Holding onto rocks above the clouds, Watu Gribig Cliff.

An Igneous rock and natural landscape

I don’t know how many times I hit the drill bit, maybe almost a hundred times. My hands were starting to ache, but the hole for the bolt was not forming.

“tak… tuk… tak… tuk…” Maybe I was hitting it too slowly. But I continued anyway, even though I didn’t know why I had to learn how to install hangers on the small andesite rock next to the camp. Meanwhile, the others had already started climbing the cliff.

I saw the team climbing the cliff on their chosen route. There are 12 routes here with varying degrees of difficulty. Even from a distance, it looked difficult, with the cliff being very steep and the gaps between handholds far apart. I saw them taking turns climbing. Finally, we were helped by our mentors and tried another route next to it. This time we chose a route that looked easier.

We used the Himalayan climbing technique, which meant that one of us had to reach the top of the cliff. This technique is suitable for climbing cliffs without multiple pitches and short cliff targets.

They suddenly told me to try climbing. It seemed like everyone else had already tried climbing the route before me and I was the only one left. I stopped the slightly boring activity of hammering the drill and prepared to climb and set up the equipment. All the equipment was complete and the dynamic rope was tied to my harness. I always take a moment to pray, because climbing is not easy and there are always risks, even if the cliff is not high.

“On belay?”

“Belay on..”

The belayer was ready, then I climbed and suddenly I was at the top of the hanger. It felt like just holding onto a rock and then climbing up, inserting the rope into the runner set as a safety measure. When I reached the top, I paused for a moment and then climbed back down. Everyone was surprised that I had made it to the top. Perhaps the route was indeed easier than before, which is why I was able to reach the top. But this moment made me start to feel brave enough to climb.

We got to the top, so our mission was done, and the next day we did a rescue practice before going back. Finally, we left the campsite, which was foggy and super cold. If you’re planning to do activities here, make sure to bring a thick jacket and proper camping gear! Remember, the thicker the better! Since the sun rarely comes out, you can imagine how cold it is. Even though we made a fire for evaluation purposes, it was still freezing.