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What a new year!
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It took an extra 2 hours to reach the park due to some kind of traffic jam but it was great to finally be off the bus and into some cool mountain air. I checked into my dorm which was quaint but there didn't seem to be many others around - I was hoping I would meet somone who planned to climb the same day as me so we could share the costs of a guide. The park headquarters has a lot of shortish trails so I decided to head out for a slow jog to acclimatise - I think it's only about 1500m but it's enough to notice the decline in oxygen.
Got soaked on the run but came back to find a friendly aussie guy in the living room - he paid to get some firewood and a member of staff came to light the fire so we could try and heat the area up and I could dry my clothes but it had to be the worst fire I've ever seen - all the heat went straight up the chimney. An american couple arrived followed by 2 other guys who were cycling around the world! They'd just cycled from the city which took 12 hours and planned to climb the next day - despite having no dry clothes left-crazy! All the people in the hostel that night were climbing the next day, one day ahead of me so once again I prayed that someone arrived to join me on the new year climb.
I woke early as everyone else was getting ready to leave around 6 and decided I'd explore the park trails some more but walking this time. As I wandered down the road an aussie guy stopped and asked if I spoke English. He asked if he was able to climb Kinabalu without a guide that day - I informed him that it wasn't possible but he could ask if there's space in the hut at basecamp and come with me the next day. He was with his brother and his girlfriend and told me he'd lived in Canada a while and was very experienced with mountains - this sounded good as it meant I could walk at a decent pace, however when he talked about mountains he'd ran up, I started to worry. Oh well, at least with 4 of us it will be cheap and I'll have some company.
Went off on my walk and ended up on a really steep path and was pretty tired by the end of it - stupid mistake. Back at the dorm the aussie guy (Valentine) showed up and told me they would join me on the climb, however a Dutch girl had arrived (Mareekah) and she was keen to join us so that made 5 which was even better. We all agreed we'd like to climb the longer steeper alternative route, the Mesilau trail (Valentine was as competitive as I am and liked a challenge!) as it would be quieter, and I'd heard more scenic.
The following morning it seemed to take forever to organise our stuff, our guide (Dianah), transport, climbing permit (the list goes on) but we were eventually on our way and were taken by bus to the start of the Mesilau trail, 50km away. The trail was definitely steep and most of the time we were hiking up steep slippery wooden stairs or huge rocks. After a couple of hours the weather changed from warm and sunny to bleak, wet and miserable. With the increasing altitude I soon got quite out of breath and decided to slow my pace down and let Valentin go on ahead. Ramona (his brother's girlfriend) wasn't feeling too well so the rest of the group were taking it steady. Myself and Valentine arrived at Laban Rata, the main hut where you sleep before setting off for the summit. I was going to be based in Waras hut, which was 50m back down the mountain and unheated so I hoped the weather quickly improved. I got a shower to get rid of that cold clammy feeling and changed into some warm clothes and felt pretty good. As the restaurant is expensive there I'd taken my own food up with me - instant pot noodle (yuk) and a tin of chicken curry. Unfortunately for me even the chicken in a tin here is simply bones and fat with minimal meat to be found so it was quite a disappointing meal. However, lucky for me a member of staff accidentally threw the remains of my dinner away while I left the table so I was allowed to help myself to a little bit of chicken and noodles from the buffet. After a while the restaurant was packed with cold, tired and hungry walkers and I saw two guys from Singapore that were in my dorm the previous night. They'd no climbing experience but had made it safely and were hoping for a clear day for the summit.
At 7pm I went to bed (my earliest ever new year's eve!), as we'd planned to leave at 3am to get to the top for sunrise. Ramona had already decided she wasn't well enough to come so there would be 4 of us and the guide. It turned out that I was the only one in my dorm so I was hoping for some undisturbed sleep, however altitude got the better of me and instead I just tossed and turned restlessly all night until 2.30 when I got up to eat some food before going to another hut where the others were staying. It had been raining all night but seemed to have finally cleared so I crossed my fingers it would last. When I met the others, they weren't ready and Mareekah told me that Valentin wasn't feeling well and he and his brother were thinking of staying with Ramona. After much convincing they changed their minds and we set off at 3.30. Valentine seemed to be sufferring from the altitude and dehydration from the day before and I gave him some advice based on what I know from researching this topic for work.
This section of the climb wasn't so steep but it was busy as we were now on the route used by everyone. We were walking on slippery rock and there were ropes in place to hold onto for safety which were helpful altough they were soaked with freezing water and my hands were going numb! I found a nice pace and hoped we's time it correctly to be at the top in time for sunrise. Valentine still wasn't feeling great and About 200m from the top he told me he wasn't coming with us. I spent 10 minutes trying to persuade him but he refused so I stayed with him until he put some warm clothes on as he was sat in a pair of shorts and it was extremely cold. I recognised that he was acting the way I've been on previous climbs - very lethargic, lacking motivation to do anything even sensible things like keeping warm!
The view from the top was stunning! We'd been blessed with clear skies and sunrise was magnificent. The top was a small area though and soon it was packed with tons of other climbers from all over the world celebrating new year's day. We had to wait a while to take some photos and I got really cold but during that time Valentine arrived which was a relief as I know he would have regretted his decision later if he's a very competitive person.
Coming down seemed to take forever, especially as we stopped for a few hours at Laban Rata again to get breakfast and to rest. On the way down we passed lots of climbers heading up on their first day and were greeted with lots of 'Happy new year' which we'd actually forgotten about! At the bottom the others persuaded me to head to poring Hot Springs for the night despite me warning that I'd heard it was a waste of time. Unfortunately I was right - the main pools are cold water and the only hot you get is by sitting in a tub and turning the tap on and then it would only fill a few inches before leaking out! Furthermore, people here swim in clothes so we got a lot of people, girls included, taking photos of us in our bikinis and felt quite strange.
We managed to find a cheap place to stay, even though it was pretty dingy, but much cheaper than staying in the park accommodation at the hot springs. That evening myself and Mareekah headed out for dinner and met the Singaporeans from our dorm again. They came over and gave us a bag of fried bananas and sweet potato they'd bought from a stret stall outside-how kind! They were very tasty so we soon went out and bought some more of the greasy snacks.
Today we had the hassle of trying to organise cheap transport to the local town so we could get a bus to the city. Valentin got a really good deal with a local minibus driver but we then realised why....he suggested we take a walk to look at the local Rafflesia flower in bloom, a rare occurance that only lasts a few days and the flower can be up to a metre in diameter. The catch was that he wanted 15 ringet for taking us (by foot?) so we refused as it was a total scam and soon enough we got to town and eventually managed to pack ourselves into a long distance minibus to Kota Kinabalu city.
Myself and Mareekah checked into North Borneo Cabin hostel which was nice - the others went to a hotel I think. I'm sure I could have stayed with Chew if I asked but I'm leaving early tomorrow morning so it won't be convenient for getting to the airport. Fly to Mulu national park in Sarawak with the hope of going adventure caving.
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