Bali’s Three Peaks Challenge: climb them all in 24 hours, if your legs don’t turn to jelly along the way
Most visitors to the Indonesian holiday island are happy if they reach the top of one of its three big volcanoes; Graeme Green scales all three in 16 hours, with views of a Bali sunrise and sunset compensation for his labours
The forest is still and quiet. Hiking guide Wayan Ariana lights an incense stick, smoke drifting up into the night sky, as he kneels to say a silent prayer at a Hindu shrine.
“The offering is to request permission to receive our trek on the volcano today,” he tells me afterwards, as we resume our hike up the muddy trail towards the summit of Mount Agung. “Balinese people believe this is a holy mountain. There are spirits at the top. Magic supernatural spirits. Good spirits. They give you luck.”
If that’s the case, we’ll be asking for their permission to be up on Bali’s peaks more than once today. While most people come to Bali to lie on the famous beaches, sip cocktails and generally take it easy, there are also far less well-known hiking trails around and up the mountains and volcanoes of this green island on the Pacific Ocean’s explosive Ring of Fire.
Hiking up any one of the island’s peaks should be enough for most rational-minded travellers, but a new Three Peaks Challenge sets the daunting task of climbing Bali’s three highest summits – Mount Agung (3,031 metres) and Mount Batur (1,717 metres), and Mount Abang (2,151 metres), which is technically a mountain, but part of the Batur caldera – in the space of 24 hours. It’s a world away from the standard Balinese beach holiday.
