There was one thing about volcano climbing that I had overlooked prior to coming here in 1989. Volcanic rock is porous and water does not lie readily on its surface. So off I went with camping gear and only a litre of water for the ascent of Gunung Agung in Bali. This was a laudible plan because the weather is invariably clear in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon. So it made sense to be up on the crater rim for sunrise rather than sunset. This nice idea was thwarted by a raging thirst at my chosen camp spot 50 metres below the crater rim. At sunset, the visibilty from the summit had been, as expected, all of 10 metres, but I had planned to wait for the clouds to disperse in the night, hence the tent. There I sat in the thick evening mist, tent erect, stove out, but no water, and throat as dry as sandpaper after lugging this gear 2000 metres up from the roadhead. Can I really stand this all night just for a view tomorrow?
The thirst-enforced night descent was most unpleasant, lowlighted by a 5-metre plunge over an ashy cliff that broke beneath my feet in the pitch darkness. Luckily the landing was as soft as the cliff I`d just stepped over.
Later therefore over on Lombok, the decision to hire guides was a no-brainer. They knew where the few puddles of drinkable water lay on Gunung Rindjani. You never stop learning.