Anak boleh dibawa mendaki, tapi tidak tanpa syarat. Tiap pengelola gunung punya aturan sendiri soal usia, surat izin orang tua, dan siapa yang bertanggung jawab kalau terjadi apa-apa. Sebelum berangkat, ada tiga hal yang perlu disepakati: batas usia di gunung yang dituju, seberapa tinggi anak boleh bermalam, dan siapa yang mengawasi anak selama di jalur.

Contoh terbaru datang dari Gunung Rinjani. Pada 12 Juni 2026, pengelola Taman Nasional Gunung Rinjani mengumumkan aturan pendakian. Satu kelompok minimal dua orang. Wajib pakai pemandu atau pendaki berpengalaman. Pendaki di bawah 17 tahun wajib didampingi dan membawa surat izin orang tua.

Di Jawa Barat, Panduan Pendakian Taman Nasional Gunung Gede Pangrango tahun 2015 memakai patokan lain. Umur pendaki minimal 5 tahun dan maksimal 60 tahun. Di luar batas itu, pendaki harus menandatangani surat pernyataan tanggung jawab sendiri. Pendaki di bawah 17 tahun wajib membawa surat izin orang tua atau wali bermaterai Rp6.000, plus fotokopi KTP orang tua. Satu kelompok berisi 3 sampai 10 orang, dan harus ada satu ketua kelompok yang bertanggung jawab atas keselamatan anggotanya.

Di lapangan, aturan itu tidak selalu jalan. Oktober 2026, di kawasan Gunung Prau, Jawa Tengah, seorang balita ditemukan menangis sendirian di dalam tenda. Orang tuanya naik ke puncak, diperkirakan sekitar 1,5 jam. Anak sempat dititipkan ke rekan di tenda sebelah, tapi rekan itu tertidur. Pendaki lain yang akhirnya menolong.

Kejadian serupa ada di luar negeri. Agustus 2026, seorang ayah di Gunung Fuji, Jepang, meninggalkan anaknya yang berumur 7 tahun di bangku dekat pos keenam, di ketinggian lebih dari 2.000 meter, karena anaknya mengeluh lelah. Ayahnya lanjut naik, dan polisi menegurnya saat kembali. Mei 2026, bocah 11 tahun di Taman Nasional Juwangsan, Korea Selatan, jalan sendiri ke arah puncak lalu terpisah dari orang tuanya. Dua hari kemudian ia ditemukan meninggal. Ketiga kasus itu berakhir berbeda, tapi polanya sama: anak ditinggal atau lepas dari pengawasan orang dewasa di jalur.

Untuk anak, rambu medisnya sudah ada. Komisi Medis UIAA pada 2008 mengingatkan bahwa anak kecil tidak bisa menceritakan keadaannya. Kalau kedinginan atau tidak nyaman, ia hanya diam dan lemas. Akibatnya gejala penyakit ketinggian pada anak di bawah 8 tahun sering tidak terbaca. Dokumen itu juga meminta anak kecil hanya dibawa ke ketinggian kalau benar-benar sehat. Untuk anak yang belum sekolah, tempat tidur sebaiknya tidak lebih tinggi dari 3.000 sampai 4.000 meter, dan lebih baik di bawah 2.500 meter.

Kalau dibedah, celahnya ada di semua pihak. Pengelola kawasan memakai patokan berbeda: Rinjani mewajibkan pendamping sampai umur 17 tahun, sementara panduan Gede Pangrango membolehkan anak 5 tahun mendaki, dan panduan yang jadi rujukan itu masih terbitan 2015. Pemandu dan penyelenggara perjalanan memang diwajibkan di Rinjani, tapi tugas mereka menjaga rombongan secara umum, bukan mengasuh anak. Orang tua di Prau dan di Fuji sama-sama memilih lanjut ke puncak ketimbang berhenti. Rekan yang dititipi anak di Prau tertidur. Lembaga medis pun mengakui datanya masih tipis: UIAA menyebut risiko anak di ketinggian belum diteliti tuntas, dan sebagian besar rekomendasinya diturunkan dari data orang dewasa.

Jadi pertanyaannya bukan cuma sanggup atau tidak. Yang lebih penting: apakah anak bisa bilang kalau dia tidak nyaman, dan apakah ada satu orang dewasa yang tugasnya memang mengawasi dia, bukan ikut naik ke puncak. Menitipkan anak ke peserta lain tanpa pembagian tugas yang jelas sama saja dengan mengandalkan keberuntungan.

Children may be taken hiking, but not without conditions. Every mountain authority has its own rules on age, parental permission, and who is responsible if something goes wrong. Before setting out, three things need to be agreed: the age limit on the mountain in question, how high a child may sleep, and who watches the child while on the trail.

The most recent example comes from Mount Rinjani. On 12 June 2026, the Gunung Rinjani National Park authority announced its climbing rules. A group must have at least two people. A guide or an experienced climber is mandatory. Any climber under 17 must be accompanied and carry a parental permission letter.

In West Java, the Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park climbing guide of 2015 uses a different benchmark. The minimum age is 5 and the maximum is 60. Anyone outside that range must sign a statement taking responsibility for themselves. Climbers under 17 must carry a parental permission letter stamped at Rp6,000, plus a copy of the parent's identity card. A group has 3 to 10 people, and must have one group leader responsible for the safety of its members.

In the field, those rules are not always followed. In October 2026, in the Gunung Prau area of Central Java, a toddler was found crying alone inside a tent. The parents had gone to the summit, for an estimated 1.5 hours. The child had been left with a friend in the neighbouring tent, but that person fell asleep. Other climbers eventually stepped in.

Similar cases exist abroad. In August 2026, a father on Mount Fuji in Japan left his 7-year-old son on a bench near the sixth station, at an altitude above 2,000 metres, because the boy said he was tired. The father continued up, and police reprimanded him when he returned. In May 2026, an 11-year-old boy in Juwangsan National Park, South Korea, walked on alone towards the summit and was separated from his parents. Two days later he was found dead. The three cases ended differently, but the pattern is the same: a child left behind or out of adult supervision on the trail.

For children, the medical guidance already exists. The UIAA Medical Commission warned in 2008 that a small child cannot describe their own condition. When cold or uncomfortable, they simply go quiet and limp. As a result, altitude illness in children under 8 is often missed. The same document asks that small children be taken to altitude only if they are genuinely healthy. For children not yet in school, the sleeping place should be no higher than 3,000 to 4,000 metres, and preferably below 2,500 metres.

Look closely and the gaps run through every party. Park authorities use different benchmarks: Rinjani requires a companion until the age of 17, while the Gede Pangrango guide allows a 5-year-old to climb, and that guide is still the 2015 edition. Guides and trip operators are mandatory on Rinjani, but their job is the group's general safety, not childcare. The parents on Prau and on Fuji both chose to keep going to the summit rather than stop. The friend left in charge of the child on Prau fell asleep. Even the medical body admits the data is thin: the UIAA says the risks to children at altitude have not been thoroughly studied, and much of its advice is extrapolated from adult data.

So the question is not simply whether a child can cope. What matters more: can the child say when something feels wrong, and is there one adult whose job is to watch that child rather than to reach the summit. Handing a child to another participant without a clear division of tasks is the same as relying on luck.