How to get there:
First fly to Kupang on West Timor. Next, take the main Hwy. direction Soe, turn left
near location S10.04631, E123.90652, this road is preferred. Drive north about 12 kilometer.
You will see the peak ahead before you get there.
The trailhead has a big sign and parking on your left, location S9.950192, E123.861376, elevation
about 890 meter.
Route:
Start along the concrete walk-way
towards the mountain. Soon, you will find concrete steps
heading uphill. The steps sort of runs out in the middle of nowhere after a gain
of more than 100 vertical meter. Contiunue uphill on the fairly obvious (climbers) trail.
There will be (very weak) green paint on a few rocks all the way up. The route now quickly
turns to (YDS) class 3, short sections of easy scrambling.
This leads to a pretty distinct
head wall. Follow natural ledges
in a few zig-zags, the next, short pitch is the crux
of the route (YDS class 4). A somewhat steeper part with
limited options, pay attention in order to
get back down,
this is harder as you cannot see the footholds from above.
Above the crux, the route continues
with YDS class 3 terrain, a few more zig-zag lines before
you are up. There is still some scramble terrain, the best continuation is to pass through a
cave under big boulders, then follow the track
to the highest point, the summit of Fatuleu. Comments/Trip Report:
We had one day left on the island and this peak looked like a nice half-day
excursion with some airy scrambling.
We left our hotel shortly before 0900 and
arrived at the base of the rock by 1000.
The climb took about 50 minutes.
A very nice summit with 360 degree panorama views.
We relaxed in the sun and had no hurry to
begin descending. After about 40 minutes,
we headed back down. Some care is needed to downclimb the crux in a safe manner.
Adam expertly showed his scrambling skills, Pål and I followed without
much trouble. We were down by the car
shortly after 1200 - noon, then an easy drive back to the hotel for lunch with
a cold beer.
This concluded my 2 week trip with Pål, many thanks for still going on
a trip with your Dad. Adam and I would now travel to Sulawesi and meet Dave, then
together take on some very interesting, high prominence peaks.
