The five Indonesian “L” words that every climber should know:
- Lemah – weak, feeble
- Lelah – tired, weary, exhausted, worn out
- Letih – tired, weary, exhausted, overly tired
- Lesu – sluggish, no energy, weak from lack of food/sleep
- Loyo – sickened, finished.
Java Lava Juice – Bier Bintang
The Rolf Zimmerli Doctrine
Rolf Zimmerli, a Swiss national, was a founding member of Java Lava in 1983. As a very experienced climber of the Swiss Alps, he taught us that it is permissible to pass wind (kentut) when climbing in the mountains – he did this all the time. Terrible smells and huge rumblings were with us during those years. Everyone tried to avoid trekking behind Rolf.
But Rolf was also a perfect gentleman and had a wonderful Pavarotti-style singing voice. After each kentut he would sing, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose-garden.”
So, for Java Lava youngsters, it makes trekking so much more pleasant and relaxing if you can kentut freely and without embarrassment. But, remember, you are expected to sing a song after each kentut!
Contributed by Rob Valkhoff, founding member of Java Lava
Dave’s Scale for Rating the Difficulty of a Mountain!
- Easy – for a gentle walk in the forest
- Medium – for starters, families and older children
- Difficult – for people of average fitness
- (Expletive deleted) difficult – for experienced climbers
- (Expletive deleted) very difficult – for very experienced and fit climbers
- (Expletive deleted) extremely difficult – for masochists only
Directions of the Compass in Indonesian
- N – Utara; NE – Timur Laut
- E – Timur; SE – Tenggara
- S – Selatan; SW – Barat Daya
- W – Barat; NW – Barat Laut
“It is forbidden to have accidents here. Hospitals are far away.”
Polices Resort, Kabupaten Grobogan, Central Java (with acknowledgement to Dan Quinn for the photo).
