What's it like to scale the highest active volcano in South-East Asia
How many of you have heard of Mount Kerinci in Sumatra, Indonesia? It may not be as famous as Indonesia's other peak in Lombok – Mount Rinjani – or even Sabah's Mount Kinabalu, but it's still a great climb for adventurous folks.
Standing at 3,805m, Mount Kerinci is the highest active volcano in South-East Asia (making it Indonesia's tallest mountain), surpassing even Japan's Mount Fuji (3,776m).
Known as the 'rooftop of Sumatra', this majestic peak is often wrapped in clouds and cloaked in mystery.
I've never thought of myself as an 'adventurer'; I generally prefer having a quiet, not-too- adventurous life. But a prompt by my best friend made me – reluctantly – join a group of friends to scale Mount Kerinci.
There were 16 of us, plus six amazing guides from Trekking Indrapura Indonesia. We started our climb at 9am from Pintu Rimba, the main entrance of the Kerinci Seblat National Park.
The initial trek to Shelter 1 felt familiar to me, almost comforting even. The cool air, shaded trails and thick foliage reminded me of the Malaysian rainforests that I grew up around.
A group photo on the summit of Mount Kerinci in Sumatra.
However, the climb from Shelter 1 to Shelter 2 was brutal. We passed through an area called 'lubang tikus' or rat hole, which felt like something out of Alice In Wonderland.
Only I wasn't Alice but rather, Mowgli from The Jungle Book, clambering and clawing my way up through the 'jungle'.
By the time we reached 2,000m, some in the group started showing signs of acute mountain sickness or AMS. Our experienced guides stepped in to help – they handled things calmly and kept us on the right path, pushing us to move forward safely and steadily.
We arrived at Shelter 3 (3,290m) at 6pm, and spent the night there. We were exhausted but happy that everyone made it. With sore legs and happy hearts, we huddled in the cold, knowing that the real challenge begins in just a few hours.
At 2.30am we woke up to get ready to summit. It was freezing and dark but we geared up, put on our headlamps and started trekking about an hour later.
The trail was narrow, steep, and unstable. Loose rocks shifted beneath our feet, and every gust of wind went through our jackets.
The group of friends and acquaintances before making the climb, with Mount Kerinci in the background.
I started to panic – my fear of heights coupled with the darkness of the night and the biting cold suddenly became too much for me to bear. Fortunately, a few friends noticed this and stayed by my side, helping and encouraging me to push forward, and to just take things step by step.
At 6.45am, we finally reached the summit, together.
Words could not describe what we felt. The sunrise painted the sky gold while a sea of clouds stretched below us. The red volcanic rocks glowed warmly in the light. It was breathtaking, humbling. A moment I will never forget.
Once we've had our fill of God's beauty, we got ready for our descent, which turned out to be quite terrifying for someone like me.
Climbing up, I was too focused on keeping my pace and preserving energy to notice the drop. But as we started climbing down in daylight, my phobia kicked in and hit me hard. I froze.
Thankfully, one of our guides, Andes, held my hand the entire way down. I felt like a helpless princess!
After a short rest at Shelter 3, we trekked down to Pintu Rimba. It wasn't as technically difficult as climbing up the day before, but our legs were 'dead'. Still, step by step, we made it.
By 4pm, we were back to our hotel, smelly, muddy and with aching bodies. Nevertheless, we were all proud of our achievement beyond words.
I need to add that one friend even did the whole thing while suffering through mild diarrhoea. What a champ!
The views expressed are entirely the writer's own.
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