BANDUNG, TEL-U – Exactly at 14:30 pm, Thursday (7/5), a team of young Astacala Telkom University (Tel-U) set foot in the post mountaineering Butak (2868 mdpl), through Kencong Sirah Tea Plantation, Ngadirenggo village Sub Wlingi, Blitar, East Java. It was the end point of the team after one-week trip traveling. A team of six Tel-U students is Arief Naibaho (IF 2012), Epo Ilham Aji Prasetyo (Electro 2011), Dhiky Wahyu Santoso (Electro 2011), M. Nuruzzamaniridha (TT 2012), Ryan Aminullah (TT 2013) and Samuel Aditya ( TT 2013).
“This trip was a mandatory trip Astacala as the final stage of further training for Young Members (Anggota Muda) Astacala,” said Arief, Tuesday (12/5).
According to Arief, the purpose of this mandatory trip is to train the freshman able to apply their ability after obtaining guidance on Astacala. These capabilities include land navigation, travel management, mountain forests, and the making of a video documentary that used during the climb through Keraton Kawi Mountain which is located in Kabupaten Ngajum, Malang.
“This path is the heaviest and longest path to reach the top of Mt.. Butak compared to the two other lines. It takes at least 12 hours to reach the top of the normal journey because the path traversed through the trail steep and some peaks, one of that is Mt. Pitrang peak (2.593Mdpl), “said Arif
Arif added, the Astacala mandatory trip participants spent 4 days 3 nights to climb the mountain and managed to do a summit on Wednesday (6/5) at 05:30 pm. Then they returned to spend the night in the plains of the mountain Butak to complete the creation of a video documentary about the natural beauty surrounding the savannas of ± 50ha, then take a trip down to the Sirah Kencong the next day.
“The final result of this Astacala mandatory trip is a video documentary on Ritual Objects Village Tourism and Mountaineering Mount Kawi Butak,” said Arif. Also, the results of this trip will be part of the exploration book Astacala team.
With the theme ‘Step into the Unknown’, Astacala freshman team not only do mountain climbing Butak, they also conducted field studies on socio-cultural and historical village of Gunung Kawi Travel Ritual at the foot of the mountain Butak Wonosari, Malang, East Java. (Purel / risca)