Weekend Trips

There’s one car park which you’re not allowed to park in strangely enough, it has a manned security box but they won’t allow you to park your car there. (we don’t know why). Therefore I’d recommend either paying a car and driver to take you there, drop you off, then come back and get you at a set time and date.

Gunung Salak is definitely up there with one of the most emotional climbs I’ve ever done, Including my 8 years in the military; has to be a level 8 difficulty.

Definitely 100% DO NOT ATTEMPT Gunung Salak on your own. One wrong turn in the jungle and it could genuinely prove fatal where you won’t find your way back out, and ultimately you’ll die. Please don’t take my warning lightly. If you get a guide please be sure that he GENUINELY knows where he’s going and he’s done it many times before. I know people with some real horror stories of guides blagging that they’ve done it so they can make some cash, and ending up getting lost for 6hrs in the jungle thinking they were really going to die. All from using a fake guide who didn’t know what he was doing.

Phone Signal - Yes! but only until post 2 or 3, then you'll have no signal at all. Let people know before you go that you won't have a signal so they don't worry about you.

Gunung Salak will take the average person carrying kit, around 12 to 13 hrs to get to the top. There are 6 posts along the route and then the summit which I guess could be classed as the 7th post. The distance between each post is anywhere from 1hr, to 3 hrs, they all vary in distance apart.

Post 3 is the last place where you can top up your water. Post 3 is the perfect place to stop and make your lunch, drink as much as you can, and then fill all your water back up to the max.

From post 3 to the summit can take you 6hrs plus. Then remember you have to camp the night at the top and cook, and then get yourself back down to post 3 which will be another 6hrs plus going down, until you’ll be able to refill your water again.

You can drink a liter per hour on Gunung Salak and still not pee, so 6 liters is the bare minimum, but be mindful of how much weight water adds to your kit and drink sensibly.

To attack Salak you’ll need;

• Minimum 80 liter backpack/li>
• Minimum 6 liters of water (ABSOLUTE MINIMUM)/li>
• Enough food and rations for 2-3 days /li>
• Cooker + Gas/li>
• Spork/li>
• Tent / Hammock and Flysheet (Waterproof)/li>
• Ankle support boots / spare set of laces/li>
• Sleeping bag as it gets very cold at night/li>
• Spare socks and foot powder/li>
• Clothes for Hot and Cold weather as it gets hot during the day and FREEZING Cold at night. Remember to always keep one pair of clothes in your bag dry AT ALL TIMES so that you’ll always have dry clothes to sleep in. Put your wet clothes back on in the morning and pack your dry clothes away (Wet + Dry Drills)/li>
• Headlamp / Torch + spare batteries/li>
• Sunscreen / Sunglasses / Hat / Gloves (as its all jungle, very easy to cut your hands to pieces)/li>
• Compass (map optional as it’s hard to come by)

There are no fees that you need to pay here, only petrol, toll, and your driver or minibus, but doing Gunung Salak itself incurs no fees.

Gunung Salak and most of the mountains in Indonesia are seasonal. Salak is never open during the rainy season as it has plenty of floods and landslides, it’s far too dangerous to attempt it so please don’t even try to sneak in, it’s not worth your life.

Salak usually opens around the end of March and closes again around September. This varies each year so have a look on Google before you go and see if it’s open yet.