Memories of indonesia: Mountain Guide Training in Indonesia

mountain guides from climb indonesia

Like plenty of outdoor professionals I know, having a second form of work had often been of benefit for various reasons and I’m no exception to this concept.
 
As well as being an International Mountain Leader I am a qualified Lead Auditor for the International Standards Organisation and prior to Covid I made 40 trips to Indonesia over ten years to audit ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 in offshore oil and gas sector environments.

For those quarterly trips where I was based in Jakarta but auditing offshore in the Java Sea, I had free time at the weekends. Having a strong interest in providing outdoor training I decided to link up with a company called Climb Indonesia. With the approval of my host company I received approval to deliver weekend mountain training programmes which I offered on a voluntary basis as I was already being paid.
 
The training programme consisted of three core elements:

1. UIAA Mountain Skills
2. REC Trekking First Aid
3. RGS off Site Safety Management

On a Friday afternoon, I left the office early and caught the train up into the Highlands of Central Java for the three day UIAA Mountain Skills course. Initially the train passed through areas of rice fields before climbing up to Bandung (Alt. 708m), the capital of the West Java province, set amid volcanoes and tea plantations. From there I was met on arrival and driven to the Malabar Tea Plantation HQ located at an altitude of 1200m but the surrounding elevations rise to 1550m, just perfect for the UIAA Mountain Skills course.

The venue had ample indoor conference rooms for training and my chalet was very comfortable.

The three day course commenced with conference room based sessions on the Friday evening with the next two full days spent practicing new skills out in the plantation areas and on the surrounding areas.
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The UIAA Mountain Skills course content is similar to our UK Mountain Training Mountain Skills course. AS UK Mountain Training courses can’t be delivered outside of the UK, I adapted the course for UIAA certification with the cooperation of Steve Long, the then UK UIAA Secretary.

The whole of Indonesia is covered by 1:25000 maps which was of great benefit to the course.

Beyond the venue, navigating with map and compass was a new experience to the team and it was very rewarding to be able to work with them. Indonesian people are very warm and friendly and they were very appreciative of me giving my time freely.

​I speak reasonably fluent Bahasa Indonesia which helped but they were all fluent in English too. The team all hed locally accredited qualifications and heaps of experience but were pleased to be gaining international accreditation through this training programme.

Trekking through the tea plantations was very interesting and farmer’s wives working the plantation were happy to talk to us. We then walked up to a hilltop viewpoint for lunch.

​The team had chosen a look out post for lunch and, amazingly, within an hour ad prepared a traditional Indonesian rijsttafel lunch with many different dishes for us to enjoy and it was far better than my usual sandwich. I’d taken a few treats from Wales which the team really enjoyed! A fabulous lunch time experience!

​To finish off the outdoor practical sessions we finished off with some more conference based theory exercises and then the REC Trekking First Aid course which included High Altitude First Aid.

Back at our Malabar Tea Plantation venue

​With the course over we held an award ceremony in which I presented their RGS Off Site Safety Management certificates from this course which we’d held on my previous trip to Indonesia, three months previously.

​ In conclusion, as I near the end of my career, I’ve been fortunate enough to share my international experiences by training mountain guides in Indonesia, Morocco and Nepal.
The Indonesian Mountain Guides are with a company called Climb Indonesia whom I can highly recommend and it does surprise me that so few UK adventure companies visit Indonesia.

​Taufan Hidayat of Climb Indonesia wrote these kind words:

“It is with sincere appreciation that we acknowledge Alan Ward’s invaluable contribution to the early development of Climb Indonesia. As an International Mountain Leader and ISO/HSE Technical Adviser, Alan played a pivotal role in shaping the foundation of our operational standards during our formative years (2018–2019).

Through three key training programs :  UIAA Mountain Skills, RGS Off-Site Safety Management including the formal approval framework and compliance process, and REC Trekking First Aid,  he helped elevate our team’s competence, discipline, and safety culture to an international standard. His instruction was consistently sharp, detailed, and precise. What truly set him apart was not only his depth of knowledge in the classroom, but also his clarity, composure, and intelligence in the outdoor environment, where real decision-making matters most.

These trainings were transformative for our organization and positioned Climb Indonesia among the very few - if not the only - Indonesian adventure operators to have undergone this level of internationally benchmarked technical preparation at that time.
Since the beginning, Alan has generously agreed to serve as our Technical Adviser, and he continues to support us through annual safety audits and ongoing professional guidance. His commitment has helped us build a culture of accountability, structured risk management, and continuous improvement.
We remain deeply grateful for his mentorship, trust, and long-term support in shaping Climb Indonesia into the safety-focused and professionally grounded organization it is today.
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Thank you again for everything, we truly appreciate your continued support.”