Author / Octopus
Editor/Yan Ruyi
In the past month, the people who know life best on the whole network have been posting photos of themselves climbing mountains.
Open social media, and there is spring and Jingming everywhere.
In the midst of the many mountain flowers, the group photo of the volcano covered with ashes, embarrassment and relaxation is particularly different.
〓 Source: Li Yurong
The middle class who are tired of climbing Spring Mountain has already climbed volcanoes in Southeast Asia.
Covering his eyes reddened by the smell of sulfur with sunglasses and smiling at the volcano, a "photo of life" was born.
That is not only the ironclad proof of their conquest of the volcano, but also the social calling card of their courage to climb the peak.
Although if you turn your head, you will find that this peak is crowded with people.
The volcanoes in Southeast Asia are overgrown with the middle class of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
It is said that "the brave eat volcanic ash first".
The first brave middle class, who have been wept by the lessons of the volcano.
The middle-class who love to spend money and find guilt have all gone to climb the volcano
Any person with rich life experience can not avoid five words for the most intuitive feeling of climbing a volcano:
"Spend money to find guilt".
But only those who have climbed the volcano know the taste best. Yes, almost everyone who has climbed a volcano has a detailed picture of their sin.
When you set off, your heart is always higher than the sky, but the higher you climb, the easier it is for the middle class who are used to walking on the flat road to discover:
On the top of the volcano, there is no road at all, only rocky slopes.
〓 Source: Xiaohongshu user @語梅-
The surface of the stone has not been treated.
Although most of the stones do not move when stepped on, there is no guarantee that the next step will be safe.
It's a heartbeat to play.
〓 爬完火山,博主@阿拉ududu 发帖讲述真实的火山之旅. 图源:小红书用户@阿拉
No matter how experienced a guide is, there is no guarantee that everyone will follow his footsteps.
Since they have gone up the mountain, all one can do is to test one foot deep and one foot shallow.
What's worse is that the road up the mountain is basically a slope of more than 45 degrees.
Once you step on the air, you can only resign yourself to fate.
Those with good fortune can be pulled by their guides and teammates and set off again, while those who are unlucky are likely to fall down the hill and be injured or killed.
In order to see the most beautiful view, people who have managed to climb to the top of the mountain have to continue walking down for about a kilometer.
In volcanoes, the downhill is more difficult than the uphill road.
The mountain road is rugged, there are no guardrails, and one step further is the cliff.
〓 Netizen @Gabe A warning sign seen in an Indonesian volcano. Source: Xiaohongshu user @Gabe
What is even more exaggerated is that there are volcanoes of crisis everywhere, and no road is only the most inconspicuous of many difficulties.
This can be seen from the volcano climbing equipment shared by netizens.
When it comes to shoes, there is only one piece of advice: strong grip. But there are two pieces of equipment, which are life-saving artifacts that netizens from all walks of life have repeatedly emphasized that they must bring.
One is goggles.
In a volcano full of ash, even a breeze blowing in your face can bring up "charming eyes" of wind and sand. Not to mention that the winds on the volcano tend to be very strong.
〓 Netizen @JoanTT's record of climbing the volcano. Source: Xiaohongshu user @JoanTT
Gray-black grains of sand cling indiscriminately to every corner of the human body.
If "eating volcanic ash" is just a mouthful of sand, then the lethality of sand grains in the eyes is 100 times more lethal than pollen allergies in spring.
In addition to winds and sand, the volcano can also be foggy from time to time to interfere with the view.
Visitors who dare to brave the volcano without goggles are somewhat reckless in "not knowing whether to live or die".
When the magma beneath the earth's crust rises to the surface and erupts, the sulfides and sulfates in the magma eject with the magma to form sulfur. Groundwater comes into contact with magma, resulting in a chemical reaction between sulfate and sulfide at high temperatures and pressures, resulting in large amounts of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide gases.
Miners who have been mining and transporting sulfur in volcanic sulfur for a long time have an average lifespan of only about 40.
As a result, gas masks have become the second life-saving equipment for mountain climbers.
〓 Source: Li Yurong
If you don't put on the mask for a moment, you can feel what it means to be unable to breathe;
Even if you wear it tightly, you can't completely block the sulfur smell in the air, and in the words of netizens, "take a sip and die on the spot".
But this did not stop the brave men from advancing, and the closer they got to the crater, the more their passion grew.
In the eyes of the typical volcano lover, it is "at the end of the world, listening to the heartbeat of the earth".
Of course, if they hadn't started climbing the volcano at 2 a.m. in order to see the sunshine of the golden mountain.
If they hadn't experienced the two days of ice and fire in just 12 hours, from the whole body covered with warm babies or shivering, to the hot and stuffy days when the sun came out.
This romantic copy may be more convincing.
The straw that overwhelmed the climbers was far from the temperature difference.
Until I looked at myself in the camera, my nose was covered in volcanic ash. The mouth, nostrils, fingernails, and hair also became the area of volcanic ash, and the day after descending the mountain, the lips and cheeks began to appear tiny cracks due to the lack of proper moisturizing.
〓 Source: Xiaohongshu user @imGreat
Only then do people have to admit:
When conquering the volcano, every step he stumbled was a whimpering and singing "Conquest" to the volcano.
Then in the summary of the trip, it is thoughtfully recommended for everyone who wants to climb the volcano:
Don't wear light-colored clothing.
〓 图源:小红书用户@阿拉
Climb a volcano, I can brag for the rest of my life
The more dangerous the more fascinating, and there is nothing wrong with climbing a volcano.
No matter how hard and tiring the climb is, the photos people post on social media are still glamorous. In Southeast Asia, there are generally two volcanoes waiting to be conquered by the Chinese: Bromo and Ijen.
Bromo is not difficult to climb, it is a cost-effective mountain that can be conquered in 15 minutes or half an hour.
However, it is said to be the most moon-like place on Earth, and it is said that watching the sunrise in Bromo gives you the same shock as if you were looking at the surface of the moon in the universe.
〓 Source: Li Yurong
Not only was it chosen by Lonely Planet as the cover, but it was also one of the volcanoes recommended by National Geographic.
〓 Source: Internet
This provides great emotional value to the middle class, and everyone who climbs the Bromo can feel a little proud:
"The world is not in the book, it is at my feet. ”
This sense of accomplishment of being trampled under the feet of the paper magazines I read as a child represents a kind of self-satisfaction that travels through time and space: the distant places that were once out of reach are now being conquered by me.
But the process of conquering Bromo was too simple, and if you hadn't climbed the difficult ljen, the brave would have to say after descending the mountain:
"The volcano is a huge grass platform";
"It's flattering to the volcano."
Fortunately, ljen is as difficult as a mountain to climb, and it completely covers all the difficulties written above. At the same time, it is the only blue fire volcano in Asia.
The greatest value of climbing ljen at night is being able to see the blue flames in their true form.
〓 Source: Li Yurong
This is undoubtedly the volcano's reward for warriors, as it is often accompanied by thick smoke that stimulates everyone's senses. In front of ljen, the middle class had to admit that all the people who did their best would eventually surrender to the mandate of heaven.
No matter how well prepared the protective gear is in the early stage, as long as the direction of the wind blows towards you, the role of all equipment is just "better than nothing".
Fortunately, pain is temporary, and memories of pain are constantly embellished by time and language.
The middle class, who had just climbed the volcano, probably thought "never again", but it only took a few months for them to forget the bitterness of the volcanic ash.
At the same time, the courage to trample the volcano under your feet endures.
The photo was posted in the circle of friends, and the volcanic stone brought home can be bragged for a lifetime.
And by the way, he quoted scriptures and used the golden sentences in the documentary "Volcano Love" to explain his life:
"If you look at the volcano, it's hard to settle for a mediocre life. ”
〓 Source: Documentary "Volcano Love"
This is undoubtedly a great confidence, and it means that all the life that the middle class yearns for will become the life of the middle class.
Ambition is common, but such romantic ambition is not common. What's more, this ambitious volcano trip has an extremely realistic precondition:
The main one suffers, and it doesn't cost much.
The absurd reality is that the middle class with a monthly salary of 30,000 yuan may not have the freedom to take out, but the freedom of the volcano is in their hands.
In the comment area of the experience post of the Indonesian volcano, you can often see netizens seeking a group. A casual search on the Internet, the price of a three-day and two-night tour of an Indonesian volcano can even be as low as 699.
My friend Xiao Li bravely went to Indonesia during the Chinese New Year this year, not only climbed the volcano, but also visited Bali and Penida Island and experienced snorkeling.
After a wonderful trip of 9 days and 8 nights in the peak tourist season of the Spring Festival, I spent a total of 15,000 yuan when I looked at the bill.
According to his own statement, "in fact, less than 10,000 yuan is enough", and the extra money he spent was because he chartered a separate car for the whole process, and the specifications of the hotel where he lived were "very high".
Even when climbing ljen, because I was too tired, I spent 400 yuan in cash to buy a purely human pull service.
This rickshaw, nicknamed the "Volcano Limited Edition Lamborghini" by mountaineers, is more like a sedan chair with wheels. It takes two locals to work together to pull.
〓 Source: Xiaohongshu user @Monica Fu Fu
Most climbers can't bear to take this kind of human-powered vehicle when climbing the mountain, but after descending the mountain with both hands and feet, they will sincerely recommend everyone in the summary:
"Don't climb on your own, just get in the car. ”
If we can put aside the controversy over the rickshaw and the short life of the sulfur miners, and only talk about the cost of a trip to the volcano, then it can be said that
Climbing a volcano in Southeast Asia is the most cost-effective deal in the history of middle-class tourism investment.
Compared with people who wear middle-class three treasures and drive an SUV to climb wild mountains with dogs, the middle-class people who climb the volcano seem to be at the next level.
When you climb up the volcano, you know that the wilderness is crowded with people
As we all know, mountain climbing is an arms race that tests financial strength, energy, perseverance and courage.
Climbing the volcano is an upgraded version of climbing Spring Mountain.
The middle class who love to give themselves the difficulty of life is like this, they have to climb the peak in any field, and their emotion-generating mechanism often has a certain commonality:
Love finds joy in pain.
In the eyes of those who climb the volcano, if there is no hardship in climbing the mountain, then there is no way to enjoy the magnificent volcano, the blue sulfuric acid lake, and the strange beauty that cannot be seen on ordinary mountains.
〓 Source: Li Yurong
This is not only a gift from nature, but also a joy in exchange for experiencing pain.
It is the accumulation of pain that makes the moment when the pain stops seem so extraordinary.
It doesn't matter if you spend a small amount of money in the process of climbing the mountain.
That's the tuition they pay for freedom and courage.
The embarrassment in the eyes of others is a medal for the conquest of nature in the eyes of climbers, and all incomprehension is a compliment.
The praise and criticism of the outside world are not enough to touch the soul, and in the process of climbing the volcano, there is only one moment that can break the defense of the middle class.
They struggled to reach the top of the volcano only to discover:
Every inch of high ground was full of people.
〓 Source: Xiaohongshu user @Kikiloveme
Even dangerous places are full of people.
Beneath the thick smoke near the sulphur mines, people who conquered the volcano are lining up to take pictures.
〓 Source: Li Yurong
On the other side of the mountain is still a mountain, and the wilderness is crowded with people.
This is undoubtedly a metaphor, very much like their lives.
So, the middle-class people standing on the top of the volcano stood on tiptoe and finally got a scene without a head. The moment I pressed the shutter, I quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but also a faint sadness rose in my heart.
But it's not time to be deflated, because of the only strength left, I have to keep it for going down the mountain.
The downhill road is far more difficult than imagined.