Kinabalu

After 2 years of talking, finally due to a sudden incident, I went to Kinabalu, and climbed that mountain. My fully body is now sore beyond belief. Sitting upright and especially standing up, becomes painful. And stairs... oh don't mention it. I cringe at the sight of stairs now.

It was almost comical the way I descended the mountain must be, with the borrowed walking stick on right hand, and my mountain guide guiding me on my left.

But the Kinabalu climb itself is worth it. First the preparation is essential. The 2 sets of dry clothes, wrapped in plastic bag to prevent them from being wet is a must. Next water and energy bars (or chocolates, candies/sugar, fruits like apples, and isotonic drinks). Also windbreaker that withstand rain with raincoat, and a pair of warm jacket for the summit climb. Finally, a trusty pair of shoes that are good for trails and rocks. I used a new pair of shoes that are a size smaller, and my toes are paying the price...

Optional are supplies such as insect repellent, muscle pain med, soap/shampoo/toothbrushes and tissues. sunglasses, hats, and important sun protector.

Starting from Timpohon gate (approx 2,000 meters) about 5.5km from the Kinabalu Park Headquarters, me and my mountain guide started to ascend the mountain. Stopping along the pondok (Ubah, Lowii, ) we reached Layang-Layang (4km mark) around 1230pm for a short lunch.

It started to drizzle then. I put on the windbreaker at that point in time on top of my wet-sweating shirt. Luckily the drizzle stops around 4.5km that's when the scenery started to thin out with mainly scrubs and moss with red rocks. It then poured the rains, I was throughly wet and the final 1km toward Laban Rata seemed like a blur. The rest house seemed almost like heavenly sight. That's approx 2.30pm or 5 hours of 6km ascent.

waterfall next to Laban Rata

Inside Laban rata, there's a basic rest house, with first floor the eating area with buffet (basic dishes) and a small provision shop stocked with basic mountain climbing stuff (I bought my rain poncho, and the isotonic 100plus to replenish my minerals @10.50 RM). Then it's rest time. I got a space at a dorm 3 - a 6-person room with the last space the bunk bed on the top. It was a basic double decker bed, with no railing... and roof with peeled off asbestos. Time to shower! The water was ice cold...brrr. but I was feeling just grateful for a chance to clothe myself in dry set of clothes - underwear, socks, shirt and pants with a warm jacket.

I slept from 3 thru 530 then woke up for "dinner". Then went to bed until around 930pm and couldn't sleep then. The guests in the room were noisily preparing the gears for the summit climb. I woke up and walk around the rest houses in the dark at 930. It continues to rain, I wonder whether it would continued to rain. Woke up at 1am finally.

2am - time to wake-up for the summit climb. The rain seemed to have stopped. I later learned from the guide that if it had continued to rain, the trail would be closed and no climb would be possible. I was so lucky! So I started to climb at 230pm+.

The climb to summit was trecherous. It was fully rocky with endless stairs (when lucky) and ropes up to the trail. I started to feel sleepy around 5am, that's 2hour climb to reach first 1km. We had to climb 2.7km to reach the Low's peak. My guide signalled that we had to descend by 630pm regardless of whether we reached the peak. At that point in time we had passed the Sayat-Sayat (which is 7km mark of the trail). I continued to climb step-by-step aided by the guide. Finally 8km I could see the spots of lights closed to one of the peak. That's low's peak! My guide always wanted to turn when I insisted on taking pictures at the peak! :) smile here.

I guess I must have looked miserable at 6am - on the peak. The summit was full of people. On the east side, I see the first light of the day, very clear pristine beautiful sunrise at around 610. It was unfortunately the sunrise was hidden by the fluffy clouds billowing against the other peaks. It was indescribable. My energy seemed to flow back to my body, and I realized that I am finally awake.

After rounds of pictures, we descended. The scenery was breathtaking around me. I saw rocks and it was really scary to be surrounded by pretty high rocky terrain bounded by nothing at around 30-45 degrees elevation. But the morning sunlight was so beautiful, and I am just so enjoying the scene and feeling the gentle morning. The rest of descend was painful. I was horrified by the ropes and my slippery shoes, I slipped numerous times, scratched, grabbed dirt, moss, or soil, and the wet rocks are so slippery. From the summit at 630am, I finally arrived at Laban rata around 9am (very good timing 2 hours 40 mins descending versus 3hours 30 min to the summit), I went to rest and took a nap before starting the final descend down at around 10am.

The final descend were full of stories of my frail thigh and ludicrulous poses - struggling so badly from climb to climb. First 1km were 1+hours, when we reached Layang-Layang it was 12pm plus, no lunch this round, so 2.5 hours of first 2km. At that rate, it would have taken 6hours to do full 6km down. I started to pick up speed during the flat or non-rocky terrain. I managed to do the next few kilos in less than an hour. The speed ascending were 40mins/kilo. So I was really happy in the final  1km, except that my legs started to shake and give way. It was shaking so badly at final 1km, when I ascend the final stairs to Timpohon gate, I climbed step by step and pass the gate the same way as I staggered across to Laban Rata.

What a climb.