Mount Agung

Agung reaches just over three thousand metres and is the highest point in Bali, and its role in Balinese life is not scenic but structural: Balinese Hinduism orients everything towards the mountain - kaja, the direction towards Agung, is the sacred axis used in temple layout, house orientation and daily practice - and Besakih, the mother temple, stands on its southern flank. Its 1963 eruption, which began during Eka Dasa Rudra, a purification ritual held once a century, killed well over a thousand people and displaced tens of thousands. It erupted again in 2017 and 2018, closing the Bali airport repeatedly and evacuating over a hundred thousand people. Climbing is done overnight for sunrise, with compulsory guides, and stops entirely on alerts.

History

Agung erupted in 1843, when Heinrich Zollinger recorded the mountain coming alive again after a long dormancy. The eruption of 1963, one of the largest and most devastating in Indonesia's history, began with explosions on 18 February; lava flowed down the northern slope from 24 February, and on 17 March the volcano erupted with a VEI of 5, sending debris 8 to 10 km into the air (Wikipedia, Mount Agung).

The landscape

• Bali's sacred axis - the mountain that orients temples, houses and ritual.
• Besakih on its flank - the mother temple of Balinese Hinduism below the summit.
• An overnight climb - starting around midnight for sunrise on the rim.
• A recently active volcano - erupting in 2017 and 2018 after 1963.

When to go

May to September; only when the alert level permits. Two days.

Before you go

Access closes on volcanic alerts, sometimes for months. Guides are compulsory and the climb is steep, dark and cold. The 1963 eruption killed over a thousand people; this is not a tourist hill.

Nearby

Besakih temple is on the southern flank; Sidemen and Amlapura are below.

Key facts