Merbabu from Kopeng

Merbabu The Long Way. Traverse of Merbabu from Kopeng to Selo Steve decided he would rather work than go hiking, so on Wednesday evening Don and Dave flew down to Semarang for our planned traverse of Mt. Merbabu. We took a taxi from the airport to Kopeng on the northern slopes of Merbabu arriving 1-1/2 hours later, but at nine PM the place was pretty dead. This was the taxi drivers first visit to Kopeng also so he was of little help deciding where we should go! We stopped at a hotel that was still open and were informed that the route to Merapi lay 7km up a small road to our left and there was a place to stay at the end. Off we went and arrived at a small village called Tekelan right at where the trail started and were guided to our lodgings which was a section of floor at the basecamp. About a dozen other bodies, who had come down from the summit that evening, were strewn about so were found a spot and laid out our bags. A small warung attached sold water and noodles but as we weren't very hungry a bottle of water sufficed for the night. The light stayed on the entire night and at about 3.30AM somebody in the room turned on a transistor radio and we were blasted by some good old kampung music till about 4.30 when they packed up and set off back to town. It didn't look like we would get too much more sleep so we got up and packed our bags. It was just light enough to see so we set off promising to stop for a brew and breakfast on the way. We had a couple of pages of route description from the internet and it seemed that there was water available at several points so we only took an extra liter each to add to our 20kg packs and set off up the trail. It was a good track and after an hour had reached the first shelter (Pending) and loaded up with another liter of water for the trail ahead. The trail continued to climb steadily and interestingly upwards but the views above were hidden in the clouds. We stopped and snacked went past some big rocks and after 4 hours had reached the site of some antenna at 2900m. A lovely spot on a peak in the ridge but still no views of what lay ahead. Still with the summit at at 3142 we can't be too far away..right? According to our route description a spring was located at shelter V 30 minutes ahead. We descended down the ridge to a saddle where there was some evidence of volcanic activity in a flat tussuck valley to our left then regained the elevation lost climbing to Shelter V located on another saddle running north -south. Still the clouds concealed any views of the mountain ahead. Don heard water running and after some scouting around found a small sign on a rock with an arrow pointing to 'Mata Air' (Spring) We had about 8 liters of assorted empty plastic bottles, so while Don put on the brew I went down the small path to a patch of volcanic like activity on the eastern side of the hill. There were several pools of dirty bubbling water and sulpherous looking springs that looked hot but weren't and one that looked clean but the water tasted horrible. I had to keep descending and eventually found good water up a small siding north of the main crater. The pool had ochre deposits around it and the water had a distinctly metalic taste but was OK. Mixed with The success of our camping trip to the summit depended on finding drinking water at this spot. I filled all our bottles and climbed back with Don coming down to take the water the last bit of the way. I had 4-1/2 litres and Don had 3-1/2 as well as the brew so we were in good shape. Our route guide sheet told us the hardest part of the trek lay ahead of us and was called the Devil's bridge. The route followed up the ridge to our left (North) and certainly looked pretty step. In bad weather it would be an exposed climb indeed. We had been at shelter V for over an hour getting the water and drinking coffee. We had been on the go pretty well since 5.30AM so the rest was well needed. Just before 2 we shouldered our now really heavy packs and set off up the ridge. A group had come down while I was getting water and informed Don we still had 5-6 hours to go to the top if we went slowly. The funny thing about Merbabu is that although it looks tough, one makes good progress from one challenge to the next and it didn't seem too long before we were at the top of the Devils bridge looking along to the Summits of Merbabu (3142m)to the South East. North and left lay another summit (3119m) we were above the clouds and at 3pm in the afternoon everything was looking pretty good. The summit lay along the ridge ahead up through a rock wall. At 3.45 we were on the first of the summits looking down at the sea of cloud that surrounded us and congratulating each other on a good hike. It is a big sense of achievement and just being there made it all worthwhile. We were all alone, no other hikers in sight. The true summit lay about a hundred meters to the south so after a few more photos we shouldered our packs and walked over to the summit and set up camp. A brew, some soup, noodles and then a Don cullinery creation of tuna, mushrooms, greenpeppers and noodles for his birthday dinner. The sea of cloud surrounded us completely and we tried to guess in which direction Merapi was and would we see any fireworks from it. None of the other higher volcanos, Sumbing and Lawu especially, were visible and it seemed only Merbabu had it's head above the clouds. We surveyed the route down to Selo to the east, as far as we could. The temperature dropped quickly once the sun went down and I was happy to be laying on my back in the tent in my sleeping bag. It had been a long day, but a good day. Just as well we left as early as we did! We had worked for privillige of sleeping on Merbabu's summit. The clouds cleared during the night and I vaguely remember Don insisting I get out and look at all the lights below. Dawn was beautiful. Not a cloud in sight. Merapi smoking away next door. it seemed like the entire summit was smoking. As soon as the sun rose the temperature rose and by 7.30AM we were in shirtsleeves again packing up camp for the trip home. Soup and biscuits for breakfast and a liter of water each for the journey down. Straight down. Pretty hard on the knees and legs. "Glad we didn't have to climb here", remarked Don. It was a pretty trail through the tussock before descending into the forest. We stopped long enough to empty our water bottles and in 2-1/2 hours we arrived at a road end a few km from Selo. Compared to the 10 hours up from Kopeng the speed of our descent to Selo surprised us both. Ojeks were found and a few minutes later we were drinking a beer at the losman in Selo prior to a quick mandi to get some of the dust off our bodies before the trip home. Tongseng for lunch and a charterd colt to Semarang had us at the airport in good time for our 5.30pm flight to Jakarta and home.