After what seemed like weeks of planning, and hopefully enough training, the day arrived for AR and I to travel to Kota Kinabalu to begin our trek. We were collected from our hotel at 6.30 am and driven for 2 hours to Mount Kinabalu National Park headquarters. Here we were registered and assigned a guide who would look after us for the next 2 days
Here we had a great view of Mount Kinabalu and it was our first chance to have a good look at the challenge ahead of us. The first thing that struck me was that it looked like it had snow on it-in fact the huge whitish area is the scar of newly exposed rock which is the result of the damage caused by the magnitude 6.0 earthquake that shook this mountain on June 5th last year. Sadly 18 people died on the mountain that day including 4 guides and 12 Singaporean school children
We filled up our water bottles and repacked our bags before setting off in glorious sunshine and fortunately a lovely cooling breeze
We passed through the entrance gates under the sign that says "Safe Climbing"
and after a briefly level path started climbing the first of the many, many steps that would take us to the summit. I had read that the route is an almost continuous staircase, sometimes the steps are rock, sometimes man made wooden steps, sometimes cut out soil steps, all pretty relentless.
However we both felt very fortunate that we were only carrying light rucksacs with a few overnight things and warm clothes for the next day. A stream of porters gradually passed us as they carried huge loads-water, food and everything else needed to supply the huts at 3,500meters where the climbers stay the night before attempting the summit.
The walk commences at Timpohon gate, a height of 1,866m and the Laban Rata Rest House, our overnight stop is at 3,272m. We would be ascending 1,400m that first day and to avoid altitude sickness walked slowly and at each of the rest shelters on the way spent 15-30 minutes to help our bodies adjust. This also gave us time to rehydrate and eat chocolate and snacks, we had brought quite a large selection with us!
I noticed that each rest hut had stretchers in the roof, I hoped we would not be requiring these. As we walked up we saw many of the previous days trekkers making their way down, some looked in considerable discomfort and were struggling to walk and bend their knees. Wilfred, our guide said about 20 people a month need carrying down as their legs or knees give up!
At one of the huts as I opened my sac to get my packed lunch a family of ground squirrels suddenly appeared. They were obviously very used to trekkers and were not fearful of jumping onto the benches and even onto unattended bags looking for food
It was lovely to see many different plants and flowers, some familiar but many unknown to me, as we ascended through the different vegetation zones, starting in the lowland tropical rainforest with large trees, bamboos, palms, gingers and plenty of orchids (although none in flower sadly)
next into lower montane vegetation with its smaller trees, tree ferns and other ferns and flowers
and lots of wonderful pitcher plants. Kinabalu is the richest place in the world for the tropical pitcher plant, Nepenthes and Wilfred realising I was interested in plants took us off the main trail to search for two pitcher plants that only grow in the Kinabalu Park
From about 2200m we moved into the higher montane vegetation zone
with more stunted trees, their branches and trunks draped with lichen and mosses. There were lots of types of rhododendron, many in flower
and Schima brevifolia bushes
The other name for this zone is the cloud forest zone, here the mist and cloud rolled in and out
At 3,300m we reached the sub alpine vegetation zone and a little higher up our overnight stop appeared out of the mist
We reached the Laban Rata hut just before 3pm and had time to shower and relax and chat with other trekkers. Most people seemed very happy although some were complaining of aching legs, I knew that we still had a long and tough way to go to reach the summit so wondered how they would fare
We had already been so lucky with the weather which had been dry, hot and sunny but with a cooling breeze throughout our walk up. Whilst resting on the verandah of the hut we enjoyed the last of the day's beautiful sunshine followed by the most spectacular sunset
Meals were provided at the hut and supper started at 4.30pm in order to allow trekkers to get to bed early. AR and I were in a shared dorm and we were all in our bunks by 7pm with our rucksack's next to us, ready for the night climb
Our alarms went off at 2am and a few minutes later we were downstairs eating "breakfast" which looked very similar to last night's supper of fried rice, noodles and baked beans. AR was reluctant to eat but I gave her strict instructions that she must to ensure that she had the energy for the climb.
Wilfred and the other guides were all ready and waiting, although Wilfred was playing on his phone again. The day before I had noticed that at each rest hut Wilfred immediately got out his phone and became engrossed in some game, I teased him that he must be playing Candy Crush and he looked surprised, I think I had guessed correctly
At 2.45 we set off using the light of our head torches to see where to step, although as we moved out of the vegetation zone onto the plateau the light from the full moon was almost enough on it's own
After a while the steps disappeared and we were on a steep rocky plateau with fixed ropes to pull ourselves up on. I tried not to think about what coming down this part would be like when we could actually see the drops below!
We reached the Sayat Sayat check point, (3,668m) the last check point on the route. You have to reach this check point before 5am to be allowed to go up to the summit, we were well inside the curfew time.
The altitude was beginning to take it's toll on some people and AR said she was feeling empty of energy and that her legs felt 'leaden'. I was lucky enough to be feeling really good but I knew exactly what she meant as I had experienced this horrible feeling a few years ago on the summit night ascending Mount Kilimanjaro. That time I declined my guides offer of Red Bull and suffered leaden legs all the way to the top. Red Bull is not a drink I ever normally drink but I had always wondered if I should have tried it that night on Kili, so this trip I had brought along 2 cans. It certainly did the trick and re-energised we continued on upwards
The pre dawn light was just starting to appear on the horizon as we made it to the summit
We were absolutely thrilled to get to the top- 4,095m, the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea and the 20th most prominent mountain in the World
After having our photos taken we found a comfy place to sit a few feet below the summit and watched the sunrise. It was quite beautiful
We had the sun rising on one side of the mountain
whilst on the other side the sun cast a shadow of Mount Kinabalu with the moon sinking behind it
The view back down the plateau was fabulous as the sun started to light up some of the rocky tips
and other peaks and hills peaking above the clouds in the valley below
Once the sun was up we started down stopping off briefly at a small pool of water which reflected our images and the peak behind
The clouds were clearing giving us great views of the valley floor
of course we also had a good view of the drop below us but using the ropes for stability and balance we were actually pleasantly surprised that it wasn't that difficult or too scary coming down the steepest sections
we were back at the hut by 8.15 where we had a huge breakfast, packed up our remaining belongings and then an hour later resumed the walk down to the park headquarters
As we got lower down we passed porters taking up that days supplies and as our legs were by now starting to complain we felt even more respect for these incredibly strong and stoic men and women who do this trek up and down most days
With tired, achey legs and stiff knees but very happy hearts we made it to the end of the trek and collected our certificates
Once back in KK we found the ferry point and were whisked off in a small speed boat at high speed which when the boat rolled and crashed through the large waves felt more dangerous than the climb had ever done! However we landed safely at Gaya Island where we had two nights relaxing and recovering, it was bliss. It also gave us time to reflect on our climb and contemplate what the next adventure might be. I haven't decided yet but have a few ideas-once my achy legs have fully recovered!
