Today we began the climb of Mount Kinabalu (the highest mountain in south east Asia). We set out from the National Park HQ at 1980m and finished at Laban Rata Resthouse at 3273m -- just 6km from the starting point. For tourists, the climb is typically 3-6 hours of unrelenting uphill, mainly in the form of steps.
It took me around 2hrs 30mins to reach Laban Rata and the going was quite tough, although thankfully the weather was good. I was pleased I chose to carry my own warm clothes since our (alcoholic) porters took a couple of hours longer to get there.
The fastest competitor in this year's Climbation, which involves climbing up not just to Laban Rata but to the 4095m summit and going all the way back down again took just 2hrs 40mins!
Despite the effort involved the climb was enjoyable and passed through rainforest and rhododendron forest that varied continuously with the altitude.
We spent the afternoon in the resthouse, hoping that it wouldn't be raining the next day.
