Among my plans to continue in the challenge to reach the summit of the 50 Most Prominent Summits of the World. I organized a plan to climb three more in just one trip, the first one located in Taiwan and the other two in Indonesia: Mt. Yu Shan, highest peak of the Island of Formosa (Taiwan), Gunung Semeru, the highest of the Island of Java and Gunung Rinjani, the highest of the Island of Lombok and the second highest in all Indonesia.

However, when Typhoon Morakot crossed Taiwan, I was forced to postpone the trip.
Instead of going first to Taiwan, I went first to Indonesia.
On September 2nd I left Guatemala due to Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, to the ascent of Gunung Semeru.

Indonesia is an archipelago located in the place known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire". It has more than 400 volcanoes, almost a hundred of them are active and each year occurs one major volcanic eruption.

The Gunung Semeru is located within the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park, one of the most famous conservation areas in Indonesia because of the importance in cultural values and aesthetics that protects biodiversity. There has been an increase of visitors to the National Park for recreation, camping, climbing, mountaineering, research and education. The government established the National Park on November 12th 1992 and well protected an area of over 50 thousand hectares, in East Java.

Semeru is one of the most active volcanoes is constantly ejecting plumes of smoke, gases and ash in continuous eruptive phase since 1967.

On September 4th I met with my friend and fellow Ngaderi at the Surabaya International Airport, then we drove to a small town called Ranu Pani. Place where we report to the National Park authorities before beginning our approach to Semeru. We spend the night in the humble home of some friends of Ngaderi, friendly coexistence with a family of ethnic Tenggara. The village sits in a relatively sparsely populated area due to the constant eruption of volcanoes in the vicinity.

Ranu Pani is near two lakes of moderate size. The first gives the name to the village, with chocolate-colored waters by the presence of volcanic sulfur, the other Ranu Regulus, is larger and more crystalline water. At this point we're at an altitude of 2,200 meters.

The morning of 5 September we began a walk of just over ten miles to the base of our goal, from Ranu Pani to Ranu Kumbolo 4 hours, a beautiful lake between the mountains and hid in an old crater at 2,400 meters above sea level. There we rested in the shelter, ate something, get some fresh water and then continue to the saddle called Kalimati, a broad area that separates two volcanoes: Semeru and Kopolo. Here we set our camp, just below the tree line.

At 2:30AM on September 7th, we began to climb to the summit of Semeru. At that hour the air was still cold and made the volcanic sand kept firmer, facilitating the ascension. By mid-morning warmth softened the sand there with the wind and the visibility is low and the risk of inhaling toxic gases from the active crater is higher.

But at night we walked through a thick forest of pine and casuarina. From here the ascent is 600 meters of vertical drop but several miles of travel. Literally we took two steps and we slip one.

The summit of Semeru is called Mahameru (the "Big Top") and from there is possible to observed the constant eruptions of Jongring Saloko. The temperature at the summit was 0°C (too cold for this latitude). But the view was simply breathtaking. Often, small eruptions threw sulfurous gas and ash. It is an inspiring summit by the surrounding landscape and environment of volcanic force.

That night we were in Cemoro Lawang, a village where you arrive after crossing the sand sea of Gunung Bromo. As to accessibility, the Gunung Bromo is the best known of those in this area of East Java, so even an entire region with this name. It is situated at an altitude of 2,400 meters above sea level, and continues to release clouds of sulfur throughout the day.

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