Mount Rinjani - Day 2 Summit Rinjani (3726m)

Time to conquer the peak!

We wake up 1am plus in the early morning. The weather was so cold that we wrapped up like a dumpling LOL.

Milk and cereal was served as a light breakfast before we started the hike. Around 2am, we departed for the summit!

The sky is still dark of course so a head lamp is a must. It was a tough hike for us due to the low temperature and also the route condition.

At the beginning of the trek, the route is still condition normal. Towards the end, the route is getting more and more steep. The "sandy" route condition made us frustrated since it is really difficult to walk on and the progress is slow. Felt like we moved up 3 steps and slide down 1 step...

The closer we were to the summit, the more rest stop we had. Thin air, low temperature and the sandy route made our steps heavier and heavier.

I never think that hiking stick is so important. But for this case, hiking stick is really useful! So please pack along your hiking stick!

The sky turned bright. We can see the crater and surrounding area now!!!

Finally!!!! Around 630am, we reached the summit!!! Tears of joy in our eyes, can't believe that we really made it to the summit! After such a long way, finally we are here!!!!!! 

Awesome crater view from the summit!!! 3726m above sea level!

After some photo and rest time, it's time to descend. Descend would be more relax since we can just slide down all the way >.< Now we appreciate the sandy route :P

Slide down all the way!!!

The descend route is much easier, but we had to walk under the scorching hot sun. All of us got sunburnt after this few hours! So sunscreen and shielding hat is necessary :)

The way down...

Around 1030 in the morning, we reached our tent site!!!

Food was served by porters right after we arrived! So touched :) There are few porters stand-by at our tent site, to look after our belongings.

Sandwich served right after our hike! Spaghetti as our lunch :)

It was raining heavily in the afternoon, we could not go anywhere except rest in our tent site. After the rain, we had a short discussion with our guide and decided to descend to Pos 3 and overnight there.

Initial plan: From Crater Sembalun to Hot Spring and overnight at Crater Senaru. According to our guide, the route to Crater Senaru was having minor landslide few days ago and might not be too safe. Looking back to our body condition after the summit hike, we decided to descend to Pos 3 and give up Crater Senaru.

So that's it, Pos 3, we are coming.