Hike Debut: Mt. Andong 1726 masl

Last April, on my flight to Zurich, I watched a movie titled 'Everest', making me wonder if one day I could touch Everest.
I always wanted to hike, I just couldn't find someone with the same 'yoyo' passion as mine. When I am into something, I would go for it until I get bored and move to another passion.
So, hiking is one of the thing that I never tried before.

On my last trip to Switzerland, we have a schedule to visit Glacier 3000. I've been to Mt. Titlis for a few times, it was snowy but bearable. So, me and my friends were taking it easy on Glacier 3000 visit. Little that we know, they had a snowstorm that day. And since I never experienced a snow storm before, I have no clue what it was. Snow was just snow for me. Hehehehe... all I know is that when I was sitting on the ski chair, the wind blew the tiny snow on my face and it hurts!!!! It feels like thousands of tiny sharp pebbles hitting your face. The whole outdoor experience was only about 30 mins. It makes me wonder about those in the Everest. How can they last for hours??!!!
But then, I have to admit that I didn't dress properly for the trip. I only wore jeans and double jacket, not even waterproof >.< no gloves, no beanie, nothing!

Snow Storm!?? What Snowstorm???!!!  -- me is one on the right

Things were much better when we visited Matterhorn. We all learned the lesson. With a proper gear, ski pants, waterproof jacket, hoodie, still no gloves (I don't like it), the snowy experience was a rewarding one :)

If I ever wanted to climb Mt. Everest, at least I have to start small, rite? I always wanted to see Ijen Crater. But a friend suggested me to start small, really small, like Mt. Andong in Mid-Java.
So there I went, on 8th May, I flew all the way to Mid Java just to have my first experience of hiking.
I arrived in the afternoon, get a chance to freshen up a bit before dinner, and start to drive all the way to BaseCamp Kudusan for a quick good nite rest.
I slept in the car for a few hours (lucky that I can sleep anywhere!) before I was get a 'morning call' at 2 or 3 am. Didn't check the time.
We started the hike when the sky is still in pitch dark, walking only using a headlamp. Maybe a good thing, I don't even know what the mountain looks like, thus I have no clue how much I need to walk - less fear and discouragement.
The ascending was OK, I made a stop every 10 mins or so to catch my breath. Until Pos #1, it seems to be a bit tough. After that, things were quite mild. Took me 2.5 hours to reach the peak from BaseCamp Kudusan.
I managed to reach the peak before the sunrise, which is a big reward (I didn't plan to do so). And there were so many people camped up there already. It was beautiful.
I only spend around 30 mins on the peak, before heading back down.

My 1st ascent - Mt Andong

 Now, for all the experience I had in Mt.Andong, I have one conclusion, ascent was much better than descent.
I fell a few times during descent, it was very steep, muddy and slippery. And probably the most important part is "I can see". I can see how steep it is, I can see how far I have to walk, etc. That makes me weak. Hehhehe

Altho it is only 1726masl, the track was 'raw' - or maybe I should say "natural" track - going through paths that seems forgotten for sometimes. Guess what, there is one thing that I found out quite "late", is that there are many other ways to reach Mt. Andong; apparently the Kudusan track was one of the hardest physically. This explains why I was drenching in sweat while other still look quite neat.  Other tracks are either super mild, or (believe it or not) haunted.

But it was a very good experience. I am so looking forward to conquer another peak!

the other peak of Mt. Andong's Camel-Back-Peak

The dawn of Mt. Andong