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Published: January 27th 2008
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Having sat on the beach for a week in Langkawi, had a wander around Georgetown in Penang for a few days, and spent 3 days in KL (we're going back there shortly!), we thought we'd better do some exercise so we headed off to Kinabalu National Park. This is home to the 5th highest mountain in SEA and biggest in Malaysia - Mount Kinabalu.
Day One
The day we arrived we checked in and paid the various fees for entrance into the park, the guide, climbing permit and insurance. We then had an orienteering meeting in the evening where they explained what was going to happen over the two days that we would spend on the mountain. One of the main messages that they wanted to get accross to everybody was that they should take enough food and water incase they got stranded and enough warm clothes so that you wouldn't freeze to death! Bed early that night as we wanted to leave at 7:30 in the morning.
Day Two
We were up early for our buffet breakfast where we stocked up on cereal, toast and rice to give us plenty of energy for the day. We
then took the transport over to Timpohon Gate which is the official start of the climb. So we set off at 7:45am, 6150ft above sea level, and it soon emerged that it was going to be a tough day. The first stage of the climb was up to Laban Rata which is around 9300ft. We were told by our guide, Robbi, that it would take around 3 - 4 hours if we went at a steady pace so we were in no rush to get up there. Along the way there were 7 shelters which had toilets and running water (although it was untreated so we couldn't drink it) so it was nice to rest for 5 minutes to get your breath back. The weather on that day was brilliant. It had poured down with rain the previous day so we were a bit concerned that we were going to get soaked but it turned out to be perfect conditions. Along the way we only met one other climber who was an American with his guide so it was a nice peaceful day. It took us just under three hours to reach Laban Rata which was pretty good going. We
made sure that we weren't going to fast so that we didn't do ourselves any harm and arrived just before midday.
The plan from here was to have lunch, rest for the rest of the day and then get up at 2:30am the following morning and climb to the peak for sunrise. But as the weather was so nice we spoke to Robbi and asked if we could carry on to the top that afternoon and he agreed. Getting up and climbing to see the sunrise would have been good but the fact that there were a hundred other climbers meant that it was going to be bit congested up there.
So after an hours break we set off along with the American guy and his guide and headed for Lows Peak at 13,500ft. It took us two hours to do the final 4000ft and nearly killed us. The air was noticeably thinner which made it harder to breathe so every ten steps we had to stop to take in as much air as we could. Then, at 2pm, we reached the summit - 13,513ft(4095m) above sea level. The sun was shining gloriously, it was a bit cloudy in some
directions but the views were still amazing and there were only five of us there. The two guides sat and chatted while the three of us stood on top of the mountain in amazement at where we were and what we had just done. It was pretty amazing to think that we had just walked 8.7km in distance and risen 7000ft in the space of seven hours - on foot! We spent half an hour at the summit eating and drinking to try and get some energy in us for the descent and taking pictures. The pictures don't really do it justice but it was good to get some proof that we made it!
Then came the descent back down to Laban Rata for a nights sleep. Going downhill sounds easy but it was so steep in parts that we had to go down on our bums! After an hour we were back at Laban Rata and absolutely shattered. Dinner then bed early!
Day Three
Today was the day when everybody else woke at 2am and set off for the summit. We, however, were the only ones to stay in bed as we had already done it! Instead, we
got up at 6:30 for a long breakfast before heading back to Timpohon Gate. It ended up taking us the same amount of time to go down the mountain as it did to get up it. Our legs were aching like mad as we seemed to have used muscles that we didn't even know we had! So at midday we arrived back where we had started 30 hours ago. We hadn't seen the sunrise from the top of the mountain as originally planned, but instead of queueing up to have our picture taken before everyone else, we'd had the whole mountain to ourselves for a few hours in glorious sunshine.
Needless to say, we were cream crackered after that! It was an amazing feeling reaching the summit even if the last 250m nearly killed us, but the feeling of being at 13500ft was brilliant.
I could well take us a few days before we've recovered but it was well worth it!
Craig & Nikki x
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WOW.....what can i say! fabulous, what a view!!! love the sunset, little more impressive than my view on the A40! ha ha love mexxx