Although I was really keen to be on my way to Brunei, we didn’t get to the hostel last night until 6pm and the boat leaves in the morning at 8am so I decided perhaps I needed a little rest in addition to which I had managed to pick up a bit of a cold.
Lauren and I spent the day wandering around the markets (more walking, are we mad?!) and catching the last sights of KK before I headed out in the morning and Lauren in the afternoon.
It is funny how you see the same people everywhere you go, we’re all doing a similar route I think. As we were enjoying a coconut drink in the market I saw the Dutch couple from Sepilok who had given me the phone number for climbing the mountain. They were at the very end of their trip, going home tonight but we had a chat and compared climbing injuries.
Also when we arrived at the hostel last night, just going out for the evening was Katya who I had shared with on Mabul island while we were diving with Uncle Changs. We dived the first day together then the second day I dived Sipadan while she dived Mabul again and then she dived Sipadan the next day. She now had a few days left in KK before heading home as well.
We caught up on what each other had been doing and a bit later all went out for dinner to the market. The atmosphere in the market is great fun and it’s nice to just go there and hang out and eat. Both Lauren and Katya fancied some BBQ fish and seafood so I popped along to a trusty little fried noodle stall for my veggi option and bought it back to eat with them.
I wish I could say we were up bright and early, early yes but bright it wasn’t, it was pitch dark, but I guess that’s the whole point, aiming to get to the summit for sunrise.
We woke at 1.45am and headed down to breakfast. I know a few people were finding it hard to manage something to eat at that time, not me, years of practice with work I guess! :-)
We headed off at 2.30am. We had a 2.7km climb up to the summit this morning and its meant to take around 3 and a half hours. Pretty much everyone started off together which caused a bit of a traffic jam in places. It was an amazing sight to see though all these people climbing all in a line all with head torches on. The first part of the hike was up some stairs, there are a LOT of stairs on this climb. After the initial stair climb we moved onto climbing with ropes and pulling yourself up over sheer rock faces in the pitch dark. It actually made quite a pleasant change to be using arm muscles more than leg muscles, the terrain was completely different from what we had climbed through yesterday but so far it was looking to be fun.
2.7km doesn’t sound much I know but when it’s near enough straight up it’s a very very long way. We just kept going and going and at every point when you thought we must surely be there by now we still weren’t. As you’re climbing up the rock face you can see head torches way up ahead belonging to the quicker climbers and you think they must be at the top by now, but again no they weren’t. This mountain seemed to go on forever. There were times when you could walk up the rock face without the help of the rope but if you suffered from vertigo then don’t look back cause you could lose your balance quite easily.
Head torches behind me
Finally after 3 hours of climbing we were in sight of Lows Peak at 4095.2m above sea level. And what a feeling that was to almost be there. The final 200m was probably the hardest of them all, you know you’re right at the end of your ascent and you just really want to get there but your body has other plans! Finally though and just in time for sunrise I made it to the top. It took me 3 hours 15 mins which again I was happy with, I would have like to have got there 15 mins earlier but at the time that just wasn’t an option! There were lots and lots of people still making their way up to the peak and there were others who had already been there 30 mins or more. So after what seemed like a very quick round of photos and a short enjoy and marvel at our location and achievement we were heading back down again. Now we had 8.7km straight down to cover!!
Not my best pic but I had just climbed a mountain!
Lows Peak
Now thats high!
Making our way back down over the rock face was great fun, it was early daylight now and you could see the sheer expanse of what we had covered and the sheer height that we were at. The best way for getting down many parts of the rock face were in a kind of abseiling way just without any safety ropes, caribinas or anything else that might save you if you fall! I was still using my fantastic bargain of the gloves I had got and as they were really thick I just used them. I think, apart from reaching the top, this might have been the best part. You could get some real speed up and its many many years since I’ve abseiled, it was fun.
It took 2 hours to make it back to Laban Rata which wasn’t bad, what wasn’t so great, unfortunately, was that I could feel a little discomfort in my knees at this point. This was always going to be the problem for me, the descent. You can always keep going upwards no matter how tired and worn out you are, you can just drag yourself up if you need to but once your knees start to hurt going down then it’s gonna be a tough descent.
Back at Laban Rata we enjoyed breakfast number 2, French Toast and real beans, yummy! Lots of other things as well but that was all I was interested in.
There was a large group of 28 friends from Singapore who we had been chatting to on and off during our trek up yesterday. They had come from Singapore for a couple of days just to climb the mountain. Their oldest climber was 70 and their youngest 14. Unfortunately not all of them made it to the summit this morning despite all their best efforts. The 70 year old guy did though. :-) There were other people who never left Laban Rata early in the morning as well mostly they were suffering from altitude sickness. Amazingly this time I didn’t suffer at all, which was lovely cause the headache is just all consuming and so painful and of course nothing (painkillers) seem to touch it. Our hut mates who had kept us awake last night also didn’t make it to the summit, from what we could make out their plane was delayed which is why they didn’t get to Laban Rata till late the night before and by the time they awoke and tried to make their way it was way too late and they were turned back at the check point as otherwise they wouldn’t have made it back to HQ in daylight.
So although this is a very accessible mountain not everyone can do it, I was feeling very proud of myself right now. Now I just had to get back down. We filed up with more water and after just a short break started to make our way, 6km to go.
Coming down was the hardest thing in the world I think. After about a km my knees were really beginning to hurt and each step was painful. After another km or so I took some painkillers to try and get through it better but it didn’t do any good. It was a very very slow descent. It had taken 4 and half hours to go up the day before and somehow I seemed to think it might take just 3 hours or so down. How wrong was I? When my knees get really painful they start to give way and if I’m not careful they bend backwards which is excruciating. So I was taking the trail really really slowly but every 500m was taking forever. My main concern was that if I fell or my knees really did give way, how on earth was I going to get off this mountain? Having climbed all the way to the summit there was no way I was going to be carried down!
At about the 4km mark, hurtling past us was what does happen if you injure yourself. One poor lady (part of the Singapore group) was strapped to a stretcher and 4 guys were carrying her down and they were literally running with her. That I think was worse than if it took me all day and night to get down. Fortunately we found out later that she had twisted her ankle, so although sad for her it was nothing more serious than that.
The hiking down was getting harder and harder and more and more and more painful, each step was almost impossbile but I was so determined to finish this properly.
Finally the end was in sight and we had made it back to Timpohon Gate. Lajuni had stayed with me every step of the way, showing me the easier route to take, if there was one, and making sure I was always ok. He pointed out to us pitcher plants (which were amazing) and told us all about the different peaks on the mountain and what they’re all called. He was a great guide, a quiet guide but a good one.
The Donkeys Ears and the Ugly Sisters
Pitcher plant
It had taken me 5 hours to get from Laban Rata down to the start point. Every year there is a climbathon (of course there is!) and the fastest time for 2009 was 2 hours and 40 mins held by a Spanish guy. That’s the time it took him to get all the way to the summit and then all the way back down again!!!!!! OMG that’s incredible and ever so slightly crazy!
We did really good though and back at HQ although my knees were really painful still I was walking a bit better, I think I was just concerned over the uneven ground of the trail that I was maybe over compensating and making it worse. During the last part of the hike I wasn’t sure what I was going to do once I got to the bottom. I really wanted to go back to KK cause I needed to be on my way to Brunei and Sarawak but the way my legs were feeling I just wasn’t sure I could manage it. After a bite to eat and a much sought after coke I was ready to tackle the world again, not climb the mountain again of course, but getting into KK should be ok.
After saying our farewells to Lajuni and his two sons (who although only 8 and 10 I think are in training to be guides) we walked the further 500m to the hostel collected our bags and caught the next mini van back to KK.
So we had done it, we had climbed the highest mountain in South East Asia, Mount Kinabalu, all 4095.2m of it! :-)
A warm shower and a couple of beers were in order for this evening and then a very long sleep hopefully.
We’ve gone for a very early start which is just fine with me, I need as much time as I can get for the first 6km straight up to the overnight accommodation spot, Laban Rata.
First though we had to walk the 500m back to park HQ. It must have been around 300m into this 500m walk that I started to wonder how on earth I was going to manage the rest of the mountain, I put on a brave face though, that was until Lauren said ‘I’m shattered and we haven’t even started yet!!:-)’ Ok good at least I’m not alone here.
Once at park HQ we checked in and paid the balance of the trip, next stop was finding a guide. You have to have a guide to climb the mountain, not to actually guide you as such as the first part of the trail is very easy to follow, just unfortunately not easy to climb apparently, but I think they just insist on a guide cause tomorrow the climbing is real serious climbing and this way someone is responsible for you if anything goes wrong.
Lajuni is our guide and after collecting our packed lunch arranges for us to get a cab to Timpohon Gate, the start point. Its 5km from HQ to the gate and no-one apart from the serious crazy (!) walk this as well. The package we’re bought is really good actually, we get a bed for the night, a big packed lunch to set off with then dinner once we reach Laban Rata (our bed for the night) and then a supper breakfast at 2am the next morning (!!) then a summit return breakfast at 9am then a lunch at the park HQ after the hike, so we’re more than set up for food.
At the start
So the trail on the first day as far as Laban Rata is 6km reaching a height of 3272.7 m above sea level. So we set off! The 1st km was fine and even the 2nd km was fine and actually even the 3rd km was ok and if I’m honest the 4th km wasn’t impossible. After that though it started to take its toll. It wasn’t the distance obviously as the entire length of the trek up and down isn’t a great deal, but the fact that it’s at altitude and also the fact that its 99% straight up is beginning to take its toll. :-(
This is where we were headed!
The first 3km we did in really good time and everything was looking good, we stopped at the 4km mark for lunch and it was freezing. I think it was more the fact that we had been sweating cause of walking and then of course stopped and just happened to stop in the middle of a cloud that did it, what also didn’t help was the tiny squirrels that were after my lunch (that’s what happens when tourists feed the wildlife!) We wrapped up in all our gear and somewhere there’s a picture of the two of us looking very cold (don’t think I’ll publish that one). After lunch it was just another 2km to our night stop, mmm just another 2km huh?? There were distance markers all the way which was a good thing going up I think but not sure how good it’s gonna be going down tomorrow. The last 500m was tough but finally Laban Rata was in sight. We had walked through several different vegetation ssytems, just when you thought you were coming into the tree line where the vegetation was much smaller in size and large trees can't grow, all of a sudden you're back amongst rainforest again, it was an incredible trek up, really interesting.
Laban Rata
The first part of the hike can take between 4 and 6 hours and we did it in 4 and a half. I was very happy with this, especially since I knew tomorrow wouldn’t be such a great time, and even more especially I knew the descent would take time.
On the hike up!
Laban Rata is half way up the mountain and can house around 100 plus people I believe although in the main building only around 60, so everyone else is in little huts dotted around the hillside. We checked in at the main office to be told we were staying in one of the many outside huts which was another few hundred metres from where we were. Due to the layout of it all and timings we had to walk backwards and forwards from the hut to the main building several times for dinner and breakfast etc and by our calculations we did at least another km more than people in the main building! We were hard core climbers!
Our house for the night
At the start of the day at HQ we were warned that as it was the dry season and a very dry season this year there was no water at the top, this was no water for showers but even worse no water for the toilets. So during check-in at Laban Rata when we were told how far away our hut was we were also told that because of this and because it was higher than anywhere else we actually had water and it was hot water, that alone made us forgo a little rest stop here and carry on to the hut for a shower.
Our hut was actually very comfortable, it had just 4 beds, 2 bunks and as we were the first to arrive we both decided on the lower bunks, then we realised there was no towels! All this is supposed to be included which is why we didn’t bring our own. I really couldn’t face walking back down to the main building and walking back up again, actually it wasn’t so much I couldn’t face it but more I knew I wouldn’t make it!
Lauren though, being a little star, and desperate for a shower (:-)) headed off to try and get some, 25 mins later she returns empty handed apparently the towels aren’t arriving till 4pm, she was not happy at all, nor would I be though if I had just walked back down there for nothing. Our beds each had two pillows and seeing as we both only needed one we decided to take the pillow cases off of the extra pillow and use that. Actually it worked a treat and I think worked better than my travel towel, at least the pillow case got me dry!
We managed to grab a very quick ‘cold’ shower in between several guys coming up from the main building and collecting the water and then we headed down to wait for dinner.
They have a little shop in the hostel and I really fancied a coke, well apart from them not having any, if they had of had one it would have cost me 5 times what it would have cost anywhere else in Borneo, I would have paid it though. The beers, not that I wanted one, were also 5 times more expensive. Some people were partaking though.
Dinner was lovely and there was so much of it, they’re certainly feeding us well on this trip. We enjoyed a lovely sunset from the hostel before trekking back to our hut for sleep. First though we had to boil some water for drinking as they didn’t have any bottles of water either. We’re still on our own in the hut which is strange as all the accommodation is supposed to be booked up. We wrapped ourselves up in all our warm clothes, got inside our sleeping bag liners and then under three blankets, oh did I forget to say, it’s also an unheated hut at 3272.7m above sea level (!). Amazingly though it wasn’t too cold, I mean it was cold but not impossibly cold. What was impossible was sleeping for some reason. I mean we should be shattered, we’ve hiked half way up this mountain and have had a good dinner we really should be falling asleep, I think my problem is the 4 cups of tea I had at dinner! :-( The pair of us laid there for hours trying to get to sleep with no luck and of course what was constantly on my mind was how I needed to sleep if I was going to have any chance of climbing tomorrow. Just as we were both about to drop off the door to the hut came crashing open and a couple of voices could be heard chatting, no-one actually came into the hut and after about 10 mins of the door being left open I got up and slammed it shut and locked it. An hour later and we still couldn’t sleep and once again the same people came crashing through the door with their main priority seeming to be to plug in their blackberry phone to charge (thing is there’s no electricity here either but I really wasn’t in the mood for telling them) they then dumped their gear and got into bed fully clothed and as soon as the guy above me put his head on the pillow he started snoring!! That really was the final straw in my book............finally though we did manage to get some sleep but only three hours in the end :-(
