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Published: January 24th 2006
Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu, 4095 meters, located in Sabah, Malaysia on the Island of Borneo. On Friday the 13th we started climbing Mount Kinabalu. Our destination was Low's Peak which is the highest point on Mount Kinabalu, Southeast Asia's highest mountain at 4095 meters (over 13,000 feet). Mt. Kinabalu is in Sabah on the Island of Borneo and in the country of Malaysia.
It was 10:20 when we left the first gate or check point, and I saw lots of interesting things in the first few minutes because we were going through a rain forest/jungle with waterfalls and lots of vegetation everywhere. Lucky for us there were not too many insects. After 1 hour I saw a dead snake and then another one.
It was a 6 kilometer hike to the Laban Rata Hut were we spent the night at 11,000 ft. The hut had a restaurant and we had to go to bed at 8:00pm and get up at 2:00 am to get to the summit in time for the sunrise.
In the morning we all started together at 3:00 am. We started up the mountain with head lamps because it was still dark out. I hiked faster than my parents and decided to meet them at the
Carson Waterfall
Beginning of trail to Hut, Kilometer.5. top which was 2.5 kilometers straight up. I soon hiked past everyone who was ahead of me. You have to hold onto ropes because you could fall down the mountain. After 20 minutes I got to a gate (another checkpoint) and asked if anyone was ahead of me and they said five people. I soon saw the five people sitting right past the gate.
I was by myself until two guides came up behind me. It started to get very cold and windy and I put on my jacket. There was no more vegetation this high, just fields of granite. There was a rope I followed and each time it seemed to lead into a big rock that I had to go around. Then I would follow another rope. I stopped to drink some water and a guide caught up to me. Then he dropped behind. Finally I got to the top and it was freezing, windy, dark and all cold rock. I put on everything I had and huddled under a rock and almost froze to death. I got to the summit at 3:55.
My dad finally arrived an hour later. He gave me some
warm clothes and a snicker bar. It was still two hours until sunrise so I decided to go down. I went back to the hut and went back to bed until Natalie, Mom and Dad returned.
Mom and Natalie got to the summit by 5:45. It took them almost 3 hours and I never saw them.
Thanks to all who have written to me.
We are now in Australia.
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nancy carson
non-member comment
nice photos
Your trip is really fascinating, thanks for the great updates. Andy and I are leaving for Baja tomorrow. We're driving with our little dog and will study Spanish in La Paz. Home in JH in March. We look forward to your next blog. What a great adventure. You're lucky to get to see the world together. January 19th was the 25th anniversary of Harry Frishman's death, Christie. Love to you all, nancy