Mount Kinabalu the highest mountain in South East Asia at 4095m - is confirmed as steep climb!

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We started from sea level in Kota Kinabalu at 7am on Sunday morning. You can get up to the starting point may ways; big bus, shuttle bus or taxi. We were three people so we joined in on a taxi to take us all the way up to the beginning of the trail. We picked up Dominique our guide at the entrance of the National Park and after stocking up with chocolate we were ready to start our climb at around 930. Tips: Get the chocolate in town as it is very expensive in the park, 3 MYR on the bottom of the trail and 8 MYR at the lodge where you get some food and sleep after the first part of the hike.

We were all stocked up and the first day we hiked up 6km. Now that does not sound very far to us, but man is it ever steep and hundreds of steps... What really gets to people is the number of steps on this trail, but we all made it up to the lodge, Joachim was first up around 2pm and Nina joined him a little over an hour later after a more relaxing climb taking pictures of lots of the jungle and plants. Where we spent the night it was 9 degrees so we crawled in at 8pm! To get to the top for the sunrise we got up at 230am and started the walk. It was quite cold and windy but the full moon made it a fantastic climb. We made it to the top in time for the sun rays to appear, but MAN was it cold with the windchill!!! Way too cold to hang around, so we climbed down a bit to enjoy the scenery.

The way down was tough with jelly legs from the first day... took ages, but we made it!!!

Tips for the climber:
Bring warm clothes - a hat and gloves makes the windchill on the top bearable.
There are no drinks or food other than at the lodge, so bring enough, we saw some people having fantastic lunches on the way up. You will get hungry and thirsty - Bring food and water!
See if you can get a walking stick from somewhere as it distributes the strain (and pain) to all parts to your whole body. There were lots of people having them, but not sure where they got them from - ask around.
You can do the trip in 2 days instead of 3. We talked to Crystal at Velvet where we were staying in Kota Kinabalu (KK) and she gave us lots of tips on how to best and cheaply climb the mountain. She also let us store our stuff since we stayed at her place before and after the trip. Really worth it as she has one of the best mattresses you can get for good value in KK.

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Comments

[myat]

mistaken...
mount kinabalu isnt the tallest mountain in s.e asia.... the hkakaborazi in burma is the highest... u better check that out..

[anonymous]

That's probably Nepenthes villosa.