Mount Kinabalu

I knew that I really wanted to climb Mt Kinabalu as soon as Paul told me about it last year. Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that Paul has done it and everything to do with the fact that it is one of the highest mountains in South-East Asia (no, really)!

Paul had decided that since he had done it by the normal route last year, if he was going to do it again this year he was going to go by the harder route which is about 2km longer and starts from Mesilau Nature Resort. That track joins up with the normal route after about 5.5km. I reluctantly agreed to go via Mesilau - I wasn't sure how much I really wanted to do the hard route when I wasn't sure I could make it to 4000m altitude even via the "easy" route.

All the accommodation at Mesilau and on the mountain itself is controlled by the same company which means that they can pretty much charge whatever they like. Accommodation is expensive and you also have to pay for park entrance fees, insurance, a climbing permit and a compulsory mountain guide. All up, including accommodation and transport, it cost us somewhere in the vicinity of RM800 (not exactly budget but still worth it).

It was so cold at Mesilau after the heat of KK. I was glad I had packed my thermals and beanie. Because we were going up the mountain via one route and down via another, we left most of our luggage at the hostel in KK and only took with us the stuff we needed for the mountain. Somehow I still ended up with 10kg of stuff which I had to lump all the way up the mountain and back down (I know because they make you weigh it). I was a bit worried about the altitude so we had started on Diamox the day before the climb just in case. Mesilau was really pretty - sometimes we were above the clouds and sometimes the clouds came up and you could see them floating all around you.

On the morning of the climb we met with our guide and started walking around 8.30am. It was pretty much uphill all the way (don't be fooled by the pictures - most of them were taken looking back the way I had just come). Mesilau is about 1800m above sea level. Laban Rata (the overnight stop about 3/4 of the way up the mountain) is 7.5km away and about 3200m above sea level - a big gain in elevation!

There were huts about every kilometre where we stopped for rests. At all the huts after we sat down these squirrels would come out of nowhere looking for food (presumably). Some of them seemed quite unafraid of people and one even jumped up on my bag. Our guide said it was ok to feed them but I thought we better not (you'd never be allowed to do that in Australia). The huts all had toilets and they even flushed! Not sure what happened to what went down them - a far cry from drop toilets anyway!

The route from Mesilau wasn't very crowded. Still, just about everyone passed us because Paul was still feeling tired from his virus. After a while I decided to walk on ahead while Paul walked with our guide Sam. I stopped at the hut after each kilometre to wait for them to catch up (secretly I was glad for the rest although I always pretended I was really energetic whenever I saw them coming out of the forest). I felt pretty strong for the first couple of kilometres and after that the relentless up and up took its toll and I started to get a bit tired. I was wishing for just a few hundred metres of flat ground!! Every time I saw flat ground I would rejoice but as soon as I turned the corner I would realise it only lasted for 10 metres.

I felt like a minor celebrity on the trail. There was a big Malaysian tour group doing the climb from Mesilau and they all kept stopping me to take my picture. At first I thought that they wanted me to take pictures of them but then I realised they just wanted to take my picture!! Weird. I couldn't understand why they would want a picture of some random sweaty person on their camera!

By the time the Mesilau trail joined up with the normal route I had stopped scanning the jungle trying to spot pitcher plants and was just concentrating on getting to the next hut. It seemed to take ages each time for the next hut to come into view. When I got to the last hut before Laban Rata I was so tired I couldn't wait to get there. It was supposed to be only 500 metres from that hut to Laban Rata but it was the longest 500 metres of my life! I finally saw some huts and thought "I'm there - finally!" only to realise I had to keep walking uphill for 5 minutes to get to reception. Cruel, cruel joke.

We arrived at Laban Rata at about 6.30 which meant we were climbing for 10 hours. We were pretty tired and we ended up going to bed around 9.30pm. Everyone tends to go early to the summit to see the sunrise. Our guide told us to meet him at 2.30am to start our summit bid!! It was so loud in the dorms, I could hear people moving around and I couldn't wear my earplugs because I wouldn't hear the alarm. I finally fell asleep at some point after midnight and my alarm went off at 1.40am.

I woke Paul up to see if he felt like going for the summit but he decided he wasn't well enough so I went down and had supper and met with our guide. We were climbing in the dark with head torches for the first part of the climb up to the summit. There were a lot of ladders to climb and a rocky path. After that the rock faces started. There were ropes marking the way up the rock faces but thankfully my boots gripped the rock well and I didn't need to hold the ropes for most of the way (I was a bit worried about how I would get down but that worked out ok).

I felt pretty strong going to the summit (in fact I felt like it was a bit easier than getting to Laban Rata). It was about 3km to Low's Peak which is the highest point of Mt Kinabalu at 4095 metres above sea level. Thankfully I didn't feel sick or anything from the altitude and we got to the summit at about 5.15am. Yay!! I was feeling pretty pleased with myself at this point.

Since we were early, we had to wait for the sunrise and it was really, really cold. Sam said it was probably only a couple of degrees. After the sun finally came up I snapped a few pictures and we started to head down. By this time I was feeling pretty tired but Sam wanted me to stop every 20 metres to take my picture! He kept saying "This is a once in a lifetime experience - you'll never be back!".

We finally got back to Laban Rata at about 8.15am. Paul and I had breakfast and then we headed down at about 9.30am. Going down was sooooo hard. I suddenly felt so tired and my knees were aching from descending from the summit. I was wishing I had taken up the park rangers on their offer to buy walking sticks! I will definitely be investing in some walking poles if I have to climb a mountain again. My knees just can't take it - I must be getting old.

Sam asked me if I wanted him to take my pack but I wanted to carry it myself. It took us about 4.5 hours to get down via the normal route but I felt like it was definitely harder than going up. I prefer to forget that part of the climb, especially because it poured on us for half the way and I got water in my boots!!!

The guides and the porters are amazing. Sam has been guiding for 10 years and goes to the summit of Mt Kinabalu between 1 - 3 times per week. He also has been to all the other peaks of Mt Kinabalu as well. The porters go up and down supplying Laban Rata up to two times per day. They have massive loads of food on the way up and I think they take rubbish down on the way back. I can't believe how strong they must be.

Anyway, we got back down and as Paul said I went to sleep and didn't wake up for 15 hours. Now my legs are so sore I can barely go up and down steps which is quite embarrassing out in public.

We plan to stay here in KK for a few days, maybe checking out the museum and some of the islands around here and we head back to KL on Sunday - N.