to the main summit of this mountain. Extra effort would be needed right from the base (starting point) too. Finding route and cutting our way up the hills thru dense forest, especially rattan with its prickles, is harder than hiking along an established trail / path. Although porters are available to hire at the villages on both routes, map reading and route finding is better done by ourselves.

It also needs more days to do it. To reach the vegetation border, OEC-UI needed 5 days and this is standard (assuming the base is on the 1000-1200m/0.621-0.745mile above sea level) as when cutting new trail in dense forest we could only get 300-500m/328-546yards vertical gain in a day if we are not getting bored of doing so half way. So at least 10 days should be reserved for this trip.

On the other hand, the reward of this kind of trip is also promising I guess. Being in only a small group of closed friends alone in the middle of virgin pure-nature environment, with no other people crowding and passing around our camp-site... hot coffee in hand and gazing to the horizon... is what we need to refresh our mind. And usually there will be no rubbish to be found in the new cutting trail.

Because slip or fall in this trip could lead to fatalities, for emergency, sat-phone is one of the choice for calling SAR Agency right on the spot (and then pray). But this stuff has its set back too as we tend to communicate often and this, according to purist, spoils the nature journey...

Please let me know and share your story on this Raung southern side when you go there. Apology for wrong words and terms.

Arifin Go, Jakarta

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