Climbing the Tallest Mountain in South East Asia
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
103
141
Trip End
Ongoing
Loading Map
Mount Kinabalu,
Malaysia
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
We arrived at the park not really sure what to expect as far as climbing the mountain. However the first mountain to conquer was the paperwork before we could start. You have to go to 4 different desks and pay at each one for your room 46RM, your permit 100RM per person, your guide 70, insurance 7RM, and ride to the trail head 30RM. (prices listed are per person). The money all goes to the same private company that has a monopoly on the mountain, so it's silly that you have to go to 4 different desks and walkaway with a portfolio of receipts and copies! They really make it a hassle to get started.
Walking up the 1st 6 Kilometers (Headquarters --> Base Camp)
We grabbed a couple of walking sticks for 3RM per person and followed our guide, Kennedy, onto the trail. The trail starts at 1856m and over the next 6km rises to 3323m where we will spend the night. Very quickly the trail started to get steep and before we knew it we were walking up very large earthen steps. The hike was very strenuous and we often took breaks. About every kilometer along the trail there are little huts with toilets for people to rest at. About 1 hour into the hike it started to rain and then to pour. We hiked as fast as possible to the next shelter but we were soaked. In the shelter were about a dozen other hikers all trying to stay somewhat dry. The rain started to let up and we headed upwards. At 4km we had our tuna sandwiches that we got from the hotel and rest for about 20 minutes.
Base camp eating area
The last 2km were really tough as we approached 3000m (10,000feet). We had never been above this altitude before and started to feel it. That last kilometer felt like it was straight up and we were glad to finally make it to base camp. At Base Camp
The base camp is made up of about 5 bunk house with one of them having a large eating area. You can buy food and rent gear here if you like but the prices are high because they have to hike everything up to the lodge. We were passed by a bunch of porters climbing the trail with soda, water, propane and other stuff for the lodge. We even saw one person carrying up a load of bricks! There is one porter who is somewhat of a legend because of the size of his legs. He is called the machine and carries the heaviest stuff up to the lodge every day! We saw him and his legs were the most muscular I have ever seen and were about the size of tree trunks.
At the lodge we grabbed a table, had some food and tried to dry out. The 4.5 hour hike up the mountain today wore us out and we just wanted to relax. We had lots of tea and watched baywatch, with the sound off of course, that was playing on the TV for a couple of hours. Right after we got to the lodge it started to rain really hard and did not stop for about 4 hours. Then it just drizzled. This topped with it only being 8C out made it feel really cold. We were not sure what to expect at 2:30am when we will start the summit. Later in the day we saw our friends Patrick and Anna from OZ who were able to get a room after being on the wait list at the bottom for 2 hours.
beautiful trail
We went to our bunk room around 8pm and met our roommates, a couple from the UK, and we all went to bed. The 2:30am wake up will come quick and we want some rest. However, due to excitement and altitude we barely slept a wink. We got out of bed around 2am and put on all of our clothes. I am not kidding when I say all. We both had on 2 pairs of pants, 3 shirts, our rain coats, bandannas and gloves. Kay even used my old T-shirt as a hat by wrapping it around her head. It was freezing! It is completely dark at so we all had our headlamps on and made our way up the summit trail. It is only 3KM to the summit but it will take about 3 hours to get there.
Hiking Up the Summit (Base Camp --> Summit)
The start of the summit trail is a couple of thousand woods steps up through the forest to the granite face. There are dozens of people on the stairs and we often passed people who were going really slow, not feeling well or were even turning around. We were not going that fast at all but others were having a really hard time. The altitude effects everybody differently and would soon effect us. With everyone using flashlights it looked like a trail of glowing ants moving up the mountain and created a really cool image. We finally made it to the base of the granite area where the ropes start. There is a long rope all the way to the summit area so you can hold on and pull yourself up the really steep parts. We are really mountain climbing now. Kay was happy that it was dark and she could not see how really steep the dropoff was.
Carrying bricks up the mountain
we took frequent breaks and started to get slight headaches at around 12,000 feet. At around 12,500 feet I had to stop and take a break for about 10 minutes as I started to feel nauseous and really needed to stop. Kay was feeling good still and waited with me until I was better. I really felt tired and was moving pretty slow and then finally started to feel acclimated to the altitude around 13,000 feet. It was freezing cold and we could barely feel our hands as we held the rope but we were about to see why we were putting ourselves through this. We were about 300 feet from the summit and the sun started to rise. The darkness gave way to the most beautiful sunrise and sky I have ever seen. I can not even begin to describe the colors and have post about 30 pictures as the sky changes over the next hours. Kay and I alternated taking photos as early on I was too tired to even function. We reached the very top and took a seat to take in the view. Over the clouds we could see for miles and miles and the colors continued to change right before our eyes. The mountain slowly made an appearance as the sun rose and the clouds drifted in and out over the smaller peaks. It was absolutely breathtaking. We took a photo at the summit sign and started to head down after about 30 minutes on top of the mountain. There were many people there and some were delirious with altitude sickness. One girl who we saw earlier and was completely fine was seeing things and said she felt really drunk. On the way up and down others crying and throwing up all along the way.
Circular rainbow around the sun Borneo
Around 6am we started to make our way down and the clouds started to roll in. People who are still climbing will only see clouds at the summit and I felt really badly for them. Coming Down from the Summit (Summit --> Base Camp)
The way down was harder than the way up because the granite was very slippery in places and we were very tired. We held the rope the entire way and marveled at how our guide was able to walk with his hands in his pockets as if this was no big deal. He told us he had already summitted the mountain 100 times this year!. Kennedy was a great guide and really helped us the entire way. There was a school group from Hong Kong climbing the mountain and a teenage girl in front of us slipped and hit here head pretty hard. Her teachers were nowhere around her so Kay and I went over and helped her out. We made sure she was OK and our guide grabbed on of her groups guides to walk with here the entire way down. She was really thankful that we helped her. We were back at the base camp in two hours and took a quick nap before grabbing some breakfast. As the school group was leaving the girl we helped came over to our table and gave us a huge cadbury chocolate bar as a thank you for helping her. She said she would have still been up on the mountain if we had not helped her. It was really sweet of her to do that because we really did not do that much.
Struggling Down the last 6 Kilometers (Base Camp --> Headquarters)
We grabbed our guide and started our way back down the mountain. We still have 6km to go. Yes if you can believe it this is all the same day. We tried to make our way down quickly by taking very few breaks but it still took us 4 hours to get to the bottom. Along the way we took lots of photos of pitcher plants and other plants that only grow in Borneo. We also saw a rainbow that was a complete circle around the sun. It was really incredible. We later found at that people saw the same rainbow when they were in Thailand. The same one we saw. Weird! We were so relieved to be at the bottom finally. It was definitely the toughest thing either of us has done, even harder than running a marathon. It was worth the views but I am not sure I would do it again. The tour offices say it is an easy hike and that a 95 year old woman and 5 year old child have summitted. I say this is a load of bollocks. Which defined by the the 1977 lawsuit against the Sex Pistols means "rubbish" or "priest" and not "ba**s". Case Dismissed. It is very hard and definitely not for everyone. Over the last 30 hours we have hiked 17.4km to the 4095m summit of the tallest mountain in South East Asia and are very tired.
We took a taxi back to our hotel and took long showers and napped. We then ordered a lot of food and celebrated with a couple of large Guinness.
Cheers
Frank
Comments
What do you think about a base jump?
I don't know if you two have ever skydived or base jumped before but do you think that this would make a good base jump site? Take the easy way down. lol I don't think freefalling would work, but might be able to pull and glide the entire way down. How was the wind, strong, light or normal?