Three for Thirty: Volcano-bound for my Birthday

Those of you who know me well know that I try and climb a mountain for my birthday every year. I have been doing this for quite some time now, and my aim is always to be at the summit for sunrise on my birthday. With my 30th coming up in mid-August, I've been trying to figure out what mountain I wanted to attempt, especially given that last year's Kilimanjaro trip was cancelled due to bronchitis and the whole "tearing two tendons in my ankle" thing. Combing through Joanna's Bali & Lombok guidebook whilst she was here provided me with a perfect answer: there are three sacred Balinese volcanos (despite two of them no longer lying within Bali's borders), allowing me to climb one for each decade of my life.

They are:

Gunung Rinjani: Active stratovolcano 3,726m (12,224 ft) high. Disturbingly active, actually - its most recent eruption was mere months ago on May 10, 2009. As a result, I cannot summit, but can get to the first rim where there is a crater lake called Segara Anak and - I've been told - see flowing magma. Mmmm...magma.

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Comments by other travellers

Wow! That's a great plan. You've definitely inspired me to do something good for my birthday this year - more than drinking and eating cake I mean... A volcano sounds much more interesting than a mountain as well. Good luck - let us know about it when you do!

 danthemanbuchannan - posted 14th July 2009