The Summit


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Asia » Malaysia » Sabah » Mount Kinabalu
January 15th 2011
Published: January 15th 2011
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Well we needed all the sleep we could get for a 2 am wakeup but unfortunately it was not easy to sleep. It a combination of the altitude and cold is what our guide said. Matt and James both said they got a bit of sleep and I think i dosed for maybe an hour but it was not ideal. I had a nagging headache from probably from the altitude and lack of sleep but I was going to the top no matter what. James unfortunately woke up with a splitting headache and decided not to go for the summit. Matt and I went out and had a couple pieces of toast and some tea while we sat with our guide. Most groups left between 2 and 2:45 but our guide said we could leave at 3:15 because we could climb pretty fast. We didnt want to end up stuck on the summit waiting for the 6 OClock sunrise.

At 3:15am we strapped on our headlamps and headed out into the cold night of Mount Kinabalu. I set the original pace as we started the climb but I could feel Matt behind me just itching to go faster. The trail was busy with the climbers who set out before us but we managed to make our way around them fairly easily. Some were stubborn and wouldnt move over which was a little frustrating but we eventually got by them. One asian guy was really funny. We got to a rope section where you had to climb with the rope. The group in front of us let us go by at the bottom becuase they could see us coming but one guy from there group jumped on the rope right before we could. He tried to go fast so as not to hold us up and I stayed right on his ass because I wanted to go by. He just wouldnt let us by and I could hear him panting and gasping like crazy. Finally he ran out of gas and pretty much collapsed on the side of the hill. When we went by he gave a funny smile.

When we got to the top of the steep rope section Matt decided to take off. We were going at a pretty good clip but he wanted to power up to the top again. It was a win/lose situation for him. He did end up making it to the summit first for the win but he got there at 5 in the morning so had to sit at the top for an hour waiting for sunrise. I made it up about 10 minutes later so it wasnt much better. I passed around some chocolate to the 4 or 5 of us up there then we all huddled into balls and waiting for the sunrise as more climbers slowely made it to the top.

4095 meters!!!!!

We got really lucky with the sunrise it was a nice pink/purple/orange so it didnt dissapoint and the view was amazing. We stayed up there for some photos and then made a hasty retreat as we were starting to freeze. We went down really quickly and collected James from the Laban Rata for some breakfast. After that we began the rest of the descent and made it to the bottom by lunch time.

After lunch we jumped on a bus to head over to Sandakan for the next part of our journey. I am looking forward to a nice comfy bed because I have had maybe 3 or 4 hours sleep the last 2 nights combined.

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