Mount Kinabalu

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So the trip starts once again. After landing in back in Borneo I decided not to rough it and checked into the Hyatt to have a relaxing day or two before attemting this 4100m mountain. Room service of steak and chips helped me settle back into the Malay way of life. I was severley jet lagged but had no choice to climb it two days after my arrival since the mountain accomoation was fully booked until the end of October.

I left KK at 7am on Monday for the mountain. I hooked up with an English mountaineer to do the climb with and share the cost of the guide. The first day climb was the hardest and we managed to do it in about 3 and a half hours. Not bad as the average is 5 hours but this mountaineer guy only knew one speed - fast! I got a bit dizzy with the altitude but a few beers sorted me out. I tried to sleep as I hadn't slept well in ages but I my body wouldn't let me. We set off at 2.30am and the climb to the summit was actually good fun. The only problem was that we were first up and had to wait 1 and a half hours for the sunrise and it was below freezing. To add to our nightmare there was too much cloud and haze so the view wasn't magnificant. Climbing to nearly 14,000 however was one hell of an achievement. There are lots of forest fires coming from Indonesia, subsequently having an effect on the air quality everywhere in Borneo. I'm sure this doesn't help when climbing a mountain! The long 5 hour walk/run down didn't help my knees either and my left knee was killing me after that quad bike landed on it about 6 weeks ago. There were some great views on the way down.

Upon arrival at base camp we splashed out Brit style on Veal, Lobster and a couple of bottles of wine before going back to KK. I had to thank the local guys which helped me get home so quickly so we drank a bottle of Jim Bean together and we went out until daylight the next day. I then slept for 15 hours solid!

Stiff legs. Aghh!!

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Photos

Climbing in style!
Which one is the mountaineer?