The summit! (20th March 2010)

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.

The End!