Bierg Ijen, virum Sonnenopgang

Firwat Mir Dëst Gewielt Hunn

A 2am start. An hour's drive from your hotel to the base of the mountain. Headlamps, cold air, and a climb that begins steep and stays that way. The path up Ijen is shared with the miners. Most carry sulphur down on shoulder poles, two baskets balanced across the back of the neck, loads that look unreasonable until you see them moving past you in the dark. On their days off, some push wooden carts up the mountain to carry tourists who don't want to walk, charging by the kilometre. The carts overtake you in the dark, the miners breathing through their teeth. You are climbing for the view. They are climbing for fifty dollars. Above the cloudline, the mountain opens out. The moon and the stars do most of the work at this altitude. You walk in silence because there is no reason to talk. A note on the blue fire. Most operators sell this hike on the promise of the electric blue flames that appear at the crater rim where sulphur gas ignites as it escapes. At the time of writing, the crater floor is closed to visitors for pipeline maintenance, and volcanic activity has been elevated. The blue fire is not accessible. When and whether access reopens is up to the park authority and the volcano. We will update this listing when something changes. What is accessible, and what we think is the better reason to come anyway, is the crater lake at dawn. Ijen holds the largest highly acidic lake in the world. From the rim, at first light, the water is a colour that takes a minute to register. Turquoise, pale, impossible. As the sun rises behind you the colour deepens, then shifts, then deepens again. The crater walls move through their own changes: pale yellow to ochre to rust. There are very few places on the planet where this happens. Wafa is your guide for the day. He works in the Ijen sulphur mine six days a week and guides for Cavale on his day off, which is Friday. He taught himself English. While you walk the rim, he is setting up breakfast at a flat stretch of ground near the descent path: a small table, hot tea and coffee from a flask, a sandwich. The breakfast is not the point of the listing. It is the thing that lets the morning continue, after the climb, after the lake, before the descent. A porter accompanies the group with kit and breakfast supplies. You carry only what you want to carry. The descent is faster than the ascent and your legs will remember it the next day. You are back at the hotel between 9 and 10am, in time for the hotel's breakfast if you somehow still have appetite. A note on the work. The Ijen mine still operates in traditional conditions. Wafa is guiding because guiding pays more reliably than mining and is less likely to break his body. We have written separately about his life and his work

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Praktesch Informatiounen

What to wear: Layers. The pre-dawn ascent is cold (single digits at altitude), the descent can be warm. Long trousers, a fleece or light jacket, a windproof outer layer if you have one. Hiking boots strongly recommended; trainers are workable but the path is loose in places.

Gas masks: Provided when the crater rim is open. Sulphur gas at the rim can be irritating to the eyes and throat. The masks are basic but functional.

The blue fire: Currently inaccessible due to crater floor closure for pipeline maintenance and elevated volcanic activity. We will update this listing when access changes.

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