Recently I visited Bali with my wife. One of the highlights of the trip was summitting Mt Agung. I was afraid I would not be able to do it, as I have been struggling with IT band syndrome since July 2021, when I completed Tour du Mont Blanc. No matter what exercise I did or how much rest I took, every time I exerted some stress on my knees, the pain crept in.

I arrived in Ubud after 20 hour's flight from Luxembourg, and the next day, despite the jet lag, I woke up ready for this adventure. But later in the day, anxiety kicked in, and I wondered if I’d reach the top or not, how far will I go before my knees gave up. It is 9 PM, and I am packing my bags. The driver will be here at 9:30 to take me to the trailhead.

I am now in the car with a young Balinese guy that (like most Balinese) is super polite and friendly. We discuss various topics, his life growing up in Bali, culture, hiking, and more. It’s pitch dark outside, but I am not that anxious anymore. And then I spot the silhouette of the volcano in the distance. It is massive, and I can not believe that in a few hours, I may reach its top.

It’s 11:10 PM now, I say goodbye to the driver, and I meet my guide, an aged local Balinese guy called Kaki (which means grandfather in Balinese - he got the name because he is the oldest guide around the area). As we put our names in the hikers’ log, it hits me that my attempt to reach the summit is recorded, so I’d better trust my knees to get me to the top.

We start at 1000m, walking steeply through the rainforest. After about 50 minutes, we catch up with a group of hikers with the same final target as us. Passing them gives me some confidence. We are already at an elevation of 1500m, with 1600m more to go.

Balinese people are very religious, and Agung is a sacred mountain for them, so at this point, my guide lits up some incense sticks at a small altar nestled under a tree, prays to the mountain, smokes a cigarette or 2, and off we go. A couple of hours in, I start to see signs of the ever-green forest, which means we are at the second stage of the hike. I put one foot in front of the other carefully, my knees holding up.

The only light around is the narrow beam of my headlamp, no signs of other people around. Eventually, we reach a patch of flat ground which is rare on the face of the volcano. Here we meet some more hikers, take some rest, and we continue. I am surprised that we are managing to catch up with people who started way before us. Finally, we are out of the evergreen forest, and from here on it is just boulders, rocks, and whatever else comes out of a volcano.

At 4:30 am, we stop by a tiny cave that could barely fit 2 people. We are still 2 hours before sunrise so there is no point going up the summit and freeze up there. The cave is regularly used by guides and hikers to wait out the cold night before sunrise. There are other hikers around the cave. My guide starts a bonfire outside and we all gather around, chat, and drink coffee, some of us even manage to nap before starting off again.

From here on it’s just boulder hopping and fighting with the wind on a really steep and exposed volcano face. Slipping here means a very serious injury if not death. At this point, I ditch my hiking poles, and it’s all four limbs at work. Mt Agung has 2 summits, there is a “real” summit but after that, you have a ridge walk to another celebratory summit that opens up to the volcanic crater.

At 5:45 AM, I finally reach the “first” summit, and I see a hint of a fine red on the horizon signaling the anticipated sunrise. The weather is perfect, the dawn sky is crystal clear, and there is barely anything visible except that light on the horizon. At this point I am full of adrenaline, I do not realize that I am walking on a very steep ridge with exposed drop-offs of thousands of meters on both sides. I go straight for the summit. Eventually, I make it to the top and it’s the most blissful feeling I’ve had in a while. All the pain, discomfort, and lack of sleep seem insignificant compared to the view that most people on this planet will never see. I enjoy the moment alone at the summit before other hikers join me one by one.

Mysterious shadow of Mt Agung forming over the dawn sky of Bali

As the sun comes up slowly I get to see more closely what’s around us and how high up I really am. The clouds are below us and there is this mysterious shadow of the whole mountain being cast across the landscape. This kind of shadow can only be seen from the top of the mountain. I see the whole of Bali from here, the Indian Ocean, and some neighboring islands with peaks of their volcanoes visible as well. I recognize one of the volcanos called Rinjani on the island of Lombok and I am telling myself “I’m going to climb that next time I am in Indonesia“.

A take a few photos and then we head back. It’s 7:30 AM right now and we expected to be down by 12:00 PM. My fear about IT band syndrome is not over - most of the time it hits on the downhill hike, and I still have 2200m of downhill to look forward to. Now in the daylight, I can actually see how steep the face of the mountain is and what’s at stake, so it’s more worrying than the climb up. But with the combo of fast downhill walking and running we are down at the base at 9:30 AM.

When I reached the base I could not believe that despite the fast descent there was no pain in my IT band. I exhaled with relief and looked back at what I had just climbed. This was the first time I was looking at the volcano in daylight from the base and I could not believe that just 2 hours ago I was on top of it. It was definitely one of the most rewarding things I have done in a while. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Route & Stats